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Tackling Systemic Racism Head-on

At McCarthy Tétrault, we believe that concrete action is essential to advancing racial equity.

At McCarthy Tétrault, we believe that concrete action is essential to advancing racial equity. Our Inclusion Now program is designed to support and advance Black, Indigenous and people of colour within our Firm, and create a culture of belonging and allyship.

We are proud to have received the Canadian Law Awards Diversity Program of the Year in 2020 and 2021, each of the first two years the award has been offered. In 2021 we received this honour for our efforts to address systemic anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism.

Our Inclusion Now strategy has four pillars, and we are tackling systemic racism under each, as follows:

Advancing authentic leadership

  • We are developing an anti-racism policy for our Firm, and have created a Race Action Group led by our senior Partner, Junior Sirivar. Over 240 members strong (15% of our workforce), our Race Action Group is working to raise awareness about structural racism and build a culture of allyship.
     
  • In 2020 we appointed a Legal & Strategic Advisor, Indigenous Initiatives, a first of its kind role in the legal profession. Our Advisor, former Partner John Brown, serves as Chair of the Firm’s Reconciliation Committee, and is leading the development of a Reconciliation Action Plan. More information about our Firm’s efforts to advance truth and reconciliation can be found here.
     
  • We signed the Black North Initiative Law Firm Pledge, setting targets for hiring and retaining Black talent. We have already achieved several of our 2025 pledge goals.

 

Removing structural barriers

  • In order to integrate anti-racism principles into our law student recruitment, we have diversified our screening and hiring teams, require our recruiters to take anti-bias education, and run competency-based interviews.
     
  • We have enhanced our staff talent acquisition process by reviewing job descriptions for biased language, creating inclusive interview guides, diversifying hiring teams, and offering competency-based interviews.
     
  • We run a ground-breaking, 1L Summer Program for Black & Indigenous law students, and host specialized Open Houses to create safe spaces for Black and Indigenous students.
     
  • We launched a program called Mentorship Plus, an 18 month pilot that pairs associate mentees with client mentors, and provides enriching development opportunities.
     

Education designed to advance belonging

  • We offer a robust educational program to build our internal cultural competency. This includes programs that raise awareness about anti-Black and anti-Asian racism, Truth and Reconciliation, antisemitism, islamophobia, and white supremacy.
     
  • We have partnered with the Canadian Bar Association to provide every Firm member access to “The Path: Your Journey Through Indigenous Canada”.
     
  • We require all Firm members to take unconscious bias training, and we offer specialized training for staff and lawyers.
     

Investing in racialized communities

  • McCarthy Tétrault has partnerships with a number of organizations that support, promote and advance Black, Indigenous, and racialized people within the legal profession and beyond, including the Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers, MAX (Muslim Awards of Excellence), and the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres.
     
  • We recently announced partnerships with Black-led professional organizations including: the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers, the Black Female Lawyers Network, the Black Law Students Association, and the Black Future Lawyers Program. You can learn more about these partnerships here.
     
  • We have made an investment in 25 Indigenous law student scholarships through Indspire, support Osgoode Hall Law School’s Anishinaabe Law Camp, and are the major sponsor of the CBA’s Reconciliation Tool Kit. You can learn more about these partnerships here.
     
  • Each year our Firm invests $1M to United Way Centraide, with 40% of this gift directed toward agencies that provide crucial support and services to newcomers and Indigenous peoples.
     
  • Our lawyers invest in pro bono programs that support BIPOC communities including an Indigenous Human Rights Program and the Giiwedin Anang Council offered by Aboriginal Legal Services. We are the advocacy partner of the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers.

 

To learn more about our commitment to tackling anti-Black racism within our Firm and the profession, click here.

To learn more about our commitment to Reconciliation please click here.