Every year, The Local conducts a diversity survey among our staff and contributors as part of our ongoing commitment to race, representation, and diversity. We’re proud to see this commitment reflected in our survey outcomes: in 2021, 73 percent of our respondents identified as racialized. That’s up from our 2020 results, in which 55 percent of respondents were racialized.

Our contributor base also grew in gender representation, with 73 percent of our writers being women, and 3 percent being nonbinary. In total, we sent out the survey to 43 people, 33 of whom responded (a 77 percent response rate).

As a publication focused on the issues affecting Toronto, our goal is to make sure our contributors reflect the diversity of this city, and that the people we platform are also connected with the communities on which they report. Our contributors this year were from a variety of backgrounds—they were Asian, Black, Indigenous, Latin and mixed-race, a diversity that we’re excited to continue fostering.

Below are the results of our 2021 diversity survey. All data are reported in aggregate to maintain the privacy of our contributors and staff. For questions about this survey or our policies, feel free to contact us at info@thelocal.to.

Race was collected using the adapted categories found in the Canadian Association of Journalists diversity survey, which are:

• Inuit, Metis, First Nations (status or non-status)
• Asian: Asian Caribbean (e.g. Guyanese, Trinidadian), East Asian (e.g. Chinese, Japanese, Korean), South Asian (e.g. Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan), Southeast Asian (e.g. Malaysian, Filipino, Vietnamese)
• Black: African (e.g. Ghanaian, Kenyan, Somalian), Caribbean (e.g. Barbadian, Jamaican, Grenadian), North American (e.g. Canadian, American), Afro-Latino (e.g. Haitian, Brazilian, Panamanian)
• Latin: Caribbean (e.g. Cuban, Haitian), Central American (e.g. Mexican, Honduran), South American (e.g. Colombian, Argentinian)
• Middle Eastern (e.g. Jordanian, Saudi Arabian, Iranian, Afghani)
• White (e.g. English, Scottish, French, Irish, German, Italian)
• Mixed Race (e.g. Mother of Black African descent and Father of First Nations descent)
• Prefer not to answer