OTTAWA, Feb 15, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Canada said Friday it would compel banks, insurance companies and other financial firms to disclose the number of women and minorities on their boards and in senior management positions.

The move, announced in the government newspaper Canada Gazette, contrasts with a retreat from diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs -- aimed at combatting racism, sexism and other discrimination in the workplace -- in the United States pushed by President Donald Trump.

The Canadian regulations aim to promote hiring of women, visible minorities, Indigenous people, and the disabled in senior ranks.

"Diversity is fundamental to creating a thriving and successful financial sector that reflects Canadian values and achieves its potential," the government said in the Canada Gazette.

It cited studies showing that "diversity and inclusion in corporate governance are important drivers of new ideas and innovation, organizational performance, and growth."

The new rules, which will affect 16 financial institutions, are similar to those already implemented for other federally regulated companies such as telecommunications providers, airlines and railways.

They would require financial institutions to make diversity disclosures annually to investors.

Such policies came to the fore in the United States during mass protests against the 2020 murder of African American George Floyd by a white police officer, as institutions scrambled to signal that they were on-message when it came to racism.

Largely focused on hiring practices and corporate culture, equal rights policies in the US have gone from being a marker of professionalism before the Trump era to a right-wing bogeyman, held up as an example of counterproductive virtue-signaling.

Trump repeatedly previewed his plan to stamp out such policies during his election campaign, and administration officials are now racing to prosecute his war on DEI across the federal bureaucracy.

Most provincial securities regulators in Canada already require publicly listed companies to disclose gender diversity on their boards and management teams.

According to government data, 59 percent of corporate boards in Canada had at least one woman member while 27 percent had a member of a visible minority in 2023.

Women also held 29 percent of all senior management positions and visible minorities held 13 percent.

All of these figures were up slightly from the previous year.