Measuring Progress - Inclusion Index
On June 28, 2022, Convocation approved a motion to not release the Inclusion Index developed in 2019 pursuant to Recommendation 6 of the Working Together for Change: Strategies to Address Issues of Systemic Racism in the Legal Profession report. The Law Society is working to develop a new protocol for the collection and publication of data pertaining to equity, diversity and inclusion in legal workplaces.
Measuring progress is one of the strategies the Law Society is putting into action to break down barriers faced by racialized lawyers and paralegals, as recommended in the final report of the Challenges Faced by Racialized Licensees working group.
Data collected through workplace demographic, inclusion and self-assessment questions in licensees’ Annual Report Filings will enable the Law Society to better understand demographic trends and will inform our efforts to promote equality and diversity in the legal professions.
The Law Society will compile the data collected through Annual Report Filings and will develop an inclusion index including individualized reports for each legal workplace of 25 or more licensees.
The Law Society will also provide a public report regarding the progress of the profession with respect to equality, diversity and inclusion based on information gathered for the inclusion index.
Self-identification questions - voluntary
Inclusion questions - voluntary
- Licensees are asked to complete voluntary inclusion questions about their legal workplace in their Annual Report Filings once every four years, beginning with the 2018 Annual Report.
- See a preview of the inclusion questions.
Self-assessment questions - required for legal workplaces of at least 10 licensees
- A licensee representative of each legal workplace of at least 10 licensees in Ontario is required to complete, every two years, an equality, diversity and inclusion self-assessment for their legal workplace, through their Annual Report Filing, beginning with the 2018 Annual Report.
- The self-assessment encourages legal workplaces to engage in dialogue and reflection on the current state of diversity and inclusion within their workplace and to work proactively to advance diversity and inclusion.
- See a preview of the self-assessment questions.
Inclusion index – Law Society report
- The Law Society will compile the data collected through Annual Report Filings for legal workplaces of 25 or more licensees and develop an inclusion index including individualized reports for each legal workplace. The Law Society will also provide a public report regarding the progress of the profession with respect to equality, diversity and inclusion based on information gathered for the inclusion index.
Inclusion survey - voluntary
- The Law Society will repeat the inclusion survey that was conducted in 2014 as part of the research for the Challenges Report, every four years.
- The inclusion survey was last conducted in 2017.
See FAQs for more information.