It has been an iterative process. It started after the war with vets, and then moved to disabled vets, and then to minority businesses and urban businesses, and then to women businesses 20 years ago. They've had a long legacy of building this program, but I'll give a caution to Canadians, because with respect to women-owned firms, it's a self-identified certification. If Allan owned a business, he could certify as women-owned as easily as I could.
On December 12th, 2017. See this statement in context.