Men accounted for more than two-thirds of Order of Canada appointments last year

Less than a third of Canadians appointed to the Order of Canada last year were women a figure that representsthe widest gender imbalance in appointmentsto the orderinyears.

Analysis bydiversity researcher Andrew Griffith, a former senior government official, shows that 71.4 per cent of appointees in 2019were men. The low numberof women among the2019 appointeesjust28.6 per cent of the total and the low number of visible minorities just5.4 per cent show the Order of Canada falling short of representingCanada's diverse population.

Griffith said there may be a lag effect because the Order of Canadatends to begivenin recognition of a lifetime'sbody of work andhigh-profile women were scarce inmany fields until relatively recently. But he saidhe expected to seeprogress toward gender parity among Order of Canada recipients mirror the advancesexperiencedbywomenin thepublic service.

"It indicates where the country has been because these are previous contributions that are being recognized, and yet it says how far we have to go to ensure that, at the honours level where we recognize Canadians, that we're actually recognizing a broad, diverse spectrum of Canadians," he said.

A lack of balance

Griffith looked into Order of Canada appointments since 2013. He said he foundthat, on average, the gender balance onappointments over the seven-year period was65.6 per cent male and 34.4 per cent female. The appointments came closestto gender balancein2015, when 54.4 per cent were men and 45.6 per cent were women.

Over the seven-year period Griffith studied, members of visible minorities made up an average of 4.8 per cent of Order of Canada appointments well below the22.3 per cent of the population who identified asvisible minority in the 2016 census.

In that same period, Indigenous nominees comprised 4.7 per cent of the appointments very close to the 4.9 per cent identified as Indigenous in the last census.

More than 7,000 people have been invested in the Order of Canada since it was launched in 1967 as one of the country's highest civilianhonours. Appointments are made by the governor general based onrecommendations byan independent advisory council,which reviews nominations and holds confidential discussions before voting on each nominee.

Natalie Babin Dufresne, spokesperson for the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General, said there has been some progress toward gender balance in the Order of Canada in recent years. She notedthat just 21 per cent of theappointeesin 2000 were women.

Although the number of womennominatedto the Order of Canada has remained steady at about200 a year, out of roughly500 to800 total nominations, Babin Dufresne said the success rate for nominations is higher for women 72 per cent,compared to 58 per cent for men.

"Progress remains slow, and new initiatives continue to be developed to improve this situation so that we can achieve results with the Order of Canada that are comparable to other programs,such as the Sovereign Medal for volunteers, where close to 48 per cent of the recipients are women," she said in an email.

"Data collection to get a better understanding of historical trending for other diversity groups began during the current mandate, and will offer us some important insights in the coming years to better target our initiatives and efforts to increase representation for all groups, including gender, visible minority and Indigenous representation."

Babin Dufresne said modernizing thebroader Canadian honours system is one of Gov. Gen. Julie Payette's top priorities.

While there is no mention of diversity representation in the Order of Canada'sconstitution and regulations, BabinDufresnesaidsteps have been takento boost itsdiversity,such as new data collection on gender identity, disabilities, visible minorityand Indigenous status, and anew, more user-friendly nomination platform.

She also pointed outthat all Order of Canada ceremonies are now livestreamedto boostvisibility and accessibility.

Babin Dufresne said the best way to improve diversity in a merit-based public program like the Order of Canada is to get more Canadians to nominate more people which is why her office isworking to increase thepublic profile of all of Canada'shonours programs and to make the nomination process user-friendly.

Sarah Kaplan, director of the Institute for Gender and the Economy at the University of Toronto, said more must be done to make the Order of Canada reflect the country.

'Not acceptable'

"It's not acceptable, in the Canadian context a country that considers itself to be a land of opportunity, a land of equal opportunity, a land that pays attention to the diverse communities that exist within Canada that we would see the awards going mainly to men," she said.

Kaplan rejected the notionthat bringing in quotas could erode the merit-based selection process, arguing that there are plenty of Canadians from all backgrounds who have made extraordinary contributions to Canadian society who aren't recognized because they don't fit the "historical template."

"Our definition of merit is one that is self-reinforcing, about giving the same elite people the same awards. And so, when people say it should be based on merit, they're not recognizing the fact that the idea of merit itself has been designed by the people in positions of privilege to reinforce their privilege and keep others out," she said.

Rideau Hall said the Order of Canada advisory council makes appointment recommendations based on merit, but also takes factors like diversity into account.

The spring meeting of the advisorycouncil was postponed due to the pandemic so the July appointments were not named. A new group of appointees is to beannounced later this year.