Representation in senior leadership positions

Proportion of specified populations occupying leadership roles, including elected officers, ministers, administrators of the justice system, and senior management and senior leadership positions held in federal, provincial, Indigenous and municipal governments and in the private sector (e.g., CEOs, board chairs).

This indicator is derived from a number of different sources and is reported for populations including but not limited to women and men—including transgender women and men—and non-binary people, racialized groups, Indigenous persons and persons with a disability.

Key information on the aforementioned selected populations by occupation is available from the Census of Population. The census asks for each household member's occupation and instructs respondents to be specific in their answer.

Data on occupation for some selected populations are also available from the Labour Force Survey (LFS).

Data sources external to Statistics Canada also provide information to inform this indicator, including, but not limited to:

• House of Commons Canada: members of parliament, ministry (cabinet), parliamentary secretaries, party leaders and other house officers;
• Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs Canada (FJA): judges;
• Corporations Returns Act (CRA): directors and officers on boards;
• Band Governance Management System (BGMS): First Nation band councils and Chiefs in First Nation communities.

• Census of Population
  • Table 37-10-0207-01 – Canadian legislators by selected demographic characteristics and sex
  • Table 37-10-0208-01 – Canadian judges by selected demographic characteristics and sex
• House of Commons Canada
  • Table 10-10-0137-01 – Representation of women and men elected to national Parliament and of ministers appointed to federal Cabinet
• Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs Canada (FJA)
  • Table 35-10-0198-01 – Federally appointed judges by gender
• Labour Force Survey (LFS)
  • Table 14-10-0335-03 – Proportion of women and men employed in management positions, annual
• Corporations Returns Act (CRA)
  • Table 33-10-0501-01 – Representation of women and men on boards of directors, by gender and by firm's attribute
  • Table 33-10-0218-01 – Representation of men and women on boards of directors
• Band Governance Management System (BGMS)
  • Table 41-10-0048-01 – Representation of men and women in First Nation band councils and Chiefs in First Nation communities by sex
• Police Administration Survey (PAS)
  • Table 35-10-0078-01 – Police personnel by detailed rank, duties and gender

• Executives with disabilities in Canada, 2019 (Statistics Canada – Infographics, April 4, 2023)
• Sustainable Development Goals: Goal 5, Gender Equality (Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals Report, September 28, 2022)
• Diversity among board directors and officers (Statistics Canada – Infographics, May 18, 2021)
• Women in corporate Canada: Who's at the top? (Statistics Canada – Infographics, May 7, 2019)

• Federal members of Parliament and federal members of Cabinet across Canada (The Daily, March 8, 2024)
• Representation of women on boards of directors and in officer positions, 2020 (The Daily, May 29, 2023)
• The Daily — Representation of persons with disabilities in executive positions, 2016 to 2019 (The Daily, April 4, 2023)
• Immigrant women among board directors and officers: From admission in Canada to executive roles (Analysis in Brief, December 8, 2022)
• Representation of women in officer positions, 2016 to 2019 (The Daily, October 17, 2022)
• Gender Results Framework: Data table on the gender distribution of federally appointed judges in federal, provincial and territorial courts (The Daily, January 10, 2022)
• Diversity Among Board Directors and Officers: Exploratory Estimates on Family, Work and Income (Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series, May 18, 2021)
• Gender Results Framework: Data tables on Canadian legislators and judges (The Daily, April 29, 2021)
• Gender Results Framework: Data table on the representation of men and women in First Nations band councils and Chiefs in First Nations communities in Canada, 2019 (The Daily, April 13, 2021)
• Occupations of South Asian, Chinese and Black women: Prevalence and age composition (Labour Statistics: Research Papers, October 22, 2020)
• Equally mobile, equally stable: Gender convergence in labour mobility and job stability in Canada (Labour Statistics: Research Papers, August 28, 2020)
• The gender wage gap in Canada: 1998 to 2018 (Labour Statistics: Research Papers, October 7, 2019)
• Measuring and Analyzing the Gender Pay Gap: A Conceptual and Methodological Overview (Studies on Gender and Intersecting Identities, August 30, 2019)