Ontario’s top universities are paying employees generous six-figure salaries to promote and advance “Equity, Diversity and Inclusion” (EDI) initiatives and ideology, True North has learned. 

The 2022 salaries were found using the Ontario Sunshine List, which publicly lists provincial public sector salaries that are over $100,000 per year. The list covers public sector employers that receive significant funding from taxpayers – including universities.

Universities in Ontario get part of their funding from the provincial and federal governments. They also receiving funds through tuition fees and other forms of revenue. 

While most officials earned between $100,000 and $200,000 per year, several received over $300,000 per year. Some of the people on the sunshine list serving as EDI officials are also professors – while others are employed and paid six figures specifically to advance EDI and other social justice agendas.

Notably high salaries include an Associate Professor serving as Deputy Provost of Academic Operations And Inclusion at Queen’s University who earned $346,376 and a professor serving as Vice-President, People Strategy, Equity And Culture at the University of Toronto who earned $341,000. At Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson), a Special Advisor To The President for Equity Diversity Inclusion And Decolonization Curriculum Transformation was paid $329,697, while a Vice President of Equity And Community Inclusion University earned $324,973.

Other noticeably high salaries include York University’s Vice President of Equity, People And Culture, who was paid $277,007, a McMaster professor serving as Vice-President of Equity And Inclusion who was paid $274,950, a University of Toronto professor serving as Vice-Dean of Faculty, Academic Life And Equity, Arts And Sciences who earned $266,150, and another serving as Vice-Dean of Faculty Affairs, Equity And Success at the university’s Scarborough campus made $252,668. Western University’s Associate Vice-President of Equity, Diversity And Inclusion made $257,830 in 2022.

Several people employed by universities for “anti-racism” work were also paid six-figure salaries. A Dean’s Advisor On Black Inclusivity Initiatives And Student Inclusion at the University of Toronto earned $125,201, and an Educational Developer in Anti-Racist Pedagogies earned $101,382. The University of Windsor paid an associate professor serving as Anti-Racism Pedagogies Teaching Leadership Chair $170,918 and its director of Anti-Racism Organizational Change $128,542. Toronto Metropolitan University’s Projects And Operations manager for the Presidential Implementation Committee To Combat Anti-Black Racism earned $110,766, while the University of Waterloo’s Director Of Anti-Racism made $107,072.

Reacting to the high salaries paid to EDI officials, former Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship (SAFS) president Mark Mercer said that “EDI offices are not necessary to any function of a university and EDI initiatives are often harmful, as they contravene academic values when they seek to regulate discussion or to direct research and teaching, and when they place colour, sex or identity above academic accomplishment or promise.”

He added that each of the salaries “could be used to hire two or three junior faculty members, and that would mean smaller classes, more varied courses and a greater dynamism of ideas and perspectives in classrooms, seminars and lab benches.”

“The irony is palpable: if the goal of EDI is to see that scholars from different backgrounds become professors, don’t spend the money on EDI offices or initiatives but on simply increasing the number of faculty members.”

While EDI ideology has been fully embraced by Canadian post-secondary institutions with little political pushback, a different picture is unfolding in the United States.

In Florida, Republican governor Ron DeSantis recently signed a bill banning the state’s public colleges and universities from spending money on “Equity, Diversity and Inclusion” initiatives.

“If you look at the way this has actually been implemented across the country, (EDI) is better viewed as standing for discrimination, exclusion and indoctrination,” said DeSantis. “And that has no place in our public institutions.”

Below are tables of salaries earned by “Equity, Diversity and Inclusion” officials at top Ontario universities as per records provided by the Government of Ontario found by True North on the province’s Sunshine List.

University of Toronto:

Position:2022 salary:
Professor Of French And Vice-Dean, Faculty, Academic Life And Equity, Arts And Sciences $266,149.52 earned in 2022
Research Equity And Diversity Strategist $122,691.00 earned in 2022
Director, Equity, Diversity And Inclusion $127,252.50 earned in 2022
Director, Equity, Diversity And Inclusion, University Of Toronto Scarborough $162,364.98 earned in 2022
Assistant Professor Of Music And Special Advisor, Culture, Climate And Equity $126,730.50 earned in 2022
Professor Of Health And Society And Vice-Dean Faculty Affairs, Equity And Success, University Of Toronto Scarborough $252,668.00 earned in 2022
Executive Director, Equity, Diversity And Inclusion $195,534.65 earned in 2022
Vice-President, People Strategy, Equity And Culture; Professor At Centre Of Criminology And Sociolegal Studies $340,999.96 earned in 2022
Director, Equity, Diversity And Inclusion In Research And Innovation $132,698.96 earned in 2022
Director, Equity Diversity And Inclusion $151,318.50 earned in 2022
Director, Equity, Diversity And Inclusion $118,094.52 earned in 2022
Director, Diversity, Inclusivity And Professionalism $147,388.53 earned in 2022
Senior Officer, Service Learning And Diversity Outreach $113,628.49 earned in 2022
Senior Recruitment, Admissions And Diversity Outreach Officer $108,997.95 earned in 2022
Director, Sexual And Gender Diversity Office $163,269.60 earned in 2022
Access And Inclusion Librarian $131,121.48 earned in 2022
Educational Developer, Anti-Racist Pedagogies, Robert Gillespie Academic Skills Centre $101,382.02 earned in 2022
Program Manager, Black Founders Network $100,285.96 earned in 2022
Dean’s Advisor On Black Inclusivity Initiatives And Student Inclusion And Transition Advisor $125,201.47 earned in 2022

