Since 2020, investors have reported extensive concerns with virtual meeting conduct, including the inability to register to attend, participate in discussion and debate, or to raise points of information or order, and not having questions answered (see here, here and here and here).

Shareholder meetings represent a crucial occasion to exert democratic influence over how publicly held investments are governed. These meetings encourage critical dialogue between investors and issuers that makes companies better by reducing risk, optimizing returns, and generating positive spinoffs for society and the environment. This dialogue is a statutory and common law right of shareholders.

Despite February 2022 guidance from Canadian securities regulators that virtual shareholder meetings should provide shareholders with a level of participation comparable to in-person meetings, Canadian public issuers have continued to employ virtual meeting procedures that silence shareholders.