As President Donald Trump’s administration continues to demonize diversity, equity and inclusion, pushing many employers to turn away from workplace policies or rebrand the language used, is DEI done or is it simply evolving?
The University of Alberta’s president Bill Flanagan kicked off 2025 by penning an op-ed in the Edmonton Journal announcing the university’s intention to move forward with a new framework and new language around its DEI efforts.
The new framework — access, community and belonging — is more than just a change in terminology, he wrote. “For some, the language of [DEI] has become polarizing, focusing more on what divides us rather than our shared humanity. Some perceive an ideological bias at odds with merit. Words matter — and this evolution aims to craft a shared narrative with aligned actions that resonate more universally, emphasizing common ground and fostering authentic connections.”
Read: Employee belonging at core of DEI programs: expert
While the University of Alberta declined an interview with Benefits Canada, it confirmed the change was the result of a year-long consultation. Marcie Hawranik, founder of Canadian Equity Consulting, points out the university’s webpage still talks about intersectionality and the importance of diversity. “It’s just framing it differently using different language — to me, belonging is code for inclusion, community is code for diversity and access is almost the same thing as equity. So it isn’t that far off, but it’s just in less polarized language in our current environment.”
That current environment is President Trump’s return to the White House, which is casting an ominous shadow over DEI policies south of the border. Even months before his inauguration, the acronym was dominating headlines.
Last summer, Ford Motor Co., Lowe’s Companies Inc. and McDonald’s Corp. were among the employers rolling back their DEI initiatives in response to pressure from conservative groups following the U.S. Supreme Court’s July 2023 ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which outlawed affirmative action in college admissions The push back continued with Trump’s executive order commanding that federal agencies terminate all DEI offices and positions, as well as any equity-related grants or contracts.
Read: Ford, Lowes among employers pulling back from DEI policies
Specifically, Ford stopped taking part in external culture surveys and an annual survey by the Human Rights Campaigns that measures workplace inclusion for LGBTQ2S+ employees. In an internal memo, Lowe’s executive leadership said the retailer began reviewing its programs following the court’s ruling and decided to combine its employee resource groups into one umbrella organization. And McDonald’s said it would retire specific goals for achieving diversity at senior leadership levels, as well as ending a program that encouraged its suppliers to develop diversity training and to increase the number of minority group members represented within their own leadership ranks.
On the other hand, both Apple Inc. and Costco Wholesale Corp. defended their DEI policies and rebuffed external pressures, including a proposal from the National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank that argued these initiatives hold “litigation, reputational and financial risks to the company and, therefore, financial risks to shareholders.”
Both Apple and Costco shareholders rejected the motion. And Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook told shareholders at the meeting: “We will continue to create a culture of belonging.”
Regardless of the acronyms or language used, work around DEI has been around for well over 60 years and continues to evolve, says Hawranik, noting it can be traced back to the Civil Rights Movement and the development of the Canadian Human Rights Act.
Read: Costco defends its diversity policies as other U.S. companies scale back
“It has operated under equity work and has never been linear. Every wave of social progress is followed by a wave of backlash. [We had] this great momentum for DEI work and now we’re experiencing this backlash and it’s normal for that to occur. That language evolves over time to broaden buy-in and expand the work. And the work is continuing, even though the jargon and the acronym is changing.”
Indeed, DEI has shaped modern workplaces and created many of the protections that workers have today, including parental leave programs, pay equity and accessibility initiatives, she adds. At the same time, Canada has become a “supercharged diversifying nation” with high rates of immigration and older adults staying in the workforce for longer as younger generations enter it.
“There’s the potential for conflict. All of that just speaks to the need that will persist and the demand that will persist.”
DEI is still top of mind on this side of the border, she says, though she’s also working with some rural municipalities that are opting to pause their DEI efforts while other employers are simply changing the name.
“I don’t think there will necessarily be a consistent new acronym used,” she adds. “But I think it’s shifting the way we do things, which is exciting to see. We’re able to evaluate what has worked and what hasn’t . . . and then evolve it to broaden buy-in and, ultimately, do more and do better.”
Read: Apple shareholders reject proposal to scrap company’s DEI programs