There is a madness or insanity spreading across Canada. The madness is the strange policy of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) which is consuming universities, professional bodies, school boards, businesses and of course, the federal Liberal Government. Instead of unity, the policy focuses on social justice as interpreted by those with a left wing agenda. It is being used to silence dissent to “progressive” woke policies.
DEI affects us all because the CRTC (Canadian Radio – Television and Telecommunications Commission) has decided to impose DEI policies, and the recently passed Bill C-18 Online News Act does the same.
Social identity has become a critical part of Justin Trudeau’s toolbox. The policy divides and conquers, as DEI focuses on racial divides, caused allegedly by racism. It is a fraudulent diversity however, since it does not provide the democratic concept of diversity of opinion.
Members of the CRTC are appointed by Trudeau and therefore there’s no question where they stand on DEI. The CRTC has ordered the CBC to dedicate at least thirty percent of its spending in English programming on television shows and documentaries to those groups that self-identify as indigenous, official language minorities, visible minorities, disabled or LGBT. This is to rise to thirty five percent in 2026. The Online Streaming Act requires networks to provide programing for all minority groups, in all programing in Canada.
In short, DEI policies stamp out diversity of opinion and permit only the opinion of the social justice warriors.
Psychologist Jordan Peterson
Well known psychologist, Jordan Peterson made comments on podcasts about current political and social issues. The comments, among others, criticized Justin Trudeau, his former Chief of Staff, Gerald Butts, transgenderism and a plus-size model in Sports Illustrated magazine. They were private opinions and had nothing to do with his profession nor his clients. However, several complaints were made by individuals who were not residents of Canada. The regulatory body for psychologists, the College of Psychologists of Ontario, reviewed Mr. Peterson’s comments and ordered him to “take social media re-training” by its selected “experts” or lose his license.
Professor Peterson referred this decision to the Ontario Divisional Court. That court concluded that it could not interfere with the decision of a regulatory body. In reaching this decision however, the court did not address the actual issue, which was whether the College had the authority to regulate Professor Peterson’s personal views. In short, the real question before the court was whether the College had the legal jurisdiction to write a Code of Conduct to prohibit the free expression of its members on matters unrelated to clinical psychology, particularly if the opinions did not breach any laws, and were not criminal or defamatory.
Why did the Ontario Divisional Court fail to properly deal with this issue?
It is troubling that two of the three judges on that Court’s panel were well known for their support of DEI. Judge Paul Schabas had only recently been appointed to the Bench in 2019. He was the Treasurer of the Law Society of Ontario (LSO) when it enforced Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policy on Ontario Lawyers in 2017. This created a huge backlash from the lawyers.
In November, 2017, Schabas published an op-ed in the Toronto Star praising the DEI policy of the LSO. Another judge on the same panel was Nancy Backhouse who was well known for her strong support of the LSO policy on DEI. It would have been the honourable and the right thing to do if both of them had recused themselves from the case. They did not do so.
Regulatory bodies regulating teachers, physicians, nurses, accountants, engineers, architects, social workers, etc are now empowered to discipline their members if they express unpopular opinions i.e. non-woke ideas. This is a sharp departure from the customary role of regulatory bodies which were legislated into existence for the purpose of educating its members, ensuring professional competence and protecting the public from malpractice.
College of Physicians and Surgeons
This problem arose when provincial Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons disciplined physicians who did not support the public health officials’ (frequently wrong) mandates during the Covid-19 epidemic, and who had their license to practice medicine suspended.
School Boards
This problem has also arisen with school boards, many of which are now enthusiastically adopting Codes of Conduct to implement DEI policy. For example, the Waterloo Regional District School Board (WRDSB) criticized a fellow trustee, Mike Ramsey, a former police officer, who had been elected nine times as trustee, for his dissenting opinion in support of a teacher employed by the board for 20 years who had objected to books on transgenderism being placed in elementary school libraries. The absurdity of the DEI policy became apparent when Mr. Ramsay, who is black, was accused of being a “white supremacist”. In short, anyone who dares to question racist diversity policy is now being labelled “white supremacist”.
The Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) has also fallen into the DEI mess. A trustee, Michael Del Grande, raised objections to the board’s “Code of Conduct” which prohibited discrimination based on gender identities. Homosexual activists then laid a complaint against trustee Michael Del Grande with the Ontario College of Teachers requesting that his teacher’s licence be removed. Mr. Del Grande’s views, expressed at a Catholic School board meeting, are in accordance with the teachings of the Catholic Church. The case was argued before the College of Teachers in July 2023, and the decision is pending.
Another example of this insanity occurred at the Niagara Catholic School Board when a trustee, Natalia Benoit, objected to the flying of the LGBTQ “pride” flag over the school. She had put forward a motion to ban divisive symbols, including the LGBTQ flag, from district schools. Her motion was defeated by the board and she became the target of five misconduct complaints. Other complaints were laid against her by LGBTQ advocates a month after her motion. The consequence of these complaints could be her removal as an elected trustee.
A similar disgraceful situation occurred when the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) hired diversity specialist Kike Ojo-Thompson to provide sessions on diversity to teachers. During one such session, Richard Bilkszto, a long time principal who had spent his professional career encouraging and assisting students from all backgrounds, was accused by Ms. Thompson of being a “white supremacist” because he objected to her assertion that Canada was more racist than the US. Thompson’s assertion displayed her appalling ignorance. She should have known the facts before making such an absurd claim. British colonists in Canada were determined to wipe out slavery. The Governor General of Upper Canada, James Simcoe (1791 to 1796), pledged to end slavery in North America from the start of his governorship, declaring that any laws and policies that supported slavery would henceforth be under attack. Two years later he introduced a frontal assault on slavery by declaring that the importation of slaves was illegal. His action set in motion the decline of slavery in Upper Canada. Slavery was abolished in Britain by Parliament in 1833 and this law applied to Canada since it was still a British Colony. This British anti-slavery law was passed over thirty years prior to the US Declaration of Emancipation in 1865, which ended slavery there.
A significant point in regard to slavery and racism was made by black US economist and historian, Thomas Sowell, who strongly opposes affirmative action. He argues against blacks as “victims” of racism. According to Mr. Sowell, the latter is only the opinion of black intellectuals and elites, but is not the view of most blacks. In fact, Mr. Sowell argues the story of blacks in the US is not one of slavery or victimization, but one of triumph, since blacks in the US have made incredible economic and overall advancements since the 1865 Emancipation Declaration. This advancement by blacks he states is an achievement unmatched anywhere else in the world. For example, Clarence Thomas, the great grandson of a black slave, now sits on the US Supreme Court.
Thompson’s accusations against Mr. Bilkszto deeply affected him and damaged his professional reputation, causing him to take sick leave for more than a month. On his return from sick leave, he was not reinstated and the TDSB revoked an additional work contract. Mr. Bilkszto committed suicide in July 2023, because of Thompson’s bullying.
Ms. Thompson and her allies are using the racism policy for financial and professional advancement, and it also seems for the satisfaction of being petty tyrants controlling others. The Kojo Institute, of which Thompson is the founder and President, is a critical race theory organization which has received over one million dollars from the Ontario Ford Government. It has also been granted charitable status by the Canada Revenue Agency.
DEI has to stop. Someone in a leadership role must speak out against the nonessential policies of DEI. Fortunately, someone has done so. It is Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, who succinctly described DEI. He called it “garbage”. He is right on target.
The entire concept of DEI is dangerous, and if it is not stopped, the attacks hurled at Professor Jordan Peterson, Mike Ramsay, Michael Del Grande, former principal Richard Bilkszto and Natalia Benoit, will continue.