Securian Canada has published its second annual Beyond Business Report, outlining the company's progress on inclusion, employee well-being and community engagement.
The report builds on the insurer's inaugural 2024 edition and details how Securian Canada's inclusion strategy developed over the past year across three pillars, namely, people and culture, clients and partners, and community engagement.
Nigel Branker, chief executive officer of Securian Canada, was direct about the company's positioning relative to the broader retreat from DEI commitments seen elsewhere.
"Inclusion is not a trend for us - it is fundamental to how we work, how we lead and how we serve Canadians every day, going beyond shifting global sentiment around diversity, equity and inclusion," Branker said. "This report reflects the meaningful progress we're making to create opportunity, strengthen belonging and build secure tomorrows for all Canadians."
On the employee side, 2025 marked the first full year of activity for Securian Canada's four employee-led Inclusion Networks, with programming covering unconscious bias, allyship and psychological safety.
The company also extended its community reach through sports sponsorships, serving as the official life insurance partner of both the Canadian Football League and the Toronto Maple Leafs, through Maple Leafs Sports Entertainment's Home Ice Hockey program.
The report's timing is also notable.
The DEI environment in Canada has shifted materially over the past 18 months, with US political pressure creating spillover effects on Canadian corporate disclosure and commitment. For the first time in over a decade, Canadian public companies pulled back on DEI disclosure in 2025, with the percentage of companies reporting on key diversity data points falling compared to 2024 - a reversal attributed to rapid changes in the broader political, regulatory and business environment.
The Canadian Securities Administrators paused planned changes to DEI disclosure requirements in April 2025, citing the need to support Canadian issuers as they adapt to developments in the US and globally.
Meanwhile, Securian Canada's newcomer-focused research is where the report carries the most direct commercial implication for the Canadian insurance market. Canada's immigration landscape is itself in flux.
The federal government's 2026-2028 Immigration Levels Plan will stabilize permanent resident admissions at 380,000 annually, while reducing new temporary resident arrivals by 43% - from 673,650 in 2025 to 385,000 in 2026. The moderation in overall volumes does not diminish the long-term scale of the market opportunity. Statistics Canada projected the country's visible minority population will represent between 38% and 43% of the total population by 2041, making the ability to serve diverse communities a long-term commercial imperative for life insurers.
The barriers newcomers face in accessing life insurance in Canada are well documented. Underwriting guidelines vary significantly by insurer, with some requiring 12 or more months of Canadian residency before approving applications, imposing coverage caps on work permit holders, or requiring medical examinations not required of long-standing residents.
Among major Canadian insurers, approaches range from those preferring 12-plus months of residency with verified medical history to those accepting newcomers with valid permits and six or more months of stay.
Those barriers represent both a risk management consideration and a distribution gap.
Newcomers are typically younger, in good health and seeking financial protection as they establish themselves. Insurers and advisers that invest in understanding and serving this segment through research, multilingual resources and adapted underwriting are building relationships at the point of entry into the Canadian financial system, which carries long-term retention value that straightforward acquisition cost analysis tends to understate.
