When cannabis was headed toward legalization in Canada

Edmonton entrepreneur Keenan Pascal noticed people from every walk of life entering the industry.

Four years later, the chief executive of cannabis manufacturing business Token Naturals said the now established sector looks a lot more homogeneous — and the country's licensing process is partly to blame.

"Once the barriers started coming up like the capital requirements and just the effort you'd have to put (in) to make a successful cannabis company, the industry became more stale. Everyone had the same background. It was all the finance people running the industry," said Pascal.

Feeling shut out were Black entrepreneurs, who find the system often works against them in their attempts to establish a business.

If you didn't grow up wealthy or well-connected, they say, it is tougher to pitch largely white investors on your business. A 2019 study from the Canadian Venture Capital Association showed that only eight partners at 145 private equity firms surveyed, or 5.5 per cent, were “visible minorities.” That compares with Statistics Canada data showing 22.3 per cent of Canadians were visible minorities in 2016, projected to reach 34.4 per cent in 2036.

Health Canada's cannabis licensing process, they add, is an additional hurdle because there is a lack of guidance for applicants, who often struggle to receive security clearances once they've invested time and cash into businesses.

That could soon change. The federal government has embarked on a lengthy review of cannabis legislation and Health Canada launched discussions last month to uncover concerns Black and racialized communities have with licensing.

What they heard is that Black people are significantlyoutnumbered in the sector.

A 2020 study from the Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation and the University of Toronto based on responses from 700 executives and directors at 222 cannabis companies found 73 per cent were Caucasian men, 12 per cent were Caucasian women, 14 per cent were racialized men and two per cent were racialized women.

The racialized slice of Canada's cannabis leadership was made up of 40 per cent people of South Asian origin, 19 per cent East Asian, 15 per cent Indigenous, 12 per cent Arab and 7 per cent each for those identifying as Hispanic and Black.

"It would be great to see those numbers increase," said Sherry Boodram, consultancy business CannDelta Inc.'s chief executive. Boodram is a racialized woman who once served as a senior regulatory compliance and enforcement officer for Health Canada's medical cannabis and controlled substances programs.

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