Four years ago, all the names on Canfor Corp.’s list of board directors belonged to men.
But in the last two years, the forestry giant has attempted to boost female representation in its boardroom. The most recent move toward greater gender balance came on June 7 when it was revealed that Dianne Watts would be added to Canfor’s board.
Overall progress toward gender balance in B.C. corporate executive ranks is sluggish, however, and zero female representation is still a reality for many Canadian boardrooms.
Watts, the former mayor of Surrey and MP for South Surrey-White Rock prior to running for the leadership of the BC Liberals, isn’t the only ex-politician in the Canfor boardroom.
Others include notable names like fomer BC NDP premier Glen Clark, and John Baird, who served as foreign affairs minister from 2011 to 2015 under the federal Conservative government.
Watts’ new role brings Canfor’s count of female board members to two, following the election of Barbara Hislop to the board in April 2017.
“Canfor is committed to advancing diversity in all areas of the company,” said Katy Player, the corporation’s vice-president of people and communications. “We know that a diverse company is a stronger one, and that is why we are putting much effort and focus on our diversification plan.”
Some progress is being made in advancing gender balance among B.C.’s top 100 publicly traded companies. Finning International Inc. has four women on its 12-member board, up from one out of 11 in 2014.
“We know that there is evidence that shows that diverse and inclusive teams are linked to improved financial performance,” said Chad Hiley, Finning’s chief human resources officer. “Because we operate as a global company it is important we also have a global perspective, so when we think about where our board members come from, we try really hard to look for folks who represent the geographies we operate in as well.”
Teck Resources Ltd. has four female board members out of 15, up from two out of 14 in 2014. Telus Corp. has three out of 13, up from one out of 13 in 2014. West Fraser Timber is up to two out of 10, from one out of nine in 2014.
The Canadian government’s Advisory Council for Promoting Women on Boards has been advocating for gender balance on boards since 2013, pressing for a 30% increase in female board membership between 2014 and 2019. A 2016 Status of Women Canada report noted that only 14.5% of directors of Financial Post 500 (FP500) companies are women.
“Remove Crown corporations from the equation, and women make up only 10 per cent of directors,” the report said.
“What we see from our work is that the numbers are changing but they are changing fairly slow, much slower than most of us would have hoped for,” said Camilla Sutton, president of Women in Capital Markets (WCM).
Sutton is a recent addition to the WCM team, an organization with chapters across Canada that has been working to increase representation of women in capital markets for a number of years.
But individual WCM chapters are noting a slower-than-desired climb.
“It might highlight that we are partially attacking the wrong problems,” Sutton said. “We know there is lots of bias, and certainly there is [unconsious] bias but also a lot of structural bias when it comes to building diversity.”
According to the Ontario Securities Commission, women make up 14 per cent of the membership of publicly listed boards in Canada. In 2017, 26 per cent of new board positions were filled by women, meaning 74 per cent of new board positions went to men.
Last year, a McKinsey Global Institute report estimated that creating total gender balance in the workplace would help Canada’s economy grow 0.6 per cent annually by 2026. That growth would total $150 billion.
