Toronto Pearson International airport is looking for a new director for its CEO office — but the first prerequisite is the candidate’s “deep commitment” to the controversial DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) agenda. DEI is an avenue for companies to hire based on someone’s minority status, rather than the candidate’s merit. Often by doing so, the company would receive substantial government subsidies to fund the “diverse” employee’s wages. .The Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA), which operates Canada’s biggest airport, says its stated goal is to “manifest the airport of the future” through exceptional customer service and its status as a global travel hub. With this in mind, the GTAA seeks to hire a new director whose top qualification is their “deep and abiding commitment to advancing reconciliation, equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility in all its forms.” .The director “will play an important role in advancing the mandate of the CEO’s office and, by extension, the overall organization,” wrote GTAA in its job description. .The director will “serve as the primary interface for executive team matters” and act “as a liaison for the CEO.”They “must believe, intrinsically, in the importance of leading with curiosity and welcoming ideas that can later be synthesized and turned into possibility” and have a “leadership style that balances political astuteness, decisiveness, polish, and humour.” .GTAA has contracted a third party, BIPOC Executive Search, “to ensure an applicant list that is as diverse as possible.”The GTAA did not respond to the Western Standard’s request for comment. .Then-Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra on July 7, 2023 announced $94 million in funding to Pearson “to increase supply chain capacity.” A total of $4.6 billion over 11 years (2017 to 2028) was allocated to the National Trade Corridors Fund made available to the TOronto airport. .Pearson airport in February allocated $770,000 in funding to nine local organizations to hire a “diverse range of job seekers.” Groups who received funding included Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services’ Thrive Under the Rainbow (TURN) project that helps “African refugees who identify as 2SLGBTQI, Rexdale Women’s Centre’s Women’s Employment and Labour Integration Training Program (WELITP) that helps “Immigrant and Newcomer women" and YWCA Toronto’s DARE (Digital Awareness – Ready for Employment) project, which helps “women and gender diverse people.” .Windmill Microlending’s Empowering New Canadians, which gives micro-loans to new Canadians, was also a recipient of the funding, as was Blk Owned’s Black Youth Entrepreneurship Hub (BYEH) Community Platform that helps black youth, Brampton Venture Zone by TMU’s BReady Talent Program that helps newcomers and “racialized and underrepresented groups," MABELLEarts’ employment support program that helps “women and newcomer residents” and the Black Physicians Association of Ontario.
