Inclusion is not a passing trend

The Black university leader arrives at convocation to be robed, and it is assumed by staff that they are a student who has lost their way.

The Black academic walks into a conference room, and a fellow presenter mistakes them for the support staff.

These stories are, unfortunately, true and typical experiences on Canadian university campuses in 2024.

It has been nearly five years since the murder of George Floyd and the flurry of activity at Canadian universities that ensued: supporting, elevating and celebrating Black leaders, professors, students, staff and alums.  As we approach the fifth anniversary of this tragic event, and it has become apparent that all of the steps being taken by institutions were being done for both right and wrong reasons. Some of the efforts were short-lived and largely performative. Others were not. While this moment created important momentum and action, some universities have forgotten the why of their actions.

The U.S. named their first Black university president, Martin Henry Freeman, in 1856. Canada did the same thing in 2014 when Brandon University chose Gervan Fearon as its leader. The U.S. counts 13.6 per cent of their university presidents as Black, which is closely in line with their population breakdown. In Canada, the number of Black university presidents currently sits at one per cent, significantly lower than the total Black population of 4.3 per cent. Canada currently has approximately 12 per cent of racialized presidents in Canada, compared to one-quarter of our population.

Currently, Canada has one Black university president: Rhonda McEwen, president and vice-chancellor of the Victoria University, which is federated with the University of Toronto. She has successfully led the institution for the past two years. Dr. Fearon successfully led Brandon for three years and then Brock University for four before becoming president of George Brown College. In early 2025, the Canadian university community will welcome Wisdom Tettey as the president of Carleton University.

However, there is not one Black university president in Canada who has completed a full five-year term at a Canadian university.

While women still experience a glass ceiling in Canadian universities, representing under 30 per cent of presidential roles and primarily at smaller institutions, the term used to describe the reality for Black women is the concrete ceiling.

Black women, in particular, face misogynoir: discrimination caused by the intersection of racism and sexism. Coined by Moya Bailey, the term misogynoir highlights the fact that Black women regularly face multiple and compounding experiences of stereotyping and discrimination; tropes such as the “angry Black woman.”

KPMG’s recently released research of 1,000 Canadian professionals who identify as Black found that in the past year alone, 81 per cent endured some form of racism or microaggression in their workplace. We also know workplace racism intersects with gender, as this research found the number of Black Canadian women experiencing some form of workplace racism or discrimination climbed 10 percentage points from a year ago (versus seven per cent for Black men).

Because so many marginalized racial and ethnic employees are experiencing racism at work, they come to expect it. This expectation is called the “emotional tax” – the experience of being on guard against bias related to race or ethnicity.

To advance equity, diversity, and inclusion, university senior leadership teams and boards must be intentional and strategic and consider how their organizational readiness, recruitment, retention and succession planning strategies and processes need to set up Black leaders for success. They need to proactively provide organizational support for leaders in senior executive roles when they are elevated during times of crisis. In addition, they must create a diverse leadership pipeline by identifying and promoting people from marginalized groups, eliminating bias in talent recruitment, embedding inclusive leadership values and practices throughout the organization and creating a culture of inclusion where everyone thrives.

Leadership matters. The tone and practices from the top, including modelling inclusive governance and leadership. Research shows that positive perceptions around antiracism leader efforts and organizational policies correlate directly to fewer incidences of racial and ethnic harassment and discrimination.

This fall is a perfect time for your board and leadership team to renew your institution’s equity, diversity and inclusion strategy. Good intentions are insufficient to ensure the representation the Canadian university sector deserves. Representation of Black leaders in the university sector is not a passing trend. How is your university faring?

Malinda Smith is the inaugural vice-provost of equity, diversity and inclusion as well as the associate vice-president, research and professor of political science at the University of Calgary. Julie Cafley is the executive director of Catalyst Canada, a global non-profit organization that advances gender equity through workplace inclusion.