Canada’s LGBTQ+ community alarmed about cross-border ripple effect of Trumpism

Canada’s LGBTQ+ community alarmed about cross-border ripple effect of Trumpism

There’s a bad wind blowing from the south — Trumpism is threatening to upend years of progress for the LGBTQ+ community worldwide. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the U.S. are currently facing serious backlash under Donald Trump’s presidency. Programs that merely aim to ensure the fair treatment and full participation of groups that have historically been underrepresented or subject to discrimination based on identity or disability are now being called “radical” and “wasteful.”  

All federal DEI workers have been put on paid leave, and Trump has signed executive orders reversing four years of work on DEI efforts in the federal government.

Kowtowing to Trump’s anti-DEI crusade, Meta and Amazon recently announced they were ending their DEI programs, joining McDonald’s, Walmart, Target and other Fortune 500 companies who’ve backed off DEI. 

These developments have many in Canada bracing for the worst, wondering whether locally based companies’ DEI commitments and LGBTQ+ allyship will be as flimsy as it has been for corporations operating in the U.S., who’ve already buckled under political pressure. 

Toronto Pride recently lost three major sponsors who also do business in the U.S. to avoid being seen as supporting LGBTQ+ rights.

Scapegoating the most vulnerable

Jade Pichette, a Toronto-based DEI professional, is concerned. “As a trans person, I’m very worried about the security and safety of trans people in the U.S. Trump’s executive orders have targeted us very intentionally and directly.”

Pichette worries that anti-trans rhetoric and policies have emboldened people who hate their community. “We’ve been scapegoated when we’re just trying to live our lives.”

It’s not just a feeling. Hate crimes against queer and trans people are on the rise in both the U.S. and Canada.

As the Director of Programs at Pride at Work Canada, a national non-profit helping Canadian companies create workplaces free of discrimination, Pichette says that as attacks on queer and trans communities intensify, it’s critical for employers to reinforce their legal and ethical responsibilities.

“We have been shifting our language from DEI to talk instead about human rights in the workplace,” says Pichette. “It’s much more difficult for someone to say they have an issue with human rights than it is to say that they have an issue with DEI, a term that’s currently been divorced from its actual meaning and experiences.” 

In February, the nonprofit held their annual networking event in Montreal (Winter Pride), hosted by Montreal comedian Tranna Wintour. She says she’s not only scared for her own community, but for racial minorities and women, too.

While Wintour understands the sociological explanations for this backslide, she can’t fully understand it on a “soul and heart level.”

“The idea that there could be anyone that doesn’t just want safety and happiness for everyone makes no sense to me,” she says. 

Wintour believes some people erroneously mistake DEI as something being taken away from them. “For a lot of people, that sense of power is sometimes the only power they think they have, and they become very protective of it,” she says, “to the extent that they don’t care how much suffering is occurring in people who don’t have the same privileges.”

Human-rights regression 

For advocates working hard for LGBTQ+ rights, DEI cutbacks are a hard pill to swallow. 

“As someone who’s been out for over 20 years,” Pichette says, “I’ve seen quite the journey from when we didn’t have explicit trans rights in Canada, to a time when we are legally protected across the country. We’re now seeing a backslide that we haven’t seen in decades.” 

Pichette says they have no intention of travelling to the U.S. while Trump is in power.

Wintour sees the current climate as one of extreme individualism over community. 

“The greatest tragedy of this moment,” she says, “is that the ultimate privilege right now is wealth and resource privilege. Let’s face it: most of us are not in that group. A lot of these people who cling to the power that they think their white, straight privilege brings them, well… they actually have a lot more in common with people who are struggling financially. Yet they somehow see themselves more aligned with the Elon Musks of the world.”

For Wintour, hosting the Winter Pride event was a welcome respite from the worry. 

“It’s easy to spiral,” she says, “but gatherings like these remind us that we’re not alone. It’s important to be reminded of the love and of the people fighting to make things as good as possible for as many of us as possible.”

Thanks in part to conservative pundits and politicians, the term DEI has become loaded in many people’s minds and misunderstood as a practice that suggests preferential treatment of some groups over others.

Yet, the benefits of DEI programs have repeatedly been backed by research: improved decision-making, increased creativity, better employee engagement, reduced turnover, etc. Diversity of thought creates productive and innovative work environments. But for that to happen, people need to feel safe, protected and valued for who they are.

It’s worth emphasizing that under Canadian law, all employees have the right to a workplace free from discrimination and harassment. Upholding these rights is not just a matter of corporate values, but a legal necessity.

“DEI is about creating space for all of us,” says Pichette. “Everybody benefits when we implement these programs.”

Support those who support you

Nearly half (49%) of companies currently reducing or eliminating DEI programs in the U.S. cite political climate changes as a key factor. Companies wanting to curry favour with Trump (like Amazon and Meta) are doing it publicly. Other companies like Target and Shopify have done it a little more quietly. 

But people are paying attention.

As some companies stand firm on their DEI commitments and other companies bail, advocates urge consumers to use their purchasing power to show their dissatisfaction. 

Foot traffic dropped in both Target and Walmart as people boycott these companies for dropping their DEI programs. 

In sharp contrast, Costco refused to retreat on DEI and has seen its foot traffic and popularity increase. 

Pichette agrees with boycotts as a protest tool.

“People can decide that they’re going to spend their money where people are doing the work and they’re not going to spend it where people aren’t doing the work,” they say. “Consumers have power.”

“It’s extremely important where we spend our money,” Wintour says. “It’s the only thing that corporations respond to.” ■

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Pride at Work Canada (@prideatworkcan)

This article was originally published in the March 2025 issue of Cult MTL.

---

Read more weekly editorial columns by Toula Drimonis.