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Standing Up to Conservative Attacks on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

‘Anti-woke’ Poilievre promises to end programs that made Canada better.

Christopher Holcroft 20 Jan 2025The Tyee

Christopher Holcroft is a writer and principal of Empower Consulting. Reach him by email.

Among the defining images of Justin Trudeau’s time as prime minister will be his greeting refugees at Toronto’s Pearson airport in December 2015, as the first of 25,000 newcomers fleeing war in Syria arrived.

“Welcome to Canada” was a political win for Trudeau and his new government and the fulfilment of a promise from the recent election.

More importantly, it was a tremendous initiative involving citizens, civil society, labour unions and business to receive, settle and support people in need.

This was an act of national unity and shared purpose, of community service and individual generosity, an expression of the Canada we imagine ourselves to be.

I was reminded of this moment while reflecting on a social media post from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s campaign chair, Jenni Byrne, that attacked her own party’s former leader over a simple act of grace towards retiring Liberal cabinet minister Anita Anand.

Byrne’s message made clear that the minister’s support for “DEI” during her time as defence minister made her unworthy of praise. Policies and programs to foster diversity, equity and inclusion in both the public and private sectors have gained significance in recent years, offering both symbolism and practical measures to foster a more just society.

Its adoption by businesses, intended to unleash the potential of marginalized workers, has proven mutually beneficial to employees and employers.

Yet attacking the ideas of diversity, equity and inclusion has become as de rigueur in hard-right political circles as peddling conspiracy theories and picking on the vulnerable. These attacks are often couched in the very-online jargon of opposing “wokeness.”

Now, fierce opposition that began in the United States has spread to Canada. Dark-money-funded think tanks have challenged the purpose of DEI programs and criticized the expense of government funding. Conservative online media have attacked those who support the programs. American-owned Postmedia, Canada’s dominant daily newspaper chain, seems particularly intent on diminishing the concept.

Poilievre himself has called diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives “garbage” and appears set to bully institutions and businesses into disbanding such programs. It has been reported that the Conservatives “have committed to removing DEI from the federal government [and] going after policies like DEI requirements for university research funding.”

Meanwhile, Poilievre, Byrne and others reveal their cowardice by constantly referring to only the acronym “DEI” rather than the actual words.

Cowardly, but understandable. After all, who opposes diversity? Who is against equity? Who wants to fight inclusion?

If opposed to those things, what do these critics support instead? Well, the Cambridge Dictionary and Thesaurus defines the antonyms of diversity, equity and inclusion as sameness, prejudice and exclusion.

“Props to prejudice” is unlikely to be a compelling slogan, even for Poilievre.

Still, Poilievre’s opposition to DEI cannot be minimized when the details of his political record are considered.

For example, Poilievre voted against same sex marriage in 2005, arguing in Parliament that marriage should be defined as a union between “one man and one woman, to the exclusion of all others.”

In 2008, he questioned the value of compensating Indigenous residential school survivors, saying instead, “We need to engender the values of hard work and independence and self-reliance.” The following year, Poilievre defended his use of the offensive term “tar baby” in the House of Commons.

In 2014, Poilievre achieved his only legislative accomplishment from his time in the Stephen Harper government: the passage of a bill that restricted voting rights.

Poilievre’s recent interview with the abrasive, pseudo-celebrity psychologist Jordan Peterson further illuminates the Conservative politician’s views on such issues.

In one notable exchange Poilievre bemoaned an “obsession with race” in Canada, which sounds very much like something a racist would say, and fatuously claimed this was the reason for an increase in hate crimes.

Canadians who presume that a potential Conservative government’s anti-DEI policies will not affect them should consider the full meaning of the acronym’s actual words.

If a government is not committed to the ideas of social acceptance, respect for difference and fair treatment, then it becomes much easier for such a government to exclude citizens, reject individual needs and prioritize some groups over others.

In this context, why should medicare apply to everyone? Why must the Charter uphold certain rights? Why do the rich have to pay taxes?

Given Poilievre’s opposition to pharmacare, promise to use the notwithstanding clause to override the Charter of Rights, and description of taxes as “punishment” for “when you do well,” these questions could one day be more than hypothetical.

In attacking diversity, equity and inclusion, Poilievre and others are not just recklessly opposing good policy; they are threatening the very ideals that define Canada at a most dangerous time — with our sovereignty at risk.

Enough. Let us remember the “Welcome to Canada” moment and what it represented, and then recommit to standing up for that country and those values.  [Tyee]

Read more: Rights + Justice, Politics

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