Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the people of Richmond Hill South to present a petition where petitioners are concerned that over the past decade, diversity, equity and inclusion, DEI, mandates have become embedded across federal departments, agencies, granting councils and federally funded institutions.
Figures released by the current government indicate that more than a billion dollars has been spent on DEI-related initiatives and programming within the federal sphere. These DEI requirements risk undermining trust in public institutions, discouraging excellence and diverting public funds away from frontline services, innovation and high-quality research. Petitioners are also concerned that Canadians' trust in public institutions depends on the assurance that public service employment and research funding are awarded on the basis of merit and value to taxpayers, rather than adherence to ideological tests or identity-based criteria.
Therefore, the petitioners are calling on the Government of Canada to prohibit DEI quotas and targets in federal hiring and promotion; eliminate DEI requirements in federal research funding; ban DEI compliance offices and mandatory DEI training in the federal public service; prioritize federal support for post-secondary institutions that uphold merit-based hiring and promotion and do not maintain DEI compliance offices; and strengthen transparency through annual reporting and Treasury Board audits to ensure merit-based standards.