Latest news with #DavidSnow
National Post
13-07-2025
- Politics
- National Post
Peter MacKinnon: Trump attack on DEI not the main story
Canadian observers are mistaken when they seize upon Donald Trump's attack on DEI in American universities as support for its place in their university policies. Their disdain for Trump obscures underlying issues about the impact of DEI in academic decision-making. Article content Canadian political scientist David Snow has written that, in contrast to the United States, Canada has been doubling down in three levels of DEI: mild, moderate and activist. Article content According to Snow, the mild version 'uses the language of DEI in vague, unobjectionable terms to push for greater institutional diversity.' The moderate version 'uses DEI as a substitute for affirmative action,' using 'preferential awarding processes…to increase the number of awards given to those who identify as Indigenous, women, visible minorities, LGBTQ+, and persons with disabilities.' Activist DEI 'uses the language of DEI to advance the goals of critical social justice activism' and in the words of University of Buckingham's Eric Kaufmann, is focused on overthrowing 'systems of structural racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia.' Though often clothed in language of the mild version, moderate and activist DEI are common in our universities, granting agencies, scholarship programs and Canada Research Chairs. Article content Article content Canadians should be alarmed by DEI as described by Dr. Snow. The moderate and activist versions are discriminatory, widely so. Prohibitions against discrimination in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and provincial human rights legislation get nary a mention alongside initiatives to privilege women, visible minorities, LGBTQ+, and persons with disabilities. Section 15(2) of the Charter permits affirmative action, but when it came into force 40 years ago, its proponents would not have imagined its practice on a scale that sidelines the prohibition against discrimination under equality rights in Section 15(1). Article content There is one special case for affirmative action in Canada, though it should be time limited. It has long been recognized that Indigenous peoples are owed opportunities resulting from the disadvantages they suffered after European and other newcomers arrived in this land. Across the country, programs have been put in place to accommodate Indigenous students and to improve their chances of success. The proportion of Indigenous post-secondary students relative to their populations has risen, in some provinces (e.g. Saskatchewan) it approximates the proportion of the general population in attendance. Indigenous enrollment at the University of Saskatchewan now makes up 14 per cent of the student body, which is nearing the percentage of Indigenous peoples in the province, which is 17 per cent. When that proportion is reached, this affirmative action should end. Article content Article content Canadians would be wise to acknowledge that once the prohibition against discrimination is diminished, it will not be easily recoverable — in any context. If we can discriminate based on immutable human features in our universities, granting agencies, scholarship programs and research chairs, it is easier to do so in other walks of public life. Is this the Canada we want?
CTV News
24-06-2025
- CTV News
Convicted killer David Snow charged in connection to 1991 cold case murder
Convicted killer David Snow charged in connection to 1991 cold case murder David Alexander Snow has been charged with first-degree murder in connection to the death of Angelien Josephine Quesnelle. Steve Ryan has the details.
