Vision Vancouver pushes gender parity motion

2016/03/08 Leave a comment

One aspect of diversity but as the DiverseCityonBoard initiative makes clear, this challenge goes beyond gender given the increased (and increasing) ethnic diversity in our larger cities:

All City of Vancouver advisory committees could soon be required to have 50-per-cent female representation.

To mark International Women’s Day on Tuesday, Vision Vancouver Coun. Andrea Reimer plans to introduce a motion that would create a formal policy ensuring that at least half of all committee members are women.

Mayor Gregor Robertson indicated he’ll be supporting the motion, and hopes it will pass unanimously.

Reimer’s motion also calls for a review of how the city funds subsidized housing and social policy grants to make sure that women and girls are getting an equal share of services.

“While we often think of Vancouver as a progressive city, there’s more we could be doing to remove barriers to women and ensure that we are providing an equitable delivery of services,” Robertson said in a press release. “We continue to see women underrepresented in public life and in 2016 there’s no reason that should be acceptable.”

But unanimous support may not be possible. NPA Coun. Melissa De Genova said she has yet to decide which way she’ll vote on the motion, but she does have concerns about the 50-per-cent standard.

“We all would like to see more women become involved in our city and in our community, but I think perhaps we don’t agree on how we should get there,” she said.

Source: Vision Vancouver pushes gender parity motion

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Fighting for more diversity at the top: Hepburn

2015/03/02 Leave a comment

More on DiverseCity onBoard:

And the latest Annual Report Card by the Canadian Board Diversity Council shows the proportion of visible minorities on corporate boards fell from 5.3 per cent in 2010 to 2 per cent in 2013.

So why isn’t there widespread outrage over these troubling statistics? Why do our leaders, especially in public agencies, tolerate such situations?

Is it a question of a lack of talent in minority communities, which is hard to believe? Or are we missing something here?

“We have to see more diversity at our decision-making tables,” Toronto Mayor John Tory admitted this week at an event showcasing a small program that identifies, trains and helps place talented ethnic and minority candidates with boards of public and voluntary agencies.

The event, attended by political, business and community leaders, marked the national launch of DiverseCity onBoard, a successful made-in-Toronto program that traces its roots back to 2005.

This unique project was started by the Maytree Foundation with the goal of addressing the lack of diversity on boards of directors at public agencies, boards and commissions in the GTA.

Operating without much fanfare, DiverseCity onBoard has recruited more than 1,700 candidates, registered 650 organizations and successfully matched some 720 people from visible minority groups and under-represented communities to boards of directors with such bodies as hospitals, museums, local agencies and voluntary community associations.

The program staffers pre-screen candidates, teach them about how governance boards operate, and try to match qualified people with board openings.

Indeed, the program is so successful that it’s now being launched in six other major cities across Canada, including Hamilton, London, Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal and Ottawa.

At the same time, the program is unveiling a new online training program that will let residents learn about corporate governance practices at home, at work or anywhere they have access to a computer.

If the program can succeed in Toronto, then there is little doubt it will work in these other urban centres, said Ratna Omidvar, executive director of the Global Diversity Exchange at Ryerson University, which now oversees the DiverseCity onBoard program.

Fighting for more diversity at the top: Hepburn | Toronto Star.

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Program aims for greater ethnic diversity on boards

2015/02/27 Leave a comment

Good to see expansion of this program to improve diversity of public institution boards beyond Toronto:

This week Ms. Omidvar announced the national launch of a program aimed to break down the barriers of the old-boy network by identifying, training and selecting qualified board candidates who are also either immigrants or members of a visible minority group.

“Public institutions that are created to serve the public good make better decisions for their clients and customers if the boards are diverse,” Ms. Omidvar said. “We are going to close the gap between those who live in these cities and those who serve on these boards.”

The program is called DiverseCity onBoard, and it will expand from Toronto, where it has placed more than 700 candidates on boards over the past several years, to Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Ottawa, Hamilton and London. The program works by matching candidates with vacancies. If a board has an opening, the program looks to connect it with a suitable match, someone with the training and expertise they require who might never have come to their attention otherwise.

“When we did our research in Toronto we asked organizations, ‘Why is it that your board still looks like old Canada?’ They said, ‘We agree completely, we want to be more reflective of the community, but we don’t have the networks,’” Ms. Omidvar said. “By putting real-life candidates in front of them, we try to dispel that myth that, ‘Oh, we don’t know any body.’”

Program aims for greater ethnic diversity on boards – The Globe and Mail.

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