The University of Waterloo is looking for “gender-fluid” people, as well as women, sexual minorities and non-white people to meet the “diversity, equity and inclusion” quotas of its Canada Research Chairs positions.
True North found several job openings from the university with these requirements.
“To address legal requirements for supporting underrepresented groups in the CRC program, this opportunity is open only to women and gender minorities, which is defined to include individuals who self-identify as women, transgender, gender-fluid, non-binary, and Two-spirit people,” reads the job posting for a chair position in optometry & vision science field.
The same requirements apply to Waterloo research chair positions in personality psychology, mathematics, computer science and health.
For the computer science division, the university is looking to hire someone who is a sexual or gender minority and someone who is not white.
“The call is open only to qualified individuals who self-identify as a member of a racialized minority,” reads the posting.
The Canada Research Chairs program is a federally funded initiative that invests millions annually into research related to engineering, natural sciences, health sciences, humanities, and social sciences.
Since 2017, Ottawa has been mandating DEI requirements for the program.
“Achieving a more equitable, diverse and inclusive Canadian research enterprise is essential to creating the excellent, innovative and impactful research necessary to seize opportunities and for responding to global challenges,” reads the Government of Canada website.
The University of Waterloo was criticized online over its Canada Research Chairs DEI job postings.
Concordia professor and author Gad Saad, who is a research chair at his university, mocked the university in a sarcastic X (formerly Twitter) post. “Thank you, UWaterloo for your laudable efforts in opening up the two listed positions. Together we can decolonize STEM!”
Saad also mocked the list of gender minorities.
Saad’s mockery earned a reaction from Canadian psychologist and author Jordan Peterson.
The term “gender-fluid” was coined by proponents of gender ideology in the 1990s. It is used to define people whose “gender identity changes rather than remaining fixed.”
“Gender-fluid people may move between different genders throughout their life. Their gender may shift over a day, a week, months, or years,” reads an article about the term.
The University of Waterloo told True North it is “using the language outlined in the federal requirement.”
The university previously made headlines for a DEI initiative bringing back segregation in swimming – with dedicated swim times for “Black folx.” Waterloo also offers swim, workout, and rock climbing times exclusively for transgender, “non-binary,” and “2SLGBTQ+” people.
