TORONTO (March 8, 2018) – Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP (Blakes) is pleased to announce that it is one of the first 11 companies sitting on the new Canadian Private Sector Gender Equality Leadership Project announced today by the Minister of Status of Women, Maryam Monsef; and the Global Compact Network Canada (GCNC).
The program is a 36-month project to promote gender equality by engaging the Canadian private sector as responsible accelerators. With input from a total of twenty companies, the project aims to establish a blueprint easily applied by any Canadian company taking action to achieve better gender balance.“Blakes has a long history of supporting women in law and women professionals, and we are proud to remain at the forefront of this movement by being the only Canadian-based law firm among this great group of trailblazing companies,” said Blakes Partner Anne Drost, who has been working with the GCNC for four years.
Throughout the initiative, the members will be identifying challenges and how to resolve them by sharing their recommendations and building the tools to achieve them. By the end of the project, best practices, tools, guidelines, methodologies and frameworks will be made available online for Canadian companies to use.
About Global Compact Network Canada
Launched in June 2013 as the Canadian network of the UN Global Compact (UNGC), the Global Compact Network Canada is dedicated to assisting over 150 Canadian organizations with the advancement of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and the 10 Principles of the UNGC.
About Status of Women Canada
Status of Women Canada is a federal government organization that promotes equality for women and their full participation in the economic, social and democratic life of Canada. Status of Women Canada works to advance equality for women by focusing its efforts in three priority areas: increasing women's economic security and prosperity; encouraging women's leadership and democratic participation; and ending violence against women and girls. Status of Women Canada is responsible for providing strategic policy advice and gender-based analysis support, administering the Women's Program and Gender-Based Violence Program, and promoting commemorative dates relating to women in Canada.
About Blakes
At Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP (Blakes), we serve a diverse national and international client base, and our integrated office network provides clients with access to the Firm's full spectrum of capabilities in virtually every area of business law. Blakes has offices across Canada and in New York, London, Bahrain and Beijing, along with associated offices in Al-Khobar and Riyadh. Thanks to our clients, we have the highest number of ranked lawyers of any Canadian firm for the second consecutive year inChambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business 2018. In 2017, Blakes was once again ranked as having the leading law firm brand in Acritas’ Canadian Law Firm Index. This is the third time we have received this recognition. We were also named Canada Law Firm of the Year in the Who’s Who Legal Awards for the ninth consecutive year and one of Canada’s Best Diversity Employers by Mediacorp Canada Inc., an honour we have received seven times since 2008.
More information on Blakes is available by visiting the Firm's website at www.blakes.com or by following us on Twitter @BlakesLaw.
