Peter MacKinnon: Rein in universities' race-based hiring (2025)

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Taking these definitions as our guide, we note that diversity recognizes that participation of different backgrounds in public life is a sign of societal health, and surely this is true. The definitions of equity and inclusion require fairness and justice “for each individual” and participation by “everyone” in an inclusive environment, and it is individuals who are accorded freedom from discrimination in the Charter and in human rights codes. Consideration of “social, historic, systemic and structural” issues points to the need for broadly-based recruitment, admissions and appointment processes. They do not mandate race discrimination.

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The principle of non-discrimination is in marked decline in our universities, and this trend is aided and abetted by the federal government’s EDI requirements for research grants and appointments to Canada Research Chairs. I have noted in earlier columns that identities of race and colour are prevailing over competitively assessed individual merit in admissions and jobs. With respect to the latter, the Aristotle Foundation has documented the decline: it reviewed 489 employment advertisements from 10 universities, including the largest public university in each province. It found that 477 of these “employed some kind of DEI requirement or strategy in filling academic vacancies.” These fell into one of three categories: restricted hiring where all applicants had to belong to a preferred identity group; preferential hiring, which does not restrict applications but preference is given to those in preferred identity groups; and a third category that requires applicants to pledge support for EDI and state how they would support and advance it.