Lack of diversity: Just white people, it doesn’t work anymore

Have you seen the pictures of the press conference for the Northvolt mega factory project in the last few days? The lack of diversity is baffling.

On Friday, I came across a photo by photographer Pierre-Paul Poulin on a website Newspaper. Pictured from left to right we have Northvolt Co-Founder, Quebec Minister of Economy and Innovation Paulo Ceruti, Pierre Fitzgibbon, Quebec Prime Minister, François Legault, Justin Trudeau, Minister François-Philippe Champagne and finally Northvolt Company CEO, Peter Carlson.

According to François Legault, this battery cell mega-factory represents the largest manufacturing investment in the entire history of Quebec.

I was disheartened by the presence of white and male decision-makers at this press conference.

Everyone’s money

The federal and provincial governments are funding Northvolt with up to $3 billion to build the mega-factory. Our governments grant more than 4.5 billion dollars to the Swedish company for production.

Do women and people of color decide to allocate these public funds differently? We don’t know.

But what I do know is that in 2023, this lack of diversity at such an important moment in our history cannot be taken for granted.

For better representation

I find it hard to imagine a person in 2023 not feeling uncomfortable when they see a panel of decision-makers without any diversity.

It’s not normal because it’s been around for so long.

As the question moves toward ways to better represent all people in our society, it is important to emphasize the unnatural nature of the lack of diversity.