Ottawa Moves to Boost DEI in Private Sectors It Regulates

The Liberal government has launched calls for proposals to fund projects that aim to boost diversity and inclusion in workplaces within federally regulated private sectors.

Ottawa is looking to fund projects that focus on “improving workplace culture, preventing harassment and violence, and removing systemic barriers so that workers can reach their full potential,” Employment and Social Development Canada (EDSC) said in a Jan. 5 news release.

EDSC will provide up to $16.5 million in total to fund new projects under two existing funding streams, with selected applicants receiving up to $500,000 each year for up to three years, starting in June.

The department says the federal government will fund recipients to support the development, implementation, and advancement of their projects, and to track and measure project results. Funding recipients will also be required to make their final projects publicly available.

EDSC says two calls for project proposals are being carried out jointly by the Labour Program at EDSC and Impact Canada at the Privy Council Office, and those interested in applying for funding must submit their project proposals by Feb. 13.

“If you have ideas on how to build respectful and inclusive workplaces, now is your chance to make a difference in Canada’s world of work,” Secretary of State for Labour John Zerucelli said in a Jan. 5 statement.

The government says diversity and inclusion policies aim to create workplaces that are “safe, inclusive, and free of all forms of racism and discrimination,” and noted it has has implemented Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity (DEI) policies for workers in the public service.

The government says it aims to ensure the public service is “truly representative” of the people it serves, and that departments are working to increase diversity among senior leaders to “establish a culture of inclusiveness.”

One measure related to inclusion the Liberal government introduced in the workforce in 2023 was mandating that federally regulated employers be provided free menstrual products in all employee washrooms, including in male washrooms, to accommodate “non-binary individuals, transgender men, and intersex individuals.”

Federally Regulated Private Sectors

The funding announced by Ottawa on Jan. 5 will apply to projects within the private sectors the federal government regulates, such as airlines, banks, federal Crown corporations, and First Nations band councils.

Other sectors include port services, postal services, radio and television broadcasting, grain elevators, feed and seed mills, railways, road transportation services including trucks and buses that cross provincial or international borders, telecommunications, uranium mining and processing, atomic energy, and any business that is essential to the operation of these activities.

Some companies in the federally regulated private sector have recently scaled back their DEI policies, including the Bank of Montreal, which had promoted diversity and inclusion as part of its core values a few years ago, but recently opted to stop including the word “diversity” in its core values.

“Note that inclusion is replacing diversity. Corporate interpretations of concepts like diversity have become too, I would say, input focused. Inclusion is more holistic, more outcome focused,” Bank of Montreal CEO Darryl White said in November, according to the Toronto Star.

This change came amid private sector companies in the United States scaling back their DEI policies as part of a broader shift toward merit-based employment practices and heightened scrutiny from U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration around such policies.

AT&T, Ford, McDonald’s, John Deere, Walmart, Nissan, Toyota, Molson Coors, Citibank, and Meta are among the large employers that have recently rebranded, scaled back, or ended DEI programs.

There hasn’t been similar pushback in Canada. Many major private companies regulated by Ottawa have robust DEI programs.

Air Canada says it has a DEI team, a DEI governance structure, and inclusive hiring practices to ensure its workforce is made up of “employees from all backgrounds,” and participates in community events that acknowledge “diverse cultures.”

The Royal Bank of Canada also includes diversity and inclusion in its strategic priorities, and says the company has enhanced its diversity hiring and recruitment programs, improved diversity in leadership roles, and built an “inclusion culture” in the workplace.

DEI policies in Canada, whether in the public or private sectors, have been criticized by the Opposition Conservatives. The Tories pledged during the April 2025 election that a Conservative government would “put an end to the imposition of the Woke ideology in the federal public service and in the allocation of federal funds for university research.”

The Conservatives launched a petition in October 2025 to end DEI criteria for government funding. The petition called for an end to “the billion-dollar DEI bureaucracies” and to put taxpayer dollars into “services Canadians actually need.”

Matthew Horwood and Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.