Aims to Promote Inclusiveness and Diversity in Canada’s Forest Sector

In January, the Canadian Institute of Forestry/Institute forestier du Canada (CIF-IFC) and the Centre for Social Intelligence (CSI) proudly announced the launch of a new microsite for the Free to Grow In Forestry initiative. The microsite was designed to communicate to all stakeholders in the forest sector the resources developed through the Gender Equity in Canada’s Forest Sector National Action Plan.

The national action plan is a three-year initiative spearheaded by the CIF-IFC and the CSI, with strategic guidance from a National Steering Committee of forest sector leaders from government, industry, academia, Indigenous, and non-profit organizations to achieve gender equality and meaningful inclusion of women, Indigenous peoples, and new Canadians at all levels, from technical to executive level positions, in the forest sector. According to a press release, the Free to Grow in Forestry microsite will share the actions undertaken in this initiative including communication "shareables" that individuals and organizations are encouraged to use in their “spheres of influence.”

The site launch follows a donation from the Government of Canada in fall 2021, made in an effort to combat gender disparity in Canada.

According to the Government of Canada press release, the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected women and girls, who have faced job losses, reduced hours of work, shouldered the majority of the additional unpaid care responsibilities at home, and continue to be on the front lines. With this in mind, the$1,039,683 was split between two initiatives that both promote an inclusive economic recovery in Canada: the Elizabeth Fry Society of Northeastern Ontario and the CIF-IFC’s Free to Grow in Forestry initiative.

“The Canadian Institute of Forestry in partnership with the Centre for Social Intelligence are energized to learn of this funding,” said Mark Pearson, Executive Director of the Canadian Institute of Forestry in response to the donation. “These resources will support the advancement and employment of women and other under-represented groups through the acceleration of the Free to Grow in Forestry initiative – leading transformational change in the forest sector and providing employment opportunities for Canada’s increasingly diverse population. This will not only support individual Canadians, but it will also help to strengthen the performance of the forest sector and Canada’s economic competitiveness in a global market economy.”

Founded in 2018 in partnership between the Canadian Institute of Forestry (CIFC) and the Centre for Social Intelligence, Free to Grow in Forestry is a program created to address gender and diversity inequity in the forest sector.

In 2017, Statistics Canada (StatsCan) found that there was a gender disparity when it came to the natural resource workforce: Women represented only 17% of all workers, only 9% of all workers were visible minorities, 7% were Indigenous, and 12% were immigrants.

According to a report released in early 2021 titled Evidence on Diversity in Canada's Forest Sector, there are four main barriers preventing workplace diversity: prevalent wage gaps, low retention rates, lack of advancement opportunities, and current workplace cultures.

The report emphasized wage gap especially, as the issue was significant and persistent when comparing men and women in the forest sector, with the largest gaps in both wage and employment being in trades positions and executive level positions within natural resources industries. Indigenous people and immigrants also had a lower median income in all four sub-sectors of the forest industry – forestry and logging, support activities for forestry, wood product manufacturing, and paper manufacturing.

Free to Grow in Forestry and its partners are striding to make change focusing on three essential pillars: building the evidence base through research, fostering an inclusive culture in the industry, and repositioning the sector through targeted communication to attract a more diverse workforce.

The initiative argues that there is a strong business case for supporting gender equality in the workplace. Yet it’s far from mainstream in the forest sector. Organizations with inclusive cultures are twice as likely to exceed or meet financial targets, thrice as likely to be high performing, six times more likely to be innovative and agile, and eight times more likely to achieve better business outcomes. The campaign intends to show a united front in this effort across the industry, in leads, not-for-profits, public office, the Indigenous sector, private companies, and in academia. They also hope to help the industry realize that Canada has the workforce potential to make gender inequality and under-represented groups a thing of the past.

“Working together across the sector is a transformational approach to affecting change on diversity and inclusion. Not only will the workplace culture see benefits, organizations can expect to see an improvement in the bottom line,” said Kelly Cooper, CEO and Founder of CSI. “Together we can make a difference.”

The new Free to Grow in Forestry microsite, www.freetogrowinforestry.ca, provides a place where you can learn more about the initiative, the National Steering Committee and Sub-Committee partners, find resources, and take action. They are also on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

References:

CBC News. (2021, September 8). Forestry sector campaign aims to attract more women and under-represented groups. CBC News. Retrieved from www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/forestry-sector-women-recruitment-1.6168369.

Government of Canada. (2021, August 9). Over $1 million approved to support an inclusive recovery in Nipissing-Timiskaming. Anthonyrota.libparl.ca. Retrieved from www.anthonyrota.libparl.ca/2021/08/09/over-1-million-approved-to-support-an-inclusive-recovery-in-nipissing-timiskaming.

The Canadian Institute of Forestry. (n.d.). Free to Grow in Forestry. Retrieved from www.freetogrowinforestry.ca.

The Canadian Institute of Forestry. (n.d.). Gender Equity in Canada’s Forest Sector Initiative. Cif-ifc.org. Retrieved from www.cif-ifc.org/gender-equity-in-canadas-forest-sector-initiative.

The Canadian Institute of Forestry. (2022, January 13). New ‘Free to Grow in Forestry’ microsite launched to promote inclusiveness and diversity in Canada’s forest sector [Press release]. Cif-ifc.org. Retrieved from www.cif-ifc.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Media-Release-Free-to-Grow-in-Forestry-Website-Launch-Bilingual_01.13.2021.pdf.