How diverse is Canada’s legal cannabis industry? Examining race and gender of its executives and directors

By Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation, University of Toronto

Laws criminalizing cannabis possession for personal use have had a disproportionate negative impact on Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC) in Canada. For example, recent data show that Black and Indigenous populations are substantially overrepresented in cannabis possession arrests in Canada.

In October 2018, Canada became the second country to nationally regulate recreational cannabis production and sales. Many heralded the promise of this newly legal industry as an opportunity to rectify the injustices experienced by BIPOC under cannabis prohibition.

The aim of this project was to examine the race and gender of c-suite level executives and directors of licensed producers 2 and parent companies 3 operating in the Canadian cannabis industry, in order to assess whether the promise of an equitable legal cannabis market has been achieved.