For the past decade, Ottawa politicized research funding: Liberal ministers pledged to embed diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) into research practices while bringing diversity targets to the sector; they even said outright that federal funds would be used to tinker with the demographics within the research ecosystem.

And now, in 2024, the House of Commons is finally hearing about it. In October, the science committee kicked off a study on the impact of government funding requirements on Canadian research, and, for once, invited a slate of witnesses who don’t bow to DEI dogma.