Canadian Lawyer InHouse

23 CANADIANLAWYERMAG.COM/INHOUSE SEPTEMBER 2017 W hen it comes to diverse workforces, the legal department at Metrolinx is achieving a balance many would aspire to, but beyond the legal group, it's general counsel Mary Martin who sees herself as the "heart and conscience" of the diversity and inclusion at the provincial Crown agency. The legal department is a microcosm of diversity at Metrolinx, says Martin, who is executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. The department of 23 lawyers is headed by Martin and two se - nior female associate general counsel. Law- yers at the director level are split 3:2 women to men and the department contains 57 per cent female lawyers and individuals from more than 14 diverse ethnic backgrounds. "I think complex problem solving, which we seem to have lots of, really benefits from having diverse perspectives. Each of the lawyers in the departments bring their indi - vidual perspectives to issues," says Martin. Through her personal commitment to D&I, Martin advocated for a leadership role for the legal department in Metrolinx's D&I program and stepped forward to help further D&I in the organization in 2015 af - ter Metrolinx conducted a census to assess the state of diversity and inclusion in the workplace, based on employee experience. It revealed that 48.4 per cent of respondents did not answer "strongly agree" or "agree" to the statement "all employees have an equal opportunity to advance regardless of age, gender, race, etc." Based on the results of the survey, Metro - linx set out to establish a D&I program to ensure all individuals at the agency feel wel- come, are afforded the same opportunities, are treated with dignity and respect and are able to fully participate in the workplace. "When I looked at the results of the sur - vey there were just too many respondents who reported that they felt some time in the last couple of years they had not had an op- portunity to advance by reason of gender, sexual identity, age, ethnic background or any other number of diversity dimensions," says Martin. Metrolinx's broad D&I program kicked off in early 2016. Although in its early stages, Metrolinx has recognized that a diverse workplace is not the same as an in - clusive workplace. Ensuring representation of women, visible minorities, gays, disabled and other diversity groups within the work- place is just a starting point. "Lawyers generally, and Mary in partic- ular, are well suited for a key role in D&I initiatives, given their training in the gen- eral principles of law and equity. In-house lawyers can also effectively use their position to raise awareness and address issues relating to poor D&I practices. Apart from being the right thing to do, Metrolinx lawyers saw that a strong D&I strategy can be an ef - fective way to address tangible risks for a company through human rights, accessibil- ity, accommodation and labour and employ- ment issues," said Heather Platt, senior legal counsel at Metrolinx, who nominated Mar- tin for the award. Ultimately, Martin was selected as Metro- linx's executive champion of diversity. As ex- ecutive champion, Martin is responsible for initiating and delivering on the D&I pro- gram. Leveraging her corporate governance experience, Martin has established a D&I leadership council to provide program over- sight. The council is comprised of diverse individuals from across the organization and is responsible for: defining and delivering on Metrolinx's D&I Strategy; establishing key performance indicators to measure success; increasing knowledge and awareness of the program through employee communica - tions; and working with human resources to ensure that equitable D&I practices are embedded in Metrolinx's employment deci- sions including hiring, development, promo- tion and succession planning. Metrolinx's five-year vision is to have an inclusive culture that fully enables everyone to be authentic and tap into their full potential. In June 2016, Martin launched Metro - linx's diversity and inclusion intranet site that highlights Metrolinx's D&I program, key elements of the governance structure, success story announcements and informa- tion on culturally significant dates. The site features a series of videos of senior employ- ees, executives, directors and program staff, speaking about personal diversity challeng- es. Metrolinx intends to measure the suc- cess of its D&I program annually through key questions on its employee survey. These will track results to the 2015 census. IH Category: Diversity Department size: Large, public sector Company: Metrolinx General counsel as champion of diversity at Metrolinx By Jennifer Brown ROBIN KUNISKI Mary Martin, executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary.

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