Equity policies, diversity and inclusion in debate to the US, but also in Canada

Something promised, thing due: Donald Trump, in accordance with his electoral commitment, requires that the American federal agencies close all of their offices responsible for promoting equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) within 60 days.

These federal employees whose mandate so far consisted in fighting discrimination within the state apparatus, in particular thanks to positive discrimination for hiring, will thus be laid off.

But the Republican President does not stop there: he also ordered in a decree in the Department of Justice and other agencies to investigate private companies that apply policies EDIillegalwho according to Mr. Trump, contravene civil rights Americans.

Already, several American companies had broken up with their activities EDI In recent years, including John Deere, Walmart, McDonald’s, American AirlinesAmazon, and more recently, Meta and Target.

According to Maxime St-Hilaire, full professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Sherbrooke, policies EDI have gained popularity in the wake of the movement Black Lives Matterspopularized in 2020 after the death of the police officers of the African-American George Floyd.

More in Canada, as in the United States, there seems to be a surc effect of policies EDIevokes the specialist.

He notably attributes this decline in a decree of the United States Supreme Court of 2023, which ended positive discrimination in the university admission process.

Deconstruct them unconscious bias

On this side of the border too, policies EDI are the subject of criticism.

According to a probe of the Light firm, commanded by the Association of Canadian Studies, 57 % of Canadians do not agree that employers must take into account cultural origin during hiring. In the United States, rather 46 % of the respondents are of this opinion, according to results published in December 2024.

Despite this apparent, unfavorable public opinion, The majority of Canadian companies are committed to EDIhave increased their budget and are still motivated to continueestimates Tina Pranjić, co -founder and CEO outburst, which offers training EDI in business.

MT LAB, a Montreal young business incubator, has recourse to Élance Services to offer its employees such training, an initiative notably appreciated by Nathalie Pentier, manager of tourism innovation programs.

We learn that we are all built with unconscious biases. It allows them to deconstruct them and to say that it is not because I am a woman from a minority or immigrant […] that I do not have the right to access a certain position or a certain incomeshe testifies.

For his employer, however, theEDI does not go through positive discrimination in hiring.

We do not have a policy here where we promote one group compared to another. We always take the best person for the position.

We don’t have a ratio, we have no quotas, because I believe less about that. I find that sometimes it has negative effects. But having a conscience [EDI] Allows all people to feel appreciatedexplains Frédérick Roussel, Deputy Managing Director of MT Lab.

This sensitivity to diversity also allows better circulation of ideas within the company, he believes.

If everyone is the same, with the same age, the same sexual orientation, the same origin, we will tend to see things in a similar way. Having younger people, older, who come from elsewhere, who have a different past allows us […] to better treat situationshe advances.

We are very open to the exchange of ideas. We do not have to think everyone in the same way, but it is to welcome the reflection or the opinions of others with kindnessabounds in this sense Nathalie Pentier, who believes that theEDI gives him more self -confidence To share his point of view with his colleagues.

“Ineffective” policies?

But theEDI is sometimes criticized, even by the groups it is supposed to protect. According to Murielle Chatelier, president of the association of Quebecers united against racialism, studies have shown that training EDI offered in business are ineffective and that they harm interpersonal relationships.

When we demonstrate the majority groups a little compared to minority groups, it creates tensions. And that also means that people in the majority group work on eggs when they are aimed at people from minority groups.

When we divide people into oppressor and oppressed, I am afraid that the dialogue will get lost.

Same story for Professor St-Hilaire, who quotes an American study The State University of Rogers, conducted by 14 interdisciplinary researchers, who studied the effects of policies EDI in professional and university environments.

The study suggests that it can produce an environment […] Where animosity is increased, where we wrongly attribute racial biases, where the punitive response is increased to imaginary biases. We can even create rather toxic environments.

Faced with this observation, Mr. St-Hilaire calls for more studies in Canada on the effects of policies EDI The debate, it is on the means; He is not on the purposes. The risk is to want to make a debate between anti -racists and racists, instead of having a debate on the best ways to create – without injustice – more inclusive environments.

We will have to agree to discuss it in a peaceful way, our head cold, that we look at the factshe concludes.

With information from Élyse Allard and Agency France-Presse