FIRST READING: University founded to memorialize dead white men now rejecting white men for jobs

Detail from a Memorial University job posting outlining which identity groups are allowed to apply. Photo by Screenshot via Memorial University

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In what may mark a new milestone in the annals of race-based Canadian hiring, Newfoundland and Labrador’s only university currently has five academic job postings that are explicitly forbidden for straight white men.

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Memorial University, located in the provincial capital of St. John’s, was founded as a “living memorial” to the outsized number of Newfoundland men killed in the First World War. Job postings for the university make note of this, reminding applicants that the school exists so that their “cause and sacrifice might not be forgotten.”

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But this month, five of those same job postings also contain itemized restrictions excluding the one cohort that made up the overwhelming majority of Newfoundland’s war dead.

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Specifically, the five jobs are advertised exclusively for “women; 2SLGBTQIA+ people; Indigenous peoples; racialized persons; and persons with disabilities.”

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Memorial University’s bloc of identity-screened job postings was first noted in a Monday social media post by independent journalist Chris Brunet.

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In a social media post, former Alberta premier Jason Kenney noted that one per cent of Newfoundland’s male population was killed in the First World War, which yielded Memorial University’s name.

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“None of those men, or those who served with them, would now be eligible to teach at the university named in honour of their sacrifice,” he wrote. “DEI has gone too far for too long.”

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Virtually all job postings for Canadian universities now contain some sort of “equity” component favouring certain identity groups over others.

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In a 2025 study, the Aristotle Foundation examined 489 job postings issued by 10 Canadian universities, and found just 12 that didn’t contain some element saying that candidates would be prioritized based on their race, gender or sexual identity.

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Despite this, it’s still somewhat rare for a university to explicitly turn away candidates based on identarian characteristics. In the Aristotle Foundation study, only 16 of the 489 jobs they analyzed “discriminated against candidates based on natural, uncontrollable factors or group identity.”

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As to what’s driving Memorial University’s sudden turn towards discriminatory hiring, one likely explanation is that it’s required by federal mandate.

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All five of the screened jobs are funded by the Canada Research Chairs Program, a $311 million federal program that pays the expenses of about 2,000 academic posts at universities across Canada.

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The five Memorial University jobs represent a combined $2.5 million in Canada Research Chair funding for the school.

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Ever since 2021, this funding has come with strict targets on “equity, diversity and inclusion.”

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As per the regularly updated identity quotas maintained on the Canada Research Chair website, at least 22.9 per cent of all academic positions funded by the program must be filled by “racialized” individuals, 4.9 per cent by Indigenous people, 7.5 per cent by people with disabilities and 50.9 per cent by either women or trans people.