EDI mandates erode public trust in research

Senior Fellow Dave Snow reveals how these federal granting agencies, responsible for nearly $4 billion in annual taxpayer-funded research, are increasingly embedding Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) principles into their funding policies and undermining their commitment to merit, objectivity, and political neutrality.

OTTAWA, ON (February 4, 2025):

A new report from the Macdonald-Laurier Institute exposes how Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) mandates are eroding the integrity of Canada’s federal granting agencies by prioritizing ideological agendas over research excellence. The report, titled Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at Canada’s Federal Granting Agencies, focuses on the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

In this report, Senior Fellow Dave Snow reveals how these federal granting agencies, responsible for nearly $4 billion in annual taxpayer-funded research, are increasingly embedding Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) principles into their funding policies. This undermines their commitment to merit, objectivity, and political neutrality. The report warns that EDI-driven policies, ranging from mandatory diversity requirements to identity-based equity targets, have transformed Canada’s federal granting agencies from champions of excellence into vehicles for social engineering.

“The federal granting agencies have chosen ideology over excellence, undermining Canada’s international reputation as a leader in academic research,” writes Snow.

The report categorizes EDI’s influence into three escalating levels – Mild, Moderate, and Activist – highlighting how these policies have seeped into funding decisions, program priorities, and even hiring practices. Among the report’s findings, SSHRC and CIHR were singled out for their overt emphasis on social-activist-driven grants.

“This approach pressures researchers to prioritize social outcomes over the pursuit of knowledge,” warns Snow.

The report makes the following urgent recommendations:

Eliminate EDI-based equity targets and preferential treatment in grant applications.
Discontinue grants prioritizing activism over objective research.
Reaffirm merit and research excellence as the sole criteria for funding decisions.

With federal granting agencies increasingly dominated by EDI mandates, the report warns that Canada risks undermining public trust, stifling intellectual diversity, and failing to support truly innovative research.

Snow concludes with a stark warning: “If Canada’s granting agencies continue down this path, they risk eroding public trust in academic research and jeopardizing the country’s competitive edge in the global knowledge economy.”

To learn more, read the full paper here:

Dave Snow is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Guelph and a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.

For further information, media are invited to contact:

Dagny Pawlak-Loerchner
Senior Communications Officer
613-482-8327 x113
dagny.pawlak-loerchner@macdonaldlaurier.ca

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