Globe and Mail – Program Aims for Greater Ethnic Diversity on Boards
One in five Canadians is an immigrant, and in 15 years visible minorities will make up nearly a third of this country’s population. But the unelected bodies that hold sway in a community, the boards of public institutions and agencies, typically have significantly fewer immigrants and visible minorities than might be expected given their share of population. How to change that situation is a question that has preoccupied Ratna Omidvar, executive director of the Global Diversity Exchange at Ryerson University. Most of the leaders she lobbies say they want to see change, but don’t know how to achieve it. […] 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. […] 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.