DEI: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion?
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By William A. Thomas, Kingston, ON.
This is the government policy and law of the land, and we are living with the good and the bad consequences of this policy approach. Supported by law and a tsunami of human resources growth and administrative policy, in both the private and public sector, this is a shaping event like no other. In a land of acute political correctness, the opportunities to question and learn from this policy approach are limited and in fact stifled, even dangerous to pursue.
Why DEI?
We want to live in a country that is a meritocracy with fair and equitable consideration for employment, provision of services, and provision of community and government support. We want all people in our country to live a fulfilling life regardless of their gender, sexual orientation, race, or creed. These objectives are laudable, and I am sure the desire of most if not all Canadians. Unfortunately, this concept outcome is being undermined by the execution of DEI policies that are rigorously conceptualized using poor science, the outcomes challenge, and even conflict with stated aims.
Let me give one example from my hometown. St Lawrence College is a post-secondary education institution with a main campus in Kingston, Ontario. This institution is living off the financial benefits of a massive international student influx. Along with this interesting budgetary and marketing trick, is a bloated and expanding human resources branch within this institution that is creating and demanding participation in DEI training, created to validate their existence. This self-licking ice cream cone of political correctness has created an interesting checkbox training regime that “prove” their success. Yet if you question them as to why over 81% of teachers and staff are female they will live in denial. In reality, the census population in Canada has the population of Canada at 69% Caucasian (read self identified as white). In Kingston, that number increases to 79%. At one third of the actual population in Canada, the real answer here is that if you are a white male, you need not apply at St Lawrence College. Regardless of your talents, you will not meet the filter and look the part in a DEI governed institution. That gender, sexual orientation, and race are discriminated against at this institution.
Am I being unfair to St Lawrence College? Only by singling them out. Look around you. If you think other Colleges, Universities (Queens in Kingston), Municipal, Provincial, and Federal government institutions or our various school boards are any different you are kidding yourself. Education at all levels is an obvious and easy starting point for the inequity outcomes of DEI, but not the only area. DEI policies are at the forefront of a grievance initiative that has been politically leveraged over the past 10 years. The real scary tipping point for most Canadians should be the current operational degradation of the Canadian Armed Forces or the inordinate spending on indigenous communities with no visible signs of improvement. Political pandering to groups of Canadians using their gender, sexual orientation, race, or creed, as your starting point for consideration, should run counter to most Canadians beliefs, and for sure falls OUTSIDE of the charter of rights and freedoms.
DEI as a government policy initiative has been a blunt social engineering attempt that is equivalent to heart surgery with a hammer. In reality DEI is a set of policies that trades one perceived tyranny for another tyranny. DEI policies are in practice, forcing our communities and our country to be rearward looking and that frames everything in our community as a conflict or a fight. DEI? A more accurate description of this acronym would be based upon the actual policy outcomes: Disunity, Exclusion, and Inequality.
So, what do we want?
Answer - A meritocracy. Everyone wants to be treated fairly, based upon their skills and abilities. Data points are manipulated or ignored to maintain DEI policies more informed by emotion, beliefs, and political agendas. This is maddening to Canadians. To paraphrase, we want to be judged not based upon the colour of our skin (or our gender, etc.) but by the content of our character. Yet we allow DEI programs to be used as a weapon to rationalize biased and punitive policies that move us away from a meritocracy. This is counter to our established rights and freedoms.
Canadians want the Charter of rights and freedoms. DEI programs fall outside of the charter of rights and freedoms.
15. (1) Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination and, in particular, without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.
What is the way forward?
Unity. We are a great country – that’s why everyone in the world wants to come here! Let’s focus on unity now, our future now, and not the past. History is a weapon wielded poorly and often with a whitewashed edge. Let’s build our country based in the here and now, with facts that are indisputable. As to facts…
Use Science (read math). A factual reality, not based upon hyperbole but based upon real numbers will be beneficial to help guide the myriads of competing agendas. Use numbers and real metrics to gauge priority and also success. As an example, here are two perceived at-risk communities that received widening but differentiated attention and thus priority over the past few years. You tell me the LGBTQ community are more at risk?
The number of transgender adults killed in Canada: 2023 – 2 people.
The number of single moms killed: “in 2022, 184 women and girls were violently killed, primarily by men”
And before you lose your mind, I fully acknowledge that there are other measures that can be considered and amalgamated into an assessment criterion. Measurable facts remain our strongest indicator of appropriate priority. Other amalgamated facts in the above noted examples would not change but only increase the perceived disparity.
Practical Common-Sense Outcomes. If it seems out of place or unbalanced – it likely is. If someone cannot rationally explain one priority over another, there is a problem. If a government department or program cannot achieve its designed mission, there is a significant problem.
Means Testing. Instead of using gender, sexual orientation and ethnicity as a metric to determine who should be prioritized for benefits or support, let's use means testing in its place. Individuals and families that require support should get support based upon need, not based upon what someone looks like. These two populations may and likely will overlap. But there are many well off and highly successful families in Canada that fall within a DEI framework that simply do not need this leg up. Of course, when presented with the opportunity of DEI policies, this will be gamed to their advantage, even when this form of support is not necessary – this is understandable human nature. But this exacerbates a sense of inequity. Means testing is the tide that allows for all boats to be raised together. It is equitable and fair and better moves our society forward in an inclusive manner.
For the past decade, DEI policies have proven to be a discriminatory tool that has fostered inequality and disunity. It has advanced the bloated expansion of human resources empires with questionable benefits to our education programs and has undermined the effectiveness of federal government operational capabilities. DEI programs are based upon dubious science that actually foster exclusionary outcomes and promote a sense of Canada counter to our beliefs as outlined in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and counter to our actual demographics. A better approach is to treat ALL Canadians equally and use means testing as our yardstick to determine our priority of effort and support. Factual evidence and a pragmatic approach will ensure a united society that sees everyone as equals, and rationally tackles the most pressing issues that confront our society.
DEI: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion or Disunity, Exclusion, and Inequality. You can decide.
Thanks for reading. For more on this topic, read The Kojo Institute and Antiracism in Canada - by James Pew
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Trump America will emphasize meritocracy, and create an economy that rewards hard work. Canada is raising taxes and remains mired in affirmative action, DEI muck. How many talented Canadians will move south to take advantage of better opportunities? We had better wake up
A good article. The degree of social engineering in Canada is enormous. To look at advertising on our M S Media you would think that white people are the minority. Similarly, the projection of Indigenous faces along with their land acknowledgement claims would lead one to believe they were in the majority. The distribution of funds tells the same distorted story. Canada is threatened by false leadership. The upcoming election will be critical.