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Perspectives from a Panel of Experts

In our second story in this special feature, we look at the panel of experts who crunched the data to deliver a revealing, one-of-a-kind report card on the state of visible minorities and aboriginal people in the Canadian workforce.

The panel consisted of four experts. Kamal Dib, a senior economist and policy chief with Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, Ekuwa Smith, a senior research associate and Director of Cultural Diversity at the Canadian Council on Social Development, Prem Benimadhu, Vice- President of Organizational Performance at the Conference Board of Canada and Norman Gull, Director of Community Services for the Cree Regional Authority.

We asked the panel to rate Canadian companies on how they treat visible minorities and aboriginal employees. The factors examined were salaries, promotions, and the number of visible minorities and aboriginal people employed in their companies. After looking at these factors, our panelists came up with a list of fifty great workplaces for visible minorities and the top companies for aboriginal people.

Kamal Dib spends each day examining data on how companies are performing on equity issues. He believes organizations need to take another look at diversity in the workplace. "Employment equity is now recognized worldwide as a uniquely Canadian tool for efficient use of scarce skilled human resources - and is increasingly being borrowed by many advanced industrialized countries," he writes in an essay for Canadian Business magazine.

Panelist Ekuwa Smith takes it a step further. She observes that while ranking Canadian companies is a great idea, the firms themselves need to do much more. For example companies who did not score well in equity issues, need to set out solid diversity plans and consult with immigrant organizations. As Smith remarks, "it makes absolutely no sense to ask an immigrant for Canadian work experience...."

According to panelist Prem Benimadhu ten years from now there will be a shortage of labour and Canada will be relying heavily on immigration. He says businesses whose labour practices encourage diversity now, will be years ahead of their competition. Benimadhu also adds, "measurement is very important, it's critical and it sends a message to companies that performance in this area does matter."

Norman Gull also believes it's important for the public to know how these companies rate particularly when it comes to the recruitment and training of aboriginal people. "Being recruited from the north into large companies in the south has its own difficulties....." says Gull. He says he was also surprised at the number of large companies that have a number of aboriginal people and native people on their staff.

There were surprises in store for some of the other panelists as well. "Some of them almost doubled their representation of visible minorities and aboriginal people's," says Dib, "to show companies doing great for aboriginal peoples and visible minorities is a new page for us... is a new chapter for Canada.

Still, Dib cautions, companies who don't take a pro-active approach to diversity, will be left in the dust by the competition.

For more information, pick up the March 29th issue of Canadian Business or visit the Minority Report section on OMNITV.ca.