Premier Doug Ford is demanding Ontario’s newest medical school educate qualified individuals “regardless of their race or background,” amid backlash over the school’s plan to loosen academic qualifications and screen out prospective students by race or status.

Toronto Metropolitan University’s new medical school in Brampton is expecting more than 5,000 applicants for 94 spots, of which three-quarters will be designated for students who are Black, Indigenous, or from an “equity-deserving” group. Those groups include those who identify as LGBTQ, disabled, poor, and “racialized people.” It has also loosened certain common academic requirements.