The 50 – 30 Challenge: Your Diversity Advantage

Find out more about how the 50 – 30 Challenge will support diversity actions already taking place in many Canadian organizations and encourage other Canadian organizations to adopt practices to improve equity.

Number of participating organizations

2,506

Last update: March 15, 2024

Sign up today!

All Canadian organizations are encouraged to sign up for the Challenge today by filling in the 50 – 30 Challenge form.

Have questions? Contact us at 50-30challengeinfodefi50-30info@ised-isde.gc.ca.


Why join the Challenge?

See what participants have to say about joining the 50 – 30 Challenge, the changes their organizations have made and why you should consider committing to these goals.

Browse testimonials.


The What Works Toolkit

The What Works Toolkit is an online toolkit designed for all Canadian organizations looking to implement equality, diversity and inclusion practices.

Learn more about the What Works Toolkit.


Ecosystem Partners

The 50 – 30 Challenge Ecosystem Partners help participants adopt diversity practices within their organizations.

Learn more about Ecosystem Partners.

On this page


About the 50 – 30 Challenge

The 50 – 30 Challenge is an initiative between the Government of Canada, Canadian businesses and diversity organizations.

The goal of the program is to challenge Canadian organizations to increase the representation and inclusion of diverse groups within their workplaces, while highlighting the benefits of giving all Canadians a seat at the table.

The 50 – 30 Challenge asks that organizations aspire to two goals:

  1. Gender parity (50% women and/or non-binary people) on Canadian boards and/or in senior management; and
  2. Significant representation (30%) on Canadian boards and/or senior management of members of other equity-deserving groups, including those who identify as Racialized, Black, and/or People of colour ("Visible Minorities"), People with disabilities (including invisible and episodic disabilities), 2SLGBTQ+ and/or gender and sexually diverse individuals, and Aboriginal and/or Indigenous Peoples. The program and participants recognize Indigenous Peoples, including First Nations, Métis and Inuit, as founding Peoples of Canada and underrepresented in positions of economic influence and leadership.

The 50 – 30 Challenge was created in collaboration with various diversity organizations, institutions and networks:

List of collaborators
Aboriginal Chamber of Commerce
Accenture
BlackNorth Initiative
Board Ready Women
Canadian Black Chamber of Commerce
Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion
Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business
Canadian Council on Rehabilitation and Work
Canadian Foundation for Physically Disabled Persons
Canada's LGBT+ Chamber of Commerce
Canadian Association for Supported Employment
Capital Angel Network
Catalyst Canada
Coalition of Innovation Leaders Against Racism (CILAR)
Concertation Montréal (in French only)
Conference Board of Canada
Council of Canadians with Disabilities
Cycle Capital Management
Deloitte Canada
Diversity Institute
Fredericton Chamber of Commerce
Indo-Canadian Chamber of Commerce
Information & Communications Technology Council
Innovatia
Institute of Corporate Directors
Kisik Clean Energy
Kisik Commercial Furniture
KPMG Canada
Moroccan Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Canada (in French only)
New Brunswick Business Council
New Brunswick Multicultural Council
Ordre des conseillers en ressources humaines agréés (in French only)
Pride at Work Canada
Quebec Interuniversity Equity Diversity Inclusion Network
Randstad Canada
RevolutionHER™ Inc.
Rick Hansen Foundation
Rotman Initiative for Women in Business
Sandpiper Ventures
TechImpact
Technation
The51
Wavefront Centre for Communication Accessibility
Women Building Futures
Women in Business New Brunswick
Women in Communications and Technology
Women in Governance
YMCA Canada

The benefits

Diversity in the workplace makes good business sense. Organizations that are more diverse are:

  • more likely to outperform their peers;
  • twice as likely to meet or exceed financial targets; and
  • eight times more likely to achieve better business outcomes.

Effective diversity and inclusion strategies can help organizations advance their goals. Many organizations have shown that leveraging diversity and inclusion can:

  • attract the best and the brightest to broaden the talent pool and help overcome skill gaps in a rapidly transforming and increasingly volatile economy.Footnote 1
  • perceive problems from different angles, identify new and unexplored market opportunities, and relate to unmet market needs.Footnote 2
  • help them outperform financially. A recent studyFootnote 3 showed that companies with gender-diverse executive teams outperform those with little gender diversity by 48%. In terms of companies with culturally diverse executive teams versus companies with little cultural diversity among their executive ranks, the difference was 36%.
  • promote innovation by bringing multiple perspectives and experiences to bear on complex problems. A 2018 studyFootnote 4 found that companies that have more diverse management teams have 19% higher revenue due to innovation.