Is DEI really dead?  Not According to the Numbers

There’s been much speculation post-Trump’s second victory that DEI efforts might actually be dead. In the US, there has been some legal clawback of DEI funding whereas in Canada our Employment Equity and human rights codes offer more support for DEI efforts as on-going priority.  However, too many organizations in both the US and Canada have used the backlash as an excuse to dial back DEI efforts that were just barely lifting off the ground. 

But let me hit pause here for a moment.  What critically minded person would possibly think that the need for efforts towards creating equal access to benefits, resources and dignity in the workplace would have just disappeared, especially in this current xenophobic political environment?  Do any but the most emotionally victimized feel that Black, Brown or Indigenous staff are now getting privileged treatment? 

I’ve just spent a book – Fire and Silence: A Roadmap for BIPOC Leaders– writing about this and can assure anyone, this is nowhere near the case.  In fact, discriminatory gaps not only continue to exist in policy and behaviour toward minoritized staff, but also are harder now to address because of the backtracking of organizational support.

But here’s the good news: recent studies of randomly selected individuals in both Canada and the US show clear majority support for ongoing DEI efforts. One report is from The Diversity Institute, August 2025 and the other is from Abacus Data, May 2025.

What the Data Says

Those who say DEI has a positive impact on their lives tend to be the groups DEI policies are designed to help. These are:

• Younger Canadians: 47% (vs the 35% average)
• Women: 38%
• And those who identify as a visible minority (55%, even higher for minority women).

Women (56%), and those who identify as a visible minority (59%) are more likely to see a positive impact on society from DEI.  

Conclusions from each report show a few trends:

1. Very few Canadians see DEI initiatives as negative (meaning the US narrative has not taken root here in the Canadian mainstream) while those set to benefit the most from DEI initiatives including women, BIPOC folks and LGBTQ2S are the most supportive. If anything, the findings show that the current approaches to DEI could be more impactful.
2. The data shows that views of our American counterparts are not that distant from our own when it comes to general trends, with older 
3. Results on the positive impacts of DEI are a little lower, which is something we’ve been talking about for years at Anima Leadership. DEI work can’t be driven in organizations by critical theory shoved like spoonful of castor oil down organizational throats, but has to involve good pedagogy (compassionate as well as challenging), clear strategy and communications, as well as data benchmarking to assess progress.  I am often shocked when I enter conversation with executive teams how one or more of these factors in missing. So yes to DEI, and yes to doing it better.
4. Support for DEI in Canada has not been unduly influenced by the tariff impositions or economic impacts– if anything, people see how much the workforce is diversifying and that DEI efforts support our shifting demographics.

Where to Go next

1. Bring us in to do a strategic assessment with your executive team:  where is your organization at, what are strategic next steps and how to create a data baseline.
2. Do an organizational audit of how staff feel about key equity benchmarks and use this to guide strategic next steps within the organization.
3. Offer DEI based leadership training to managers covering key skills such as emotional intelligence, brave conversations and conflict resolution, performance feedback, team facilitation and engagement behaviours, micro-inclusive management behaviours. 

Annahid Dashtgard

CEO and Co-Founder, Anima Leadership

As a seasoned change-maker and non-fiction author, Annahid gets juiced by figuring out what makes people and systems tick, and how to move them from survive to thrive. Over the last two decades she has worked with hundreds of organizations and leaders to create more just and equitable futures. She’s a first generation immigrant woman of colour who uses her voice to illuminate our common journey to belonging. Her new book Fire and Silence: A Roadmap for BIPOC Leaders is available for pre-order now. Alongside her bestselling books —Bones of Belonging: Finding Wholeness in a White World (2023) and Breaking the Ocean: A Memoir of Race, Rebellion and Reconciliation (2019)— she has written for numerous other publications and sits on the boards of both the Writer’s Trust and the Writer’s Union of Canada. 

Annahid has a Masters in Adult Education and has trained in various psychological modalities (Process work, Somatic Experiencing trauma training, mindfulness and Chinese medicine) to understand the root of systems change in human consciousness. Besides consulting, educating, coaching and writing on JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) issues for over two decades across both public and private sectors, she has carefully cultivated her love of reading, usually on the couch with a glass of wine in hand trying to tune out the voices of her little ones. Check out her wiki page or website for more.