Promises Made and a Pandemic’s Reckoning: ‘Canada’s Best Diversity Employers’ for 2021 Are Announced

Press Release

TORONTO, March 2, 2021- The past year has challenged organizations to make good on their commitments to address the systemic inequities that have long existed in Canadian workplaces. The pandemic has exacted a terrible toll on working Canadians, especially among people from Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) communities. While a tremendous amount remains to be done, there are hopeful signs that many Canadian employers are stepping up to the challenge. The best of these initiatives were recognized today, as Canada’s Best Diversity Employers for 2021 were announced by Mediacorp Canada Inc., organizers of the annual Canada’s Top 100 Employers competition.

“The past year has been a time of reckoning for many organizations, a time to pause and listen,” says Stephanie Leung, Assistant Editor of the Canada’s Top 100 Employers project. “Creating safe spaces for employees to engage in constructive dialogue has helped organizations understand how their employees want them to respond to events like Black Lives Matter – and how progressive employers can amplify underrepresented voices.”

“From a practical standpoint, how we talk about diversity and inclusion has changed,” adds Kristina Leung, Senior Editor of the Canada’s Top 100 Employers project. “We must speak plainly and transparently about the inequities that exist and how employers can create meaningful change.”

For many of this year’s employers, meaningful change begins with a baseline understanding of the make-up of their organization, facilitated through confidential and voluntary self-identification and tracking recruitment, retention, promotion and departure rates.

“We see more employers setting measurable diversity and inclusion goals, monitoring progress, and driving accountability,” says Kristina Leung. “These goals are increasingly integrated into annual performance reviews, as well as the key performance indicators that link individual compensation to achievement of these goals.”

Now in its 14th year, the Canada’s Best Diversity Employers competition recognizes the nation’s leaders in creating inclusive workplaces for employees from five diverse groups: women; visible minorities; persons with disabilities; Aboriginal peoples; and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) peoples. The annual competition is open to any employer with its head office or principal place of business in Canada. Employers of any size may apply, whether private or public sector.

Notable diversity and inclusion initiatives at this year’s winners include:

• Responding to the events of the past year, CMHC announced that it will double down on its anti-racism initiatives, including working with partner organizations to secure stronger support for Black employees, creating dedicated targets for representation of Black and racialized people among senior management and people leaders, and reviewing the organization’s policies through a racialized lens.

• The City of Vancouver launched an extensive strategy to address systemic issues that impact women’s full inclusion, with goals and actions that focus on increasing female representation in the city’s senior management and underrepresented occupations – the city recently published its first annual workforce pay and gender report.

• KPMG LLP established a new key performance indicator for the firm’s partners, linking compensation to representation of women and visible minorities – with the goal of 30 per cent women and 20 per cent people of colour in partnership by 2022.

• IBM Canada and its parent company, IBM Corporation, have maintained an LGBT+ executive council for decades, comprised of executive sponsors, co-chairs, and members to drive a strategy of LGBT+ inclusion.

• University of Calgary is in the third year of its Indigenous Strategic Plan (ii’ taa’poh’to’p) to guide its response to implementing recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report – its Indigenous Strategy office created a grant program to promote Indigenous-focused research and initiatives, as well as a speaker series to bring Indigenous scholars to campus to share their research.

• SaskTel maintains a hiring strategy for persons with disabilities, conducting information sessions and pre-employment workshops with community partners. Additionally, the organization created a special employment program to support candidates with cognitive disabilities.

Founded in 1992, Mediacorp Canada Inc. is the nation’s largest publisher of employment periodicals. Since 1999, the Toronto-based publisher has managed the Canada’s Top 100 Employers project, which includes 18 regional and special-interest editorial competitions that reach over 15 million Canadians annually through a variety of magazine and newspaper partners. Mediacorp also operates Eluta.ca, one of Canada’s largest job search engines, which reaches millions of unique visitors annually and features editorial reviews from the Canada’s Top 100 Employers project. The company also publishes The Career Directory, now in its 28^th year – a free online guide for recent college and university graduates looking for employers hiring candidates from their educational background.

The full list of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers for 2021 was announced in a special magazine published today and featured in the Globe and Mail. Detailed reasons for selection for each of the winners, with hundreds of stories and photos, were released by the editors today and are accessible via the competition homepage.

For further information: Stephanie Leung, Assistant Editor, 416-964-6069 x5334

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