Commentary
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs have existed in one form or another for decades. They were predominantly applied in public institutions, but a surge of private sector participation in programs came about in 2020 after the death of George Floyd and the advent of Black Lives Matter. Alberta’s government is acting to remove DEI policies, and it may be a trendsetter for the country. Public institutions are lagging, but are following the private sector in backing away from entrenched DEI policies.
In July 2020, financier Wes Hall launched the BlackNorth Initiative. Hundreds of major Canadian companies, banks, insurers, and non-profits quickly signed on (nearly 500 within months), pledging specific actions such as increasing black representation in leadership, anti-racism education, and data collection. Many firms expanded or created DEI/EDI teams, mandatory training, hiring goals, and public reporting around this period. No company wanted to appear insensitive or intolerant during a period of racial tension.
In recent years, major companies in the USA such as Walmart, Meta, and Amazon have been winding down DEI programs and targets, and they did so in the face of backlash from activists. Canadian companies such as Shopify and BMO have also been quietly removing DEI policies from their missions and documents. When measuring social repercussions for removing the policies against the costs of the policies themselves, the companies have been choosing to eschew DEI. In competitive labour markets, companies can’t afford to continue hamstringing themselves by hiring or promoting people based on identifiable traits and quotas rather than merit.
Companies facing shareholders take less of a risk than governments facing voters when trying to remove such policies, but that appears to be ready to change.
The province of Alberta has tabled legislative amendments to stop provincial bodies (public service, Crown corporations, publicly funded post-secondary institutions, school boards, municipalities, and potentially some government-funded non-profits) from using DEI policies in hiring and promotion decisions. The proposal also bars mandatory DEI training and requires other workplace training to be ideologically neutral and job-focused. Hiring is to focus on merit, skills, and qualifications, while preserving bona fide occupational requirements and the duty to accommodate.
It will be challenging for the Alberta government to measure the outcomes of their policies or to police them, as bureaucracies will likely resist the change. The policy may disappear, but the practices could continue. Premier Danielle Smith is taking an ambitious approach to public sector reform.
Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi is characterizing policies ensuring public-sector hiring decisions are based on “merit” as an attempt to stifle the number of “ethnic” people and women hired. It’s a predictable attempt to label the provincial government as being intolerant, but it may not land with voters. People are becoming fatigued with identity politics.
DEI policies are inherently discriminatory and offer a form of racism through lowered expectations. People from every kind of identifiable minority have risen to prominent positions within and outside of governments through hard work and simply being the best-qualified person for the job. Unfortunately, if these people work in an environment where DEI policies are prevalent, some may wrongly and insultingly assume the promotions were due to a need to fill a quota rather than the merit of the person. Discrimination through exclusion used to be common in Western society, and surely still occurs in some environments.
Trying to undo those wrongs through DEI policies has proven only to increase division between groups and reduce the quality of labour in some sectors. People are comfortable with policies simply reflecting the pursuit of the best-qualified person for the job.
On the federal front, DEI policies are ubiquitous. A survey by the Aristotle Institute found DEI language appearing in a staggering 95 percent of job postings. Close to half of the postings prioritized applicants based on race, ethnicity, or other group-identity characteristics. Federal roles aren’t simply desk-bound bureaucrats. Positions such as air traffic controllers and RCMP officers are all impacted by DEI policies, and if an unqualified person were to get into one of those positions, some very real harm could occur. Prime Minister Carney may feel inspired to change some of those policies if the Alberta experiment goes well.
Governments are risk-averse, especially with policies that have potential social repercussions and which could lead to accusations of intolerance. None want to make the first move when taking on something as contentious as DEI policies. Premier Smith has now taken the first step forward, and rest assured, mayors, premiers, and federal politicians will closely watch how well it goes in Alberta with an eye to emulating the policies. Smith was inspired to make the move to turn the page on the recent referendum, as she is committed to the hiring changes, but the political reasons for the changes matter less than the outcomes.
Alberta may not be charging into independence, but it’s still a trailblazer among provinces and could be leading the way to changing hiring practices across all of Canada.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
