ESG Explorer

In this episode, John Valley, a partner in the Corporate Group at Osler and a co-author of the Diversity Disclosure Practices report, interviews Mark Podlasly, a member of the Nlaka’pamux Nation in British Columbia. Mark is the Chief Sustainability Officer at the First Nations Major Projects Coalition, a national 170+ member First Nations organization dedicated to ensuring Indigenous environmental and economic values are incorporat...

In this episode, Joanna Cameron, a partner in the Corporate Group at Osler and a co-author of the Diversity Disclosure Practices report, welcomes Catherine Roome, a tech innovator with a passion for serving the public interest. Catherine is a director of BC Hydro, where she chairs the board of its energy trading subsidiary, Powerex, and is a member of the Site C Hydroelectric Project oversight board. Catherine also serves on the pr...

In this episode, Andrew MacDougall, a partner in the Corporate Group at Osler and a co-author of the Diversity Disclosure Practices report, welcomes Wendy Kei, who serves as Board Chair for both Ontario Power Generation and NFI Group. She is also the Audit Committee Chair for Centerra Gold Inc. Wendy is an accomplished financial executive with over 25 years of senior business experience in mining and other industries. She was recog...

In this episode, Andrew MacDougall, a partner in the Corporate Group at Osler and a co-author of the Diversity Disclosure Practices report, welcomes Dexter John, Chief Executive Officer of Sodali & Co, Canada. Before Sodali & Co acquired Gryphon Advisors, Inc., Dexter served as President and CEO of Gryphon, where he led the North American business and a team of experienced governance and financial professionals. He holds th...

In this episode, Andrew MacDougall, a partner in the Corporate Group at Osler and a co-author of the Diversity Disclosure Practices report, interviews Andrea Wood, executive vice president and Chief Legal and Governance Officer of TELUS, who also serves as Corporate Secretary to the TELUS Board of Directors. Andrea shares her perspectives on diversity, particularly at the executive level, and her role in advancing TELUS’ social pur...

In this episode of the ESG Explorer podcast, guest host Jennifer Humphrey, an associate in the Emerging and High Growth Companies Group at Osler, speaks with Patricia Thaine, founder and CEO of Toronto-based Private AI, and Lourdes Juan, founder and CEO of Calgary-based Knead Technologies about their founder stories and the unique experiences they’ve had as successful female entrepreneurs. They also discuss current market condition...

In October 2022, Osler released its eighth annual Diversity Disclosure Practices - Diversity and leadership at Canadian public companies. The report looks at how well companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and governed by the Canada Business Corporations Act are doing at working to improve diversity in senior leadership positions. This includes increasing representation of women, members of visible minorities, Indigenous pe...

According to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s latest report, the science is now settled that human behaviour is the cause of climate change and it will have profound effects on our economy and natural world. In this episode, Osler’s Andrea Boctor, partner and Chair of the Pensions and Benefits group, discusses with Ecojustice lawyer Andhra Azevedo about how pension plan administrators’ fiduciary duty ...

Earlier this year, the Council of the European Union agreed on two new directives that will form cornerstones of the European Green Deal and have far-reaching implications, affecting many Canadian businesses with operations in Europe or who are part of a global value chain delivering goods or services to Europe.

In this episode, Osler’s Lisa Mantello, a partner in the Banking & Financial Services group, hosts Ulrich Wolff, a Cor...

This episode features Osler’s Andrew MacDougall, partner, Corporate, in conversation with Michael Torrance, Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer of BMO Financial Group, about the importance of ESG to sustainability and corporate responsibility. ESG reinforces the idea that there is more to assessing a corporation’s performance than financial results to achieve long-term shareholder value. Good governance requires effecti...

This episode features a discussion involving Osler’s Shuli Rodal, partner, Competition/Antitrust and Foreign Investment, and Isabelle Crew, associate, Litigation; Regulatory, Environmental, Indigenous and Land, regarding environmental green claims and the enforcement that can be taken against deceptive marketing practices. Companies making false statements or misrepresentations have been subjected to severe penalties by the Competi...

This episode features Osler’s Andrew MacDougall, partner, Corporate, in a discussion about the International Sustainability Standard Board’s proposed standards focused on sustainability and climate-related disclosures. The proposals are designed to provide the market with a complete set of sustainability-related financial disclosures, as well as setting out specific requirements for the identification, measurement and disclosure of...