Brandon University students, instructors take a stand against DEI pushback in U.S.

February 15, 2025 Canuck

Students, teachers and advocates at southwestern Manitoba’s largest university say they’re taking a stand against the growing political pushback against equity, diversity and inclusion.

President Donald Trump signed a series of sweeping executive orders that effectively dismantle federal diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the United States in his first week back in the Oval office.

Brandon University student Eden-Lee Mitchell worries anti-DEI politics and policies could grow in Canada.

“Every single part of my identity … is kind of under attack a lot of the time in politics right now,” said Mitchell, who identifies as a transgender man and has autism and ADHD.

“It’s just important to me that those parts and those factors of my identity are recognized, because they’re very important parts that impact me daily.”

Nora Wilson, an associate professor at the university, echoed Mitchell’s concerns. She says right now she’s fighting for her identity to be valued and recognized as a trans woman.

She thinks the rhetoric coming out of the United States has emboldened conservatives in Canada to target marginalized communities politically.

Wilson says she’s terrified for the future because equity, diversity and inclusion has become a powerful political issue that’s already hurting marginalized communities. She says it’s frustrating and upsetting because it’s a constant battle against misinformation.

“This fight is not just for marginalized communities … we need allies,” Wilson said. “We want more people to join us because what those in power want is to divide us and to pit us against each other.”

Wilson says her students — especially those who belong to marginalized groups — are scared because they see a future that includes the erosion of their rights and the amplification of violence.

Two women sit at a panelist table. — Nora Wilson, a professor at Brandon University, says DEI is being used as a political wedge issue at the expense of marginalized groups. (Chelsea Kemp/CBC)

Ariane Hanemaayer, vice president of equity with the Brandon University Faculty Association, says while the university has fostered a safe community on campus, she already sees people feeling emboldened by anti-DEI political messaging.

“We need to act right away … What we risk is losing a lot of that ground that we’ve tried to create,” she said. “These environments that give the possibility of equal access to resources to lots of different communities to see people … actualize their full potential.”

Fighting back against discrimination

Hanemaayer likened this messaging to political dog whistles against the rights of women, the gender-diverse, people of colour and others.

The faculty association has been pushing officially to strengthen diversity, equity and inclusion since 2023. It reformulated its executive to have members who represent different groups, including an equity member and Indigenous member, and other members who can represent visible minority members, says association president Gautam Srivastava.

Diversity, equity and inclusion were included in contract negotiations with the university in 2024 to ensure the university and the association better represent equity-deserving members, he said.

It also created a committee to review five years of hires within the union to try to rectify any salary anomalies that equity-deserving members have faced.

“We want to be ahead of this because we think it’s important and we want to help represent unions all across Canada that show that EDI is important and that they can take similar initiatives,” Srivastava said.

Srivastava says the faculty association is taking what’s happening in the U.S. to heart and actively fighting hateful rhetoric about DEI. He likes to think Canada will remain strong, but cautions Canadians are not inoculated against this type of political rhetoric.

Power of community

Janis Kim, a Brandon University alumna, says the political attacks on DEI speak to rising levels of fascism in the world that have her worried for Canada’s future. She says language is being warped to make diversity, equity and inclusion seem like dangerous things.

“That’s making me feel very scared because it’s changing the narrative of what it actually means,” Kim said. “People in power who want to stay in power with the rise of fascism, they want to divide people. And I think finding the humanity in each other is really important.”

A woman stands holding her hand up. — Ariane Hanemaayer, the Brandon University Faculty Association’s vice president of equity, says they are standing up to protect DEI. (Chelsea Kemp/CBC)

Mitchell says it’s scary because it feels like the world is going backwards when it comes to keeping everyone safe.

He worries that with the upcoming federal elections in Canada, there could be a shift in the country based on the political party in charge that compromises his safety and freedom: “It’s worrying to see just because I want my identity to be more important to people than the price of their gas.”

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