The number of women on boards of TSX-listed companies is growing at the slowest pace in more than a decade, as fewer Canadian companies disclose their policies on boardroom diversity, according to data published by law firm Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt.

The firm found that while the share of women on TSX-listed corporate boards surpassed 30 per cent for the first time this year, momentum has slowed. Meanwhile, boardroom representation of visible minorities, Indigenous people and people with disabilities has come to a standstill.

The stagnation in the Canadian data comes after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in January directing federal agencies to formulate strategies to investigate and discourage private-sector companies from using diversity, equity and inclusion policies. Osler said that while many companies in the U.S. and beyond appear to be quietly continuing diversity initiatives, they’re reducing or reframing their communication strategies around DEI. 

The headline numbers: The share of women on TSX companies’ boards, 30.5 per cent, is slightly above that of U.S. companies, but trails women’s representation on boards in the U.K. (43.4 per cent) and Australia (37 per cent). The rate at which women are being added to new or vacant board seats is declining in Canada, with 31.9 per cent of empty board seats awarded to women this year, compared with 45.3 per cent in 2023, Osler said. 

While the U.S. has been cracking down on DEI, many firms in Canada must still disclose to securities regulators whether they have written policies for boardroom gender equality. The Canada Business Corporations Act requires similar disclosures around boardroom representation of women, Indigenous people, people with disabilities and members of visible minorities.

Osler found that, so far this year, the number of TSX-listed companies reporting board diversity policies has fallen by a “significant” four per cent.  

Far from parity: Kay Layne, founder of the Kayambi consulting firm, which offers leadership and DEI-related training, said despite overall growth in representation of women on boards, parity is a long way off, particularly when it comes to intersectionality. While visible minorities are 27 per cent of the population, they hold just 10.7 per cent of board seats, little changed from previous years. Indigenous people, who are five per cent of the overall population, hold about 1.1 per cent of board seats and people with disabilities, at 27 per cent of the population, hold 0.5 per cent of seats, Osler found. 

This flatlining progress suggests that companies are “still hiring and finding people the same old way, so they are getting the same people,” Layne said, adding that the numbers don’t bode well for Canada’s future pipeline of executive leadership. 

Osler’s report noted that disclosure of policies around board representation of the 2SLGBTQ+ community remains voluntary. Naoufel Testaouni, CEO of QueerTech, said they remember when Canadian subsidiaries of U.S. companies started to get cease-and-desist orders related to their U.S. federal contracts. But overall, most Canada-based companies are continuing to prioritize diversity, Testaouni said.

But Testaouni said the trend toward scant corporate disclosure makes it hard for Canadians to hold companies accountable for lack of boardroom diversity. It also makes it more difficult for queer Canadians to determine whether potential employers will provide environments where they can thrive, they said. 

When it comes to the decisions that shape an organization’s future, Testaouni said representation matters because “boards set the tone.”