While the House of Commons/members of the Canadian government have issued apologies for the mistreatment of these ethnic groups, little has been done to fix the issues caused in the past. One of the most dangerous beliefs that exists in Canada is the notion that “racism doesn’t exist in Canada anymore.” As much as we would like to believe that is true, especially considering our reputation for being full of kind people, it simply isn’t true. There are many systems that are place that continue to work to the advantage of white people and to the disadvantage of other ethnic groups. And while these systems may not be visible to the naked eyes, they are just as visible as the ones that are. This is what we call systemic racism,
A set of institutional, historical, cultural, and interpersonal practices within a
society that places one or more social or ethnic groups in a better position to succeed and disadvantages other groups so that disparities develop between the groups over a period of time. (Google Arts and Culture)
This topic will look into how historical events and acts of discrimination have affected the way that ethnic groups are perceived and treated in Canada.
Indigenous Peoples
While there are many racist systems in place that affect the well-being of Indigenous Peoples today, two of the most damaging ones at the moment are housing issues and over-representation in the “justice” system.
Housing—or as you learn in grade school, shelter—is considered a necessity to human life. More specifically adequate housing, meaning a functional place to live that offers the necessities, like safe drinking water. “Housing is a social determinant of health, one that is directly related to the health and well-being of its occupants” (Olsen, Merkel and Black). Between the 1930s and 1970s, Canada introduced the National Housing Act and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Cooperation. Both of these efforts were heavily underfunded, discriminatory (neglected to help certain people), and failed terribly. So, by the 1970s, the government took these failed efforts as proof that the Indigenous people could not manage themselves, leading to the government taking further control of their land.
Due to colonization efforts like residentials schools, now “a disproportionate number of First Nations children currently live in overcrowded houses and experience housing insecurity, and there are more First Nations children in the welfare system today than at the height of residential schools” (Olsen, Merkel and Black). The largest issue with the housing problem is that it could have been prevented. Had Canada, given the Indigenous people the reigns in the reconstruction of their communities and actually listened to their input, they would most likely be on their way to recreating a strong community. Though, Canada, for decades, has continued to believe that the only way to rehabilitate these communities is by creating legislature that only further restricts them and puts the power into the hands of people who have no clue where to start.
Activity: Look into one issue surrounding Indigenous People that you don’t know much about and share your findings with someone else.
Here are some topic examples:
- Housing
- Crisis of women missing in Indigenous communities
- Overrepresentation in justice system
- Land issues
Black People
Like the Indigenous population, the Black population is also overrepresented in the justice system and are 4 times as likely to be racially profiled by police (Black and Indigenous people in Montreal) (Sheppard, Thermitus and Jones). Not only that, but in Toronto, they are also 20 times more likely to be shot by police in comparison to White citizens (Estrada). We are quick to name the Black lives that were lost in America due to police brutality, but very few of us know the names of those lost here in Canada, like D’Andre Campbell, Nicholas Gibbs, Olando Brown, Jermaine Carby, Andrew Loku and Abdirahman Abdi (Estrada). Why is that? It is simple; in Canada we are taught to believe that racism is a thing of the past, that our society has moved beyond racism and lives in a utopia of diversity, which can’t be further than the truth.
One of the most damaging systems that affects Black people is the education system. The education system, for decades, has taught and instilled in Black children and youth that they are not smart enough to attend higher education or do succeed in school at all. Teachers have low expectations of Black students, and therefore never push them to achieve, or even think about, their goals. And those who do manage to push through the system and make it to post-secondary are often met by counsellors and teachers that try to dissuade them from doing so. In a research study conducted in Toronto, Black students.
[I]nsisted that the most sustained, daily violence was the violence of the education system [not physical violence]. It was teachers who did not believe in them, who stereotyped them, who over-disciplined and over-punished them, who constructed possibilities for them that were different from the possibilities for other children. (Slaughter)
Activity: Look into one issue surrounding Black people that you don’t know much about and share your findings with someone else.
Here are some topic examples:
- Police brutality against Black Canadians
- Portrayal of Black people in media (ex. news)
- Overrepresentation in justice system
- The cycle of gang violence, poverty, and homelessness in primarily Black communities
East Asian Peoples
As you learned in the first Unit, racism functions on a spectrum. People of East Asian descent, like other ethnic groups, experience racism on multiple levels. First starting with covert racism. Stereotypes. How many times has Asian people been presented to you as, “studious, hardworking and as economically prosperous”? (The Canadian Encyclopedia). I could imagine quite a few times. This stereotype is constantly portrayed in the media (including the TV shows you watch) and is then believed and worse, internalized by people of East Asian descent.
Another form of racism that affects East Asian people is the misidentification of them and the racial slurs/imitations that go with them. Think of this nursery rhyme that many of us grew up singing.
I went to a Chinese restaurant
Note: this is just one version of the song (Powell)
to buy a loaf of bread, bread, bread this lady asked me what’s my names and this is what I said.
I said a ching chong chati
I can do karate unch u in yo body
oops I’m sorry Chinese Japanese dirty knees
look at these.
criss cross apple sauce.
do me a favor and get lost.
Racism is ingrained in almost every facet of our lives. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic we have seen how people of East-Asian descent have been discriminated against at alarming rates. According to a survey conducted by the Angus Reid Institute, “[m]ore than half of Asian Canadians have suffered discrimination over the past year” (Hernandez).
Activity: Look into one issue surrounding East Asian people that you don’t know much about and share your findings with someone else.
Here are some topic examples:
- Hate crimes against Asian people
- Portrayal of Asian people in the media (ex., Television)
- Pay differences between Asian and white Canadians
- Anti-Asian racism during the SARS outbreak in 2003
Latinx Peoples
While there isn’t much information about widespread discrimination about Latinx people, there is a fair amount of information surrounding discrimination against Latinx people in education systems (similar to Black people).
A report conducted by University of Toronto found that have such a high dropout rate (40%) because “racial stereotypes—held by both peers and teachers—that they are poor, lazy and criminal” (Rushowy and Brown). In 2008 the Toronto District School Board discovered that “Spanish-speaking students scored among the lowest on standardized literacy tests, struggled to do well in school and dropped out roughly as often as black and Portuguese teens” (Rushowy and Brown). It was also found that Spanish-speaking students would feel the need to drop out in order to support their families (Rushowy and Brown).
In relation to the COVID-19 pandemic Toronto Public Health found that “Toronto’s Latino community are nearly seven times more likely to contract COVID