There is evidence of activity responding to Call 9, though efforts are concentrated in the responsible investment and corporate disclosure space rather than in direct shareholder education aimed at mandating Indigenous board representation. The most substantive work is led by the Shareholder Association for Research and Education (SHARE) and its Reconciliation and Responsible Investment Initiative (RRII), which engage institutional investors and Canadian corporations on reconciliation commitments including Indigenous inclusion on boards. Federal regulatory changes, particularly the 2020 amendments to the Canada Business Corporations Act (CBCA), now require distributing corporations to disclose Indigenous representation on their boards and in senior management, creating a transparency mechanism for shareholders to evaluate corporate performance. The Government of Canada’s 50 – 30 Challenge further encouraged organizations to pursue 30% representation of equity-deserving groups, including Indigenous Peoples, in board and senior management positions.
Despite these developments, Indigenous representation on corporate boards remains extremely low. Corporations Canada’s 2024 annual report found that Indigenous Peoples held only 0.5% of board seats at federal distributing corporations, down from 0.7% the previous year. Osler’s 2024 Diversity Disclosure Practices report similarly found approximately 1.0% of board seats among CBCA companies held by Indigenous Peoples, with almost no companies setting targets for Indigenous board representation. Activity responsive to Call 9 exists, but it has not yet translated into the kind of shareholder-driven mandate for Indigenous board inclusion that the Call envisions.
