Feds have spent over $1B on DEI workshops for public servants since 2016

The federal government employed nearly 600 bureaucrats last year solely to push the Liberal diversity, equity, and inclusion agenda, and the true number could be even higher.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

The federal government employed nearly 600 bureaucrats last year solely to push the Liberal diversity, equity, and inclusion agenda, and the true number could be even higher because some departments failed to report on their so-called “representation goals.”

Some of the federal government’s largest employers, including the RCMP and the Departments of Health, Justice, Immigration, Natural Resources and Public Works, declined to report their figures.

Meanwhile, the Department of Foreign Affairs said there were too many to count.

“The department manages an extensive network of 182 missions in 112 countries,” read the inquiry. “It undertook an extensive preliminary search in order to determine the amount of information that would fall within the scope of the question and the amount of time that would be required to prepare a comprehensive response.”

According to the Immigration department, providing the data was “not possible in the time allotted.”

“The department is committed to providing an inclusive, equitable and respectful work environment for all,” it said.

A staggering $1.049 billion has been spent by the government on diversity, equity and inclusion programs since 2016, according to a previous Inquiry Of Ministry tabled in the Commons in September.

First covered by Blacklock’s Reporter, the records were provided in response to an Inquiry Of Ministry tabled in the Commons, which counted 577 employees working on diversity programs in 2024.

Conservative MP Vincent Ho requested the disclosure.

The Department of National Defence had 84 staff assigned to diversity and spent $22,600 in 2024 for Dr. Rachel Zellars of St. Mary’s University of Halifax to be a “guest speaker for a Black History Month event.”

The Department of Fisheries billed taxpayers $47,697 last year for the 10 employees working on diversity programs to attend a workshop on “ethical space and engagement preparedness.”

A total of 95 employees were charged with heading up diversity at the Department of Industry, which allotted $10,997 for Black History Month to begin “freeing ourselves of imposter syndrome.”

The Department of Veterans Affairs had 11 employees working on diversity programs in 2024, spending $19,320 on a “Kairos Blanket Exercise.”

Consultants with Lakehead University conducted the exercise as an Indigenous sensitivity workshop.

“The Kairos Blanket Exercise is an experiential workshop that explores the nation-to-nation relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Canada,” reads a mission statement from Lakehead. “Blankets arranged on the floor represent land and participants are invited to step into the roles of First Nations, Inuit and later Métis peoples.”