Reflecting Canada’s diverse population

Back in the 1980’s, I recall attending a presentation on Affirmative Action delivered by Mo Iwama, an executive at AT&T Bell Labs who said that increased diversity was not only the right thing to do, it would be good for all of us. He explained that in order to do a good job serving a diverse population, it made sense to have diversity in all parts of the company, from line R&D and engineering through to sales and in all levels of the organization.

More than thirty years ago, the industry was already taking steps to transform itself. At the time, we set up liaison programs with high schools in inner cities to help increase the pool of students who would enter Science, Technology, Engineering and Math programs. It was viewed as a long term investment.

Thirty years later, there is still much more work to be done.

In April, the CRTC Chair admonished a number of companies that put forward witness panels that were composed entirely of men.

  1. Today there was a report issued by Employment and Social Development Canada that found the proportion of women in federally regulated companies has dropped from 46 percent to 41 percent in the past 20 years. And since we’ve started this hearing we’ve faced panels like your own entirely of men. As I say, I’m not picking on you. You’re not alone in this. But, you know, and where there have been women on the panels in these telecom proceedings, they don’t have speaking roles.
  2. Now I gave a short speech last year at the Canadian Women and Communications and Technology gala that, you know, applauds the work of women in that sector. And I noted that in the fall of 2014 we held 3 major hearings. A hundred and twenty-five (125) women appeared at that hearing — in those 3 hearings.
  3. And we calculated that of the 1.8 million words spoken, only 163,000 words were spoken by women sitting at the witness table. Fourteen (14) percent.
  4. And I called on everyone, including the CRTC, but speaking to government, to the industry and even ourselves, that we can do better.
  5. On this panel, all the women appointed by the government as commissioners are here. The CRTC, we strive to make sure that we have staff that — yeah, there’s unfortunately only two — that staff balance — is balanced from a gender perspective.
  6. In any event, I know there are women in your organizations. So I repeat the call. We can do better.

cpac-crtc-20160907-panelSo, it was surprising that the CRTC’s panel for the BDU License Renewal hearing was composed entirely of white men, especially when juxtaposed against the composition of the panels appearing before the CRTC.

The CRTC has a number of vacancies. It is an agency that has a mandate to ensure the broadcasting system “reflects Canadian attitudes, opinions, ideas, values and artistic creativity, by displaying Canadian talent in entertainment programming and by offering information and analysis concerning Canada and other countries from a Canadian point of view”.

Given the composition of the Trudeau Cabinet, reflecting ethnic diversity and balanced from a gender perspective, we might expect new appointments to help the Commission be a better reflection of Canada’s rich multi-cultural character. Just last November, the Prime Minister said “Canadians understand that diversity is our strength. We know that Canada has succeeded—culturally, politically, economically—because of our diversity, not in spite of it.”

Increased diversity at the CRTC isn’t just the right thing to do. It will be good for all of us.

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