Canada’s most recent census found there are 59,460 Canadians aged 15 or older who identify as transgender and 41,355 who identified as non-binary. However, these individuals disproportionately experience egregious discrimination and are most at risk of violence — sexual assault, in particular — than their cisgender counterparts. A lack of support and action by employers to […]
National Hockey League coach Mike Babcock thought he was just trying to get to know his players better, but experts say he may have crossed a line that’s sometimes hard to see. After joining the Columbus Blue Jackets, Babcock was called out this week for allegedly asking some players to show family photos off their phones, raising questions […]
A majority (98 per cent) of Canadian institutional investors consider climate change a top environmental, social and governance focus area, according to a new survey by consultancy Millani. The survey, which polled 40 institutional investors with more than $5.8 trillion in assets under management, found they also ranked diversity, equity and inclusion (45 per cent) and […]
With the Muslim population steadily growing in Canada, employers that offer defined contribution pension plans can avoid unintentionally creating a pension gap by providing these members with access to retirement savings solutions that align with their faith. Under Shariah law, Muslims can’t hold investments that would bring social or environmental harm, such as shares in […]
As the U.K.’s new flexible working bill receives royal assent, Edward Majewski, partner at Ogletree Deakins International LLP, says similar legislation would benefit employers and employees in Canada. The Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023, which received royal assent last month, sets out the right of employees to request variations to particular terms and conditions of […]
The leaders of 11 of Canada’s largest public sector pension investment organizations are calling on companies to adopt a new framework that would consolidate existing disclosure standards, including those from the sustainability accounting standards board and the task force on climate-related financial disclosures. The framework, which was set out by the International Sustainability Standards Board, […]
The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan’s Asian public equity portfolios will be managed by a high conviction equities group based in Toronto. “In considering the optimal model to invest at scale in global public equity markets, we recently made the decision to concentrate the active stock picking activities in our high conviction equities group under our […]
A private member’s bill prohibiting the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board from making certain investments survived its first reading in the House of Commons. Bill C-315, submitted by New Democratic Party member Alistair MacGregor, would amend the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Act by prohibiting investments in any entity if there are reasons to believe […]
Nine Canadian public sector pension plans are passively invested in companies with evidenced involvement in the persecution of Uyghurs in China, according to a new report by U.K. think tank Hong Kong Watch. The report includes three federal and six provincial pension investment organizations — among more than 30 global institutional investors — as passive investors […]
More than two-thirds (68 per cent) of North American employers have a formal diversity, equity and inclusion policy or program, while 60 per cent offer employee education on DEI, according to two separate surveys by Leger Marketing Inc. on behalf of ESG Global Advisors and ACI Argyle Communications Inc. The surveys, which polled more than 70 […]