2016 Winners: Corporation of the Year

BMO Financial Group goes beyond their comfort zone to draw from the wide range of experiences, perspectives and backgrounds of their colleagues, customers and suppliers. BMO is a pioneer and leader in diversity – demonstrating a consistent and progressive commitment to improving the diversity of their workforce and suppliers. BMO is one of the leading financial institutions in Canada to invest significant time and resources into uncovering the barriers that diverse populations experience in the workplace.

With diversity and inclusion being a core value at BMO, their vision is to be the bank that defines great customer experience. Supplier Diversity has become a key component of the bank’s overall diversity strategy. Using diverse suppliers is an integral part of BMO’s commitment to meeting the needs of its customers and the communities it serves. The starting point for this is the work BMO does to promote supplier diversity both internally and externally. Internally, BMO’s Supplier Diversity Team works closely with colleagues to foster an inclusive procurement process. One particular highlight of the program is BMO being one of the first organizations in Canada to incorporate supplier diversity language into its RFPs and contracts. Externally, BMO’s Supplier Diversity Program is gaining momentum and scale, with a focus now on expanding the program to include more Tier II suppliers.

BMO is looking to formalize its commitment to supplier diversity through the introduction of a supplier diversity commitment statement this year. BMO’s participation in CAMSC’s business value case studies is aimed to engage and inspire Canadian organizations to develop and implement inclusive procurement programs is authentication of BMO’s commitment to advancing supplier diversity in Canada.