University of Waterloo

Position:2022 salary:
Associate Vice-President, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion And Anti-Racism $158,972.44 earned in 2022
Associate Director, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion And Anti-Racism $112,611.86 earned in 2022
Faculty Equity Manager $113,367.72 earned in 2022
Director Equity, Diversity And Inclusion In Research, International And Commercialization $133,248.72 earned in 2022
Director Of Equity $115,499.96 earned in 2022
Director Of Anti-Racism $107,071.98 earned in 2022

York University

Position:2022 salary:
Director, Community Safety Programs And Policy Development / Senior Program Manager Security Services Review / Program Manager Equity Diversity And Inclusion / Tutor $122,624.56 earned in 2022
Vice President Equity, People And Culture $277,007.36 earned in 2022

Western University

Position:2022 salary:
Associate Vice-President (Equity,Diversity And Inclusion) $257,829.99 earned in 2022
Director, Culture And Inclusion (Ivey Business School) $129,097.74 earned in 2022

Toronto Metropolitan University

Position:2022 salary:
Director Recreation Equity And Active Well Being $127,383.91 earned in 2022
Vice President Equity And Community Inclusion $276,562.63 earned in 2022
Vice President Equity And Community Inclusion $324,973.04 earned in 2022
Special Advisor To The President Equity Diversity Inclusion And Decolonization Curriculum Transformation $329,697.48 earned in 2022
Manager Equity And Community Inclusion $101,553.31 earned in 2022
Director Finance And Administration Diversity Institute $131,570.06 earned in 2022
Associate Dean Engagement And Inclusion $207,223.50 earned in 2022
Executive Director International Student Enrolment Education And Inclusion $198,183.84 earned in 2022
Manager Projects And Operations Presidential Implementation Committee To Combat Anti-Black Racism $110,765.94 earned in 2022

McMaster University

Position:2022 salary:
Vice Provost (Equity And Inclusion) $136,426.38 earned in 2022
Educational Instructor / Senior Advisor, Equity And Inclusion $114,962.85 earned in 2022
Employment Equity Specialist $108,330.40 earned in 2022
Professor / Vice Provost (Equity And Inclusion) $274,950.40 earned in 2022

Queen’s University

Position:2022 salary:
Associate Dean (Equity And Social Accountability), Associate Professor $173,223.00 earned in 2022
Director (Equity, Diversity, Inclusion And Indigenization) $114,777.00 earned in 2022
Equity Diversity And Inclusion Program Manager, Assistant Professor $118,837.56 earned in 2022
Assistant Professor, Equity, Diversity And Inclusion Faculty Lead, School Of Nursing $108,737.28 earned in 2022
Associate Vice-Principal (Human Rights, Equity And Inclusion) $210,596.28 earned in 2022
Co-Lead (Equity, Diversity, Inclusion And Indigeneity), Associate Professor $154,382.04 earned in 2022
Deputy Provost (Academic Operations And Inclusion), Professor $210,715.98 earned in 2022
Deputy Provost (Academic Operations And Inclusion), Associate Professor $346,376.04 earned in 2022

Carleton University

Position:2022 salary:
Director, Human Rights And Equity $125,765.92 earned in 2022
Associate Dean, Equity And Inclusion $187,896.72 earned in 2022
Associate Dean, Equity, Diversity, And Inclusion $154,959.51 earned in 2022

University of Guelph

Position:2022 salary:
Associate Dean, Academic Equity And Anti-Racism $109,631.91 earned in 2022

University of Ottawa

Position:2022 salary:
Full Professor. Special Advisor, Diversity and Inclusion$210,177.40 earned in 2022

Brock University

Position:2022 salary:
Executive Director, Human Rights And Equity $146,276.56 earned in 2022

Wilfrid Laurier University

Position:2022 salary:
Associate Vice President Equity, Diversity And Inclusion $191,919.92 earned in 2022
Chief Human Resources And Equity Officer $232,831.04 earned in 2022

University of Windsor

Position:2022 salary:
Professor; Interim Vice President – Equity, Diversity And Inclusion $240,000.00 earned in 2022
Senior Executive Officer Of Equity, Diversity And Inclusion $175,514.19 earned in 2022
Executive Director – Human Rights, Equity And Accessibility $143,525.43 earned in 2022
Associate Professor; Anti-Racism Pedagogies Teaching Leadership Chair $170,918.08 earned in 2022
Director, Anti-Racism Organizational Change $128,541.88 earned in 2022
Assistant Professor; Interim Director Of The Black And Indigenous Students’ Talent Incubator$134,715.01 earned in 2022
Associate Professor; Director, Black Scholars Institute $153,079.49 earned in 2022

Lakehead University

Position:2022 salary:
Director, Human Rights And Equity Lakehead University$113,266.02 earned in 2022

Trent University

A 2022 job opening for a Director, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion shows the university being willing to pay up to $143,878 per year for the job.

The post-secondary institutions in this article are considered to be the top in the province by EduRank, whose rankings are “determined by analyzing 34M citations received by 823K academic publications made by 24 universities from Ontario, the popularity of 2,324 recognized alumni, and the largest reference database available.”

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