The Canadian Electrical Association (CEA) announces plans to increase diversity and equity

The Canadian Electricity Association (CEA) recently committed to working with its member companies across the country to advance Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (ED&I) in the electricity industry between now and 2025.

All members of The Canadian Electricity Association shared their best practices with each other, which were then compared to worldwide standards, as established in 2013 when around two tiers of countries members of OECD took new measures for promoting women equity. Here are some key measures :

1) Create a “Digital” Community of Practice: CEA will establish a new “digital” ED&I community of practice to effectively share information, strategies, and analysis among member companies to further strengthen their respective ED&I initiatives.

2) Partnerships: CEA will establish strategic partnerships with external organizations and other experts to address specific gaps related to the above themes through targeted research, identification of strategic approaches, and development of guidance materials.

3) Standardize Best Practice Sharing: CEA will develop a standardized approach to best practice sharing across the organization to ensure the best approaches are identified and widely promoted within the membership.

4) Champion Industry Efforts: CEA will develop and implement a strategy to communicate industry’s progress on ED&I and promote it to diverse populations across the country.

While the sector is making progress in valuing diverse employees, offering permanent residency to immigrants through the express entry process, there is still room for more work to be done. For example, in 2017, in Quebec, the electrician trade consisted of 195 women and 17,285 men.