Class Act: Considering Race and Gender in the Corporate Boardroom

Canadians tend to pride themselves on their superior corporate governance, accountability, and the notable absence of scandals of the magnitude of Enron, WorldCom, or Adelphia. Canadian publicly traded corporations, for the most part, have human rights policies and proactive programs to redress both overt and systematic discrimination, and Canada has not experienced the same level of egregious behavior in respect to sex and race discrimination exhibited by some US corporations. Yet race and gender discrimination continue to persist. This article considers how corporate boards and their current representation and practice perpetuate these problems through their own lack of diversity. It suggests that the issues touch not only on gender and race, but also on class, in the manner in which board selection and practice occurs in the Canadian corporate environment. Any breach of those duties is contrary to law and serves as a clear basis for both enforcement by public authorities and legal action by shareholders.