CSA extends comment period for diversity proposals

Canada’s securities regulators have given stakeholders 10 more weeks to respond to proposals published in April regarding diversity disclosures for corporate boards and executive suites.

Citing requests for additional time to review and comment on the proposals, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) extended the comment period to Sept. 29 from July 12.

In April, the CSA offered two competing visions on how to improve the information shareholders get about corporate diversity.

The existing requirements in this area, which have not been adopted in all provinces (British Columbia and Prince Edward Island are the holdouts), were introduced in 2014 and focus on the representation of women on corporate boards and in executive roles. The regulators are now seeking to expand beyond gender to require companies to provide investors with disclosure about other forms of diversity, such as race and sexual orientation.

The proposals include two options for public consultation that are both intended to provide investors with increased insight on corporate diversity beyond gender.

One approach would require mandatory reporting on board and executive diversity for five specific groups, including women (which is required now) and adding reporting on the representation of Indigenous people, racial minorities, and disabled and LGBTQ people.

The other proposed approach would require companies to report on their policies for addressing diversity but would continue to require specific disclosure on only the representation of women.

According to the CSA, the Ontario Securities Commission favours the more demanding approach, while the regulators in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories prefer the second option.

The other regulators haven’t taken a position on either alternative.

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