Conrad Eder: Does the government prioritize hiring competent workers?

The Canadian flag flies atop the Peace Tower on Centre Block of the Parliament buildings. Photo by Errol McGihon/Postmedia

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Two candidates pass each other in a corridor: one is heading into a job interview; the other has just finished. Neither will be evaluated merely by ability, education and experience. Who gets the job will also depend on skin colour, gender and other factors of group identity. This is Canada’s federal public service, today.

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A new study by the Aristotle Foundation reviewed 301 federal job postings across 59 departments, agencies and Crown corporations. Forty-two per cent prioritized, or potentially prioritized, applicants based on identity characteristics, while 4 per cent restricted, or potentially restricted, a candidate’s eligibility on the same basis.

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These figures are striking and yet likely understate the full extent of DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) hiring practices in the federal public service, as the review captured only what hiring managers chose to include in public job postings.

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Just because a posting did not mention employment-equity targets, identity-based preferences, or group-based restrictions does not mean such practices are not in force. In fact, federal legislation gives departments considerable latitude to incorporate DEI practices into their hiring processes.

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However, perhaps ironically, not all DEI measures are created equally.

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A policy that offers applicants with disabilities accommodations throughout the interview process is fundamentally different from one that gives selection preference to members of a particular group. Both may be framed as upholding diversity, equity and inclusion, but while the first removes an obstacle to fair competition, the second unfairly biases the competition altogether.

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That distinction matters because Canadians can support an inclusive public service while rejecting identity-based preferential and restrictive hiring practices. They can favour inclusive, diverse workplaces without believing that access to public employment should be weighed against an applicant’s race, sex, disability, or other identity characteristics.

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And that’s exactly what public opinion reflects. A 2025 Léger survey found that a majority of Canadians disagreed that, when hiring, it is important for employers to take a candidate’s cultural background into consideration. Even among segments of the population that preferential and restrictive hiring policies are purported to benefit, accounting for identity characteristics in hiring was unpopular.

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Canadians share a straightforward intuition about fairness: applicants should be evaluated as individuals, based on merit.

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But that does not appear to be how the federal public service sees it, particularly in departments like Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, National Defence and Fisheries and Oceans Canada where job postings regularly mentioned DEI, alongside disclosures of preferential hiring practices and references to employment-equity objectives.

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And it’s not just those departments. The federal government tracks the demographic composition of its entire workforce in an attempt to meet particular employment thresholds. As of March 2025, most groups met or exceeded the government’s targets, helped by a substantial increase in new hires among members of visible minorities and persons with disabilities.