Four people from the 2020 class were inducted this year, including one woman, Ratana Stephens, who was named along with her husband as co-founders of Nature’s Path Foods Inc.Rafal Gerszak/The Globe and Mail
British Columbia’s business community will be honouring another round of inductees to its Hall of Fame this month, but experts are urging changes to the selection process as few leaders who are women and people of colour have been recognized.
The Business Laureates of British Columbia Hall of Fame, created in 2005, is designed to honour business leaders who have shaped the province and country. The program is run by Junior Achievement of British Columbia, or JABC, with a goal to inspire future business leaders. However, among more than 80 inductees over more than 15 years, just four are women and there are few people of colour.
Two weeks before a new slate of members are set to be inducted, some experts and women in the business community believe the nomination and vetting process needs to be revised to ensure the recipients better reflect the population.
“Usually, it’s part of the process,” said Stacey Fitzsimmons, an associate professor of international business at University of Victoria. “So they’re getting nominations from other top business leaders, who usually think of people that they know of, or people they’ve interacted with, who are usually very similar demographically to themselves.”
She said the problem won’t change unless the short list of candidates is also more diverse.
According to JABC’s website, members of the Hall are nominated each year by B.C.’s foremost business and community leaders and chosen by an independent committee of their peers, represented by business, academia and media institutions. It says the selection committee evaluates submissions based on four criteria: legacy, leadership, integrity and vision. The six-member selection committee had one woman and none was a person of colour.
JABC president and chief executive officer Sheila Biggers said the award is considered a lifetime achievement award and is reflective of an individual’s career over the past 40 to 50 years. She described equity, diversity and inclusion as a “top priority” for the JABC board and its staff.
“JABC is committed to increasing diversity amongst the B.C. business laureates, and we are proud to say that in 2021 (delayed from 2020), we inducted the most diverse slate of laureates since the program began,” she said in a statement. “It is our mission to ensure the Hall of Fame is representative of all British Columbians, and we are actively taking steps to increase diversity on both the nominating and selection committees this year.”
Four people from the 2020 class were inducted this year, including one woman, Ratana Stephens, who was named along with her husband as co-founders of Nature’s Path Foods Inc. In addition, 10 people were added posthumously, all men. The laureate nomination committee consisted of 17 members, had six women and one women of colour, according to the JABC website.
In addition to Ms. Stephens, the other women now in the Hall are Jennie Butchart, who founded what eventually became Butchart Gardens on Vancouver Island, now a national historic site; Wendy B. McDonald, the first woman to lead the Vancouver Board of Trade; and Lucille Johnstone, whose long career in business included serving as CEO of Integrated Ferry Corp. The handful of leaders who are from racialized communities include Chief Clarence Louie of the Osoyoos Indian Band and Robert Lee, Vancouver philanthropist and former chancellor of the University of British Columbia.
June Francis, director of the Institute for Diaspora Research and Engagement at B.C.’s Simon Fraser University, said the list of inductees is an example of the “undervaluing of so many other business leaders including Indigenous, women and members of the Black and other racialized communities.”
She said it is particularly disappointing coming from an organization whose mission is to inspire young people to succeed in a global economy.
Dr. Francis said organizers need to do a full equity audit of their processes to reimagine the criteria and processes, including how they elicit nominees and their decision-making criteria, and ensure full participation of Indigenous, Black, racialized communities and women organizations in identifying prospects, as well as in the decision-making.
She added senior leadership and decision makers need to build capacity through training and coaching but, more importantly, through attracting more diverse board members and senior leaders who have experience in applying equity principles.
Paulina Cameron, CEO of the Forum, a Canadian-based charity for female entrepreneurs, said there’s a long list of women in the business community who should be recognized. For example, she pointed to Gerri Sinclair, B.C.’s Innovation Commissioner; Tracey McVicar, partner at Vancouver-based CAI Capital Partners; and Vancouver Airport Authority CEO Tamara Vrooman, who is also the chair of the Canada Infrastructure Bank.
“In terms of what can be done to encourage [diversity], I always come back to who’s making the decisions, and how are we defining success?” Ms. Cameron said.
Ms. Vrooman said a lot of businesses have been built over time, and at various points, the person at the very top was a white man. However, she added, women play huge roles in stabilizing companies.
She added the Hall might create a new category to recognize newer leaders and businesses, “where we see, frankly, greater diversity than we have historically.”
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Xiao Xu