Final Cut: Diversity trends, actions and results

Canada’s forest sector directly employs over 212,000 Canadians across the country, and more than 300 communities depend on it for their prosperity. Canadians also rely on forest products daily, whether that’s the lumber in the houses they live in, the paper products they use, or the sustainable, wood-based ingredients added to everyday products like pharmaceuticals, textiles, and cosmetics.

With its mandate to ensure the sustainability of the natural resource sectors, Natural Resource Canada (NRCan) supports innovation in the forest industry, research on new products, and the creation of new markets. This includes programs like the Forest Innovation Program (FIP), Investments in Forest Industry Transformation (IFIT) program, and Green Construction through Wood (GCWood) program. To ensure that the forest sector continues to benefit all Canadians, NRCan has put in place measures that support diversity and inclusion (D&I) in the forest sector labour force.

NRCan has taken an evidence-based approach to get a better understanding of the gaps and actions that could be taken to ensure a more representative sector.

Compared to the overall Canadian workforce, the forest sector includes a higher representation of men, Indigenous Peoples, rural and remote workers, and workers without a post-secondary education.

While women make up almost 50 per cent of the workforce in Canada, they constitute only 19 per cent of the forest sector, though this has increased slightly from 17 per cent in 2016 according to the latest Census data. Similarly, immigrants account for about 26 per cent of Canada’s overall workforce, but only 13 per cent of the forest sector – up from 12 per cent in 2016. Finally, there is also a rise in the proportion of workers in the forest sector who have a post-secondary education, especially in science, technology, engineering or math – now 13 per cent, up from 10 per cent in 2016.

Since 2019, NRCan’s forest sector programs have introduced new reporting requirements for recipients, including collecting D&I plans, which highlight each company’s D&I-related priorities and actions, as well as D&I questionnaires, which provide anonymous and aggregated information on each company’s workforce composition. To date, the D&I plans have demonstrated that most companies have a clear vision and proposed strategies for improvement. The data reported by recipient companies in D&I questionnaires over time is also largely in line with the latest forest sector trends, with a moderate increase in the representation of women, most notably in trades (up 11 per cent), professional (up 10 per cent), and other roles (up 22 per cent) across these organizations. In 2023, these measures were further refined, including through better data collection and analysis methods to more accurately track recipients’ D&I activities and identify trends.

Another D&I measure implemented by NRCan was the creation in 2020 of the Canadian Forest Sector Workforce Diversity Undergraduate Supplement. This award is delivered through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and is designed to incentivize students from underrepresented groups to pursue forest-related research. This is especially important in the context of innovation in the Canadian forest sector, which involves the creation of new jobs and provides an opportunity for a renewed focus on diversity. Since 2020, 90 supplements totalling $450,000 have been awarded to students across Canada, with nearly 70 per cent supporting women in forest research. In 2023, this supplement was renewed, with plans to increase funding and expand the eligibility criteria to reach new student groups.

NRCan will continue to support D&I efforts in the forest sector, including through its funding programs and support for students from diverse backgrounds seeking research opportunities. The FIP, IFIT, and GCWood programs have a unique advantage in promoting diversity in the forest sector as they work closely with industry, emphasizing the importance of D&I considerations from application to project completion. NRCan will continue to seek new ways to improve on these measures to better support forest sector workforce diversity over time.

Kristen Vitullo is a policy analyst at the Canadian Forest Service.