The policy of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (so-called DEI) holds that marginalized or previously discriminated groups should have preference in hiring, training, and promotion to higher managerial levels in workplaces.
Fighting so-called systemic racism, discrimination and prejudice via government diktat – seems like a good idea, doesn’t it?
However, this past February, a Wilfred Laurier University professor released an important study that examined the effects of DEI initiatives by reviewing reams of past studies. He discovered that DEI creates greater prejudice and harm.
DEI creates equity and inclusion the way the People’s Republic of China promotes the people.
Big institutions across the country and in Manitoba continue to promote DEI policies and particularly DEI “training” and instruction. Manitoba’s public service, universities, hospitals and schools promote DEI training. And if you disagree with these efforts, you are upholding “White Supremacy.”
In March, this newspaper printed a terrific column by Kevin Klein – a former Manitoba Cabinet minister – that criticized DEI. It was a strong piece, but Klein kindly suggested DEI was once a noble pursuit gone quite bad. I respectfully argue the tree was always rotten.
DEI reinforces and perpetuates divisions, encourages “hierarchies of the oppressed” and ignores decades of progress against racism and sexism.
Those who disagree with DEI mantra are smeared. As with gender theory, left wing activists falsely say only the “far right” is criticizing about DEI. They ignore, of course, that even average people today are talking about the excesses of DEI ideology. DEI, again like gender theory, deserves scrutiny. Its criticism is not “owned” by the so-called “far right.” This is just a lazy smear on anyone disagreeing with or even questioning DEI advocates.
Critics ignore the financial interests of DEI. Activists pushing this ideology always arrive just in time to offer their high-priced services as DEI trainers. Isn’t that convenient! DEI monetizes shaming and blaming. The more we watch video clips of real DEI sessions, the more we witness how extreme they are. DEI trainers wouldn’t make money telling people racist and sexist barriers have been overcome or that Canada is a very tolerant society.
DEI has now become unacceptably tied to livelihoods. Many jobs now require commitment to DEI ideology, particularly in the public sector and increasingly in the private sector. We are also seeing the dangerous trend of professional bodies adopting this toxic ideology.
When adherence to ideology is required for any job, we are heading the wrong way.
DEI is especially insidious because it is being foisted on captive audiences, especially the young. University and school courses come laden with DEI ideology. One needs a passing grade so many quietly submit. Impressionable students eager to believe they are not racist or sexist are easy marks for absorbing this ideology.
DEI is rotten because it is not about a true organic recognition of barriers facing certain groups in society. We learn that ourselves by getting to know people who are not like us, which is almost guaranteed in Canada in 2024, even in many rural areas. DEI thrives on presenting a Canada stuck in the 1940s.
We can end the corrosive DEI racket by ensuring it is never mandatory. Many US states are pro-actively removing it, for example, by passing legislation to defund it. This will shrink it back into the radical recesses of certain departments in our universities where it came from and whither into obscurity.
Joseph Quesnel is a Senior Research Fellow with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.
