Canadian securities regulators announce results of 10th annual review of representation of women on boards and in executive officer positions in Canada

TORONTO – Participating Canadian securities regulators today published the results of their 10th consecutive annual review of disclosures relating to women on boards and in executive officer positions, as well as the underlying data that was used to prepare the report.

The report summarizes the corporate governance disclosures of 574 non-venture issuers and has been published by the securities regulatory authorities in Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan. 

Some key highlights and trends from the review include:

• Twenty-nine per cent of board seats were held by women this year, compared to 27 per cent last year and 11 per cent in year one.
• Ninety per cent of issuers had at least one woman on their board this year, compared to 89 per cent last year and 49 per cent in year one.
• Seventy-two per cent of issuers had at least one woman in an executive officer position this year, compared to 71 per cent last year and 60 per cent in year one.
• The percentage of board vacancies filled by women decreased from 43 per cent last year to 37 per cent this year.

“We have seen an increase in representation of women on boards and in executive positions over the last 10 years,” said Stan Magidson, CSA Chair and Chair and CEO of the Alberta Securities Commission. “Investors have advised that they value disclosure about an organization’s diversity and we continue to work toward a harmonized national diversity disclosure framework that goes beyond the representation of women.” 

We expect that this will be the final year that we conduct a review of the above-noted disclosures. After 10 consecutive annual reporting periods under the current disclosure standards, we are exploring potential changes to diversity-related disclosure requirements. An April 2023 CSA Notice and Request for Comment sought public feedback on amendments to Form 58-101F1 Corporate Governance Disclosure of NI 58-101 and proposed changes to National Policy 58-201 Corporate Governance Guidelines. We continue to work towards a harmonized national disclosure framework that considers comments received during our consultation period. 

The underlying data summarized in this report and data for 113 additional non-venture issuers that were not included in our Year 9 review sample has also been published today. 

CSA Multilateral Staff Notice 58-317 Review of Disclosure Regarding Women on Boards and in Executive Officer Positions – Year 10 Report can be found on CSA member websites. The underlying data files have been published by Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Québec and Saskatchewan.

The CSA, the council of the securities regulators of Canada’s provinces and territories, co-ordinates and harmonizes regulation for the Canadian capital markets.

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