Shopify Inc. headquarters in Ottawa on May 3, 2022.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Nearly 400 technology leaders have signed an open letter that condemns Shopify Inc. SHOP-T for cutting diversity programs and urges Canada’s tech ecosystem to protect equity, inclusion and diversity efforts amid a rollback of support for marginalized groups by influential companies and leaders.
The letter, published Monday morning, warns against the growing influence of unelected and unaccountable business leaders who “prioritize profit over people,” and calls on Canadians to uphold the values of inclusion that are being challenged in the United States.
“Make no mistake – powerful forces in our tech sector want to reshape Canada in the image of those who see inclusion as an obstacle, not an advantage. They lobby politicians, control media platforms, and influence policies that move us closer to the divisive politics of our southern neighbour,” said the letter, written by a group of Canadian entrepreneurs including Laura Gabor, Sarah Stockdale and Avery Swartz.
“This is the wrong direction for Canada,” it added. “We must not tolerate, platform, or profit from hate.”
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Last week, Shopify removed the web pages of several diversity and social programs from its site – Build Native, Build Black, Social Impact and Empowered by Shopify. Meanwhile, numerous staff connected to these programs no longer work at the company, according to their LinkedIn accounts and other former employees.
The week prior, Shopify came under fire for taking more than a day to remove the online store belonging to controversial hip-hop star Kanye West that advertised T-shirts emblazoned with swastikas.
The moves have been criticized as following a broader industry trend of companies rolling back inclusion practices, with some reducing dedicated budgets or hiring goals and others dismantling specialized DEI programs altogether. This includes prominent U.S. banks and companies such as PepsiCo Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google GOOGL-Q, The Walt Disney Co. DIS-N and Meta Platforms Inc. META-Q.
In an interview, Ms. Gabor said the shift away from diversity measures suggests companies were only acting performatively, instead of genuinely attempting to make systemic changes and embrace inclusion.
“I think we’ve now seen it for what it was,” said Ms. Gabor, the founder of air-purification technology company Ecologicca. “I think what’s happening in the U.S. has just given permission for people to start doing it here. It’s like, ‘Finally, we can take this mask off.’ ”
Among the open letter’s signatories are Melissa Nightingale, co-founder of management-consultant firm Raw Signal Group, and April Hicke, co-founder of female-focused talent firm Toast.
“It’s such an amazing competitive advantage to build technology with the perspectives of people from around the globe. Canada can do that in a way that other markets cannot,” Ms. Nightingale said. “I just don’t want to go backwards.”
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Ms. Hicke said that Shopify’s decision to scale back its diversity programs and teams represents a blow to the progress that’s been made in supporting marginalized entrepreneurs, given the company’s significant influence in the tech world.
“How could we ever solve the world’s biggest problems if we have teams where every member is moulded by the same experience?” she said.
Shopify did not respond to a request for comment on the status of its programs or employee layoffs, or the open letter.
The departed employees include at least two senior social-impact managers, two employees working on the company’s equitable commerce platform and the co-founder of the company’s Indigenous entrepreneurship program, Build Native.
As part of Build Native, Shopify partnered in 2023 with Pow Wow Pitch, a non-profit organization supporting Indigenous entrepreneurs, to sponsor a pitch competition and provide resources for its members. But according to the organization’s executive director, Naomi Sarazin, Shopify went dark on its partnership.
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“Shopify has not reached out to renew their partnership agreement for 2025, and we have been unsuccessful in reaching a member of their team,” she said. While the company did not confirm the end of the partnership, she said, the non-profit is now searching for new partners.
The web page for Shopify’s Build Black has also vanished. Through this program, Shopify provided entrepreneurs coaching, specialized events and education with partner Operation Hope, a U.S.-based financial-literacy organization.
In 2020, Shopify said it would commit US$130-million to the organization’s “1 Million Black Businesses” project. The company referenced grants available through the partnership in a blog post as recently as December.
Operation Hope did not respond to a query about the program’s status, but its web page for the initiative, including Shopify’s logo and content, was live as of Monday.