Polygon Created with Sketch. Home | Research

Diversity in leadership at S&P/TSX companies

The business case for diversity and inclusion in corporate leadership has never been stronger. More diversity contributes to improved corporate social responsibility, innovation, employee satisfaction, governance practices and risk management. Despite growing evidence of these benefits, diversity in corporate Canada’s leadership remains inadequate, tied to a lack of effective mechanisms for measurement, tracking and accountability.

Various interventions, including government legislation and advocacy initiatives like the 30%+ Club and BlackNorth Initiative (BNI), aim to address the slow progress in achieving diversity, particularly for women and racialized individuals. The 30%+ Club focuses on achieving at least 30% representation of women on boards and executive teams globally, while BNI aims to combat anti-Black systemic racism and achieve 3.5% representation of Black leaders in executive and board roles.

This report assesses the state of diversity in leadership roles in corporate Canada, focusing on representation of equity-deserving groups (women, Black individuals and racialized individuals) from 2015 to 2022. The study encompasses 783 firms on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), including 235 on the S&P/TSX Composite Index.

Download Report

Key Insights

1

Incremental progress has been noted since BNI’s launch in 2020, with the share of Black individuals increasing from 0.9% to 2.1% on boards and from 1% to 1.5% on executive teams for S&P/TSX Index firms.

2

From 2020 to 2022, racialized individuals’ representation increased from 4.9% to 9.3% on boards and 7.5% to 10.8% on executive teams for S&P/TSX Index firms.

3

The 30%+ Club members demonstrated higher diversity, achieving at least 30% representation of women on both the S&P/TSX Index (38.8%) and TSX (37.8%).

More from FSC

artificial intelligence (ai) and machine learning (ml)
Research

The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Employment, Productivity and Skills Development in Quebec

This research project aimed to produce a report on the impacts of artificial intelligence (AI) on the Quebec labour market.
Project

Real Estate Development Incubator: A Model for Equitable Participation

FutureBUILDS represents a new and inclusive approach to addressing Canada’s housing crisis. This project consisted of three phases: research, implementation and alumni engagement.
A mother working from home embraces her young child
Research

The Impact of Having Children on Careers

The findings of this report address two related issues. The first concerns the penalties women face when they become mothers, notably loss of employment income and diminished career opportunities. The second is the concern that younger adults in Canada today may be less interested than previous generations were in having children.
View all Research