It is difficult to see one's privilege so this a good decision

It is my observation with over 40 years in the work place that as a white male in Canada it is very difficult to see your own privilege. A few specific situations have allowed the opportunity to see it and one was working overseas in Japan where it was really clear that my opinion was taken more seriously than that of my female colleagues. Another has been working with First Nations folks in Canada and going for lunch in the same restaurant with and without them and seeing different treatment in the same restaurants. Once you start to see it, if you can sit back and observe carefully you will see this same thread in a lot of places including in technical discussions where I see how my own opinion has carried more weight than it should compared to some of my younger, non-white or female colleagues in the past. The solutions to system baked in imbalance are not simple and the assertion that meritocracy will resolve them is incredibly naive and that is why DEI programs matter.

If we love programming and want to build the best tools, we need a space where everyone can contribute based on the merit of their ideas, but that only happens if we make sure everyone gets a chance to participate. For this reason I am pleased with the and fully support the decision to withdraw the application.