Fed-funded non-profit hosts black, minority-only swimming lessons
A non-profit organization supported with over $85K in federal funding is delivering race-based swimming lessons.
Author: Melanie Bennet
A non-profit organization supported with over $85K in federal funding is delivering race-based swimming lessons. Several grants have been awarded to support race-specific services, even as public support for diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives appears to be declining in Canada and abroad.
Afropolitan Canada describes itself as a bilingual organization that supports lack, Indigenous, and people of colour (BIPOC) communities through education, mental health, and life skills. Many of its initiatives, including swimming lessons, outdoor education, scholarships, and youth employment opportunities, are restricted to participants based on race.
The federal government has awarded multiple grants to Afropolitan Canada. In total, the non-profit has received over $85,500 in federal grants since 2021 under the Community Support, Multiculturalism, and Anti-Racism Initiatives, Employment and Social Development Canada, Supporting Black Canadian Communities Initiative, and Canada Summer Jobs.
In addition to race-exclusive swimming lessons, Afropolitain delivers multiple race-specific programs, including outdoor activities, tennis, and a scholarship fund. The initiatives are said to be “culturally responsive” and necessary to address what it calls equity gaps. These approaches reshape public programs like education, healthcare, mental health or justice to prioritize the cultural backgrounds of specific identity groups.
Equity, in opposition to equality, aims to eliminate gaps between groups rather than meeting the needs of individuals without regard to identity. Some proponents of equity even go so far as to reject racial colour-blindness as a form of racism. For instance, its scholarship program states that BIPOC students are more reliant on loans and as they’re more likely to be living below the poverty line. It’s unclear whether the loans are assessed based on family income or race alone.
Programs like these continue to receive grants even as public support for identity politics wanes. A 2021 Angus Reid Institute survey found that only 28% of Canadians support race-based hiring and admissions policies.
More recently, a 2025 poll by Abacus Data and the Canadian Media Producers Association revealed that 91% of Canadians believe it is important to protect Canadian culture and identity, while 58% would support a political party that promotes a unifying Canadian identity.
Despite millions invested in anti-racism strategies aimed at eliminating disparities, government data suggests that feelings of discrimination remain widespread. According to Canadian Heritage, 38% of Canadians report experiencing discrimination, rising to 50% among Indigenous people and 78% among visible minorities. This raises questions about whether identity-based interventions are achieving their goals or inadvertently exacerbating divisions.
The debate isn’t limited to Canada. An analysis of political sentiment indicates a global backlash against identity-based governance. Across Europe and North America, public frustration is mounting over programs seen as exclusionary or out of touch with material needs.
In countries like Sweden, France, and the U.S., working-class voters increasingly reject progressive identity politics in favour of more universal social policies. Canada, however, continues to expand DEI frameworks within federal funding, research-granting agencies, and community programming.
A report by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute documented the growth of DEI frameworks within Canada’s federal research granting agencies, which collectively manage nearly $4 billion in funding annually.
Supporters argue that these initiatives are corrective and time-limited, meant to close disparities caused by historical injustices. However, racial groups continue to report discrimination, while race-based eligibility for social programming ignores a multitude of other factors affecting Canadians.