DiverseCity Counts Report Out and Race and Gender Remain Workplace Barriers

As a Consultant and Researcher on Diversity and Equity Leadership, trained at the Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education at OISE, I am looking forward to hear surprises on Thursday, June 10 from the DiverseCity Counts Research findings at the Design Exchange Trading Floor, 234 Bay Street, Toronto.

However, also released is economist Sheila Block's report on Ontario's Growing Gap: The Role of Race and Gender for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternative, based on 2006 Census data. Block's report shows that visible minorities in Ontario are far more likely to live in poverty, have trouble finding a job and earn less in the workplace. Simply put, visible minorities are more likely to be unemployed or underemployed in Ontario. Particularly for women from racialized backgrounds, they face real barriers to success. Block calls for the re-introduction of Canada Employment Equity Legislation, dropped in the mid 1990s.

Given the findings from Sheila Block's report for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternative, what similar results are we to expect from DiverseCity Counts report? After all, the DiverseCity Counts last report speaks to the low percentage of minorities in leadership positions relative to the high and growing percentage of minorities in the population. So far, if this continues, Thursday's reading of the DiverseCity Counts report will not bring surprises.

Additionally, what will not be surprising is that Block's report justifies why there is a low percentage of minorities in leadership.

Dr. Marilyn J