Health Canada has released their “What we heard” summary report from their recent two-day Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Forum held earlier this year. 

The summary, sent out to attendees and stakeholders today, provides info on the DEI Forum held January 26-27, 2022.

The goal of the forum was to share information about the federal cannabis licensing process and to provide the government with a chance to hear from Indigenous and racialized communities about the kinds of systemic barriers that exist within the cannabis industry. 

The event itself was designed based on consultation with these and other “underrepresented communities” in Canada. Both days were well attended, with limited invitations filling up fast.

The summary report notes that attendees to the two days of meetings provided suggestions for actions the government can take to improve opportunities for people from Indigenous and racialized communities to become licensed, grow their businesses, and improve their capacity to meet Health Canada’s regulatory requirements.

“The feedback received was invaluable, and we would like to thank everyone who took the time to meet with us or provided their input through the online survey,” notes the email from Health Canada. 

“While the conversations may have been difficult at times, we appreciate the open, honest, and respectful discussions and input shared throughout the forum. We also want participants to know that we heard your comments.”

Deepak Anand, a cannabis industry consultant and the Principal at ASDA Consultancy Services, says he thinks the forum and report are useful, he feels this work could have been done much earlier in the process of legalization in Canada.

“It is unfortunate that this consultation has happened after several predominantly white men have made their bags of cash and exited the industry. I hope this is not being done in order to check off some box or simply for optics sake.

“It is unfortunate that these consultations didn’t happen at the time when several other consultations around the cannabis file were occurring,” continues Anand. “Also, the reach and participation of this consultation could have been and needs to be broader in the future, but it is encouraging nonetheless to see Health Canada begin to pay attention to this important issue, albeit on a severely delayed basis. 

“I am hoping that this is the beginning of many more consultations beyond just licensing and that they are done with increased frequency and purpose and there is meaningful feedback that is adopted from these consultations going-forward.”

Jenna Valleriani, who previously worked as Director, Social Impact and Advocacy at Canopy and currently provides consulting services through Valleriani Consulting, says she thinks Health Canada’s efforts on the subject are important, but shares Anand’s concerns with how slow the regulator has been to address these issues. 

“I’m looking forward to seeing how Health Canada operationalizes the feedback from the forum, and it’s important to see the government prioritizes space for these discussions. It’s also not lost that we are almost 4 years into legalization, and it was mostly void of any further social justice and equity initiatives. 

“The feedback here underscores some of the lessons learned in the United States across their 16 or so cannabis social equity programs—namely that financial resources are one of the most critical barriers for entrepreneurs from justice-impact communities. There’s research that confirms Black and Indigenous people are underrepresented in leadership positions in cannabis, while being much more likely to have been impacted by ongoing and past harms of its prohibition. And really, only recently have we seen some Canadian cannabis companies turn their attention to diversity, equity and inclusion.”

Health Canada also provided the following as a summary of the main themes that the federal regulator heard from participants: