Only ‘women, transgender, non-binary, or two-spirit’ may apply for position at Canadian college

The position, with the university's Faculty of Environment, is listed as being open specifically for "Qualified individuals who self-identify as women, transgender, non-binary, or two-spirit." "Two-spirit" is a Native American term that loosely correlates with "non-binary."

According to Fox News, "Applicants are asked to fill out a self-identification form to ensure that they fall into one of the four categories that the job is open for, in order to 'address the underrepresentation of individuals from equity deserving groups among our Canada Research Chairs.'"

The university's website goes on to state, "Because this is a special opportunity for a specific member of the four designated groups, applicant self-identification information will be used for the purposes of screening and consideration."

It appears that the university is allowed to actively discriminate in this case when hiring, due to a provision in the Ontario Human Rights Code which allows for preferential treatment "designed to help people who experience hardship, economic disadvantage, inequality or discrimination."

Fox News writes that they reached out to the university for comment, but have not received a response as of the time of this writing.