Mining association launches regulations to diversify mostly ‘male and white’ industry

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Canada’s largest mining association has announced new regulations that its members must follow to tackle issues such as sexual harassment, bullying and gender discrimination at a time when the industry is finding it difficult to attract workers.

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Through its equity, diversity and inclusion protocol, the Mining Association of Canada, whose nearly 60 members including Barrick Gold Corp. and Teck Resources Ltd., hopes to attract more women, newcomers and minorities in a sector that’s “male dominated” and “homogeneously white,” the association said.

In February last year, Rio Tinto Ltd., one of the world’s largest mining companies, released a report based on a survey of about 10,000 employees, which suggested the presence of systemic bullying, sexual harassment and racism in its workforce.

The report helped pushed MAC to introduce its new protocol, the association’s chief executive Pierre Gratton said. The new regulation will compel its members to conduct similar independent surveys, be transparent and take steps to improve the working environment. If members don’t adhere to the regulation, they can be asked to exit the group as a last measure.

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“There are still operations around the world where there aren’t any women’s toilets. Even things within Canada, mining equipment is not necessarily designed for female’s bodies,” Gratton said. “Companies need policies on anti-harassment and bullying against women, against minorities. Some of them have them, but to what extent are they fully implemented?”

Canada’s mining industry expects to have a shortage of about 80,000 to 120,000 workers by 2030, according to the non-profit Mining Industry Human Resources Council.

MAC’s workplace push is part of its Towards Sustainable Mining program, which helps miners manage environmental and social risks. The program already has about 30 indicators and eight protocols that deal with issues such as tailings management and communicating with Indigenous groups. Members are graded annually and handed scores from AAA to C.

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Gratton said most companies in the early days of that program struggled to meet MAC’s regulations. But in the past 15 years, a majority of the companies improved and were given an A grade. This compelled MAC to redesign their criteria and make its indicators stricter. Gratton expects to see similar progress with the new protocol.

“In order to go up the curve and achieve the kind of results that they are going to be proud of, as opposed to embarrassed by, which I think it’s going to be a little bit like in the beginning, they are going to have to look at their HR policies, they are going to have to look to see if there’s unconscious bias or outright bias,” he said.

Critics such as the Mining Watch Canada, a non-governmental organization, believe that MAC sets weaker standards than some other associations.

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But Anne Johnson, an assistant professor at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., in August said MAC’s policies are “valuable” because they set “minimums” and require companies to improve over time.

“Incremental improvement is going to get us where we need to go,” she said.

Others agree. Marci Ien, the minister for women, gender equality and youth, said MAC’s new policies could play a key role in making communities feel safe in an industry that’s “predominantly male and white.”

Lana Payne, Unifor’s national president, said she was confident the new policies would make mining companies more accountable and transparent.

• Email: nkarim@postmedia.com | Twitter: naimonthefield

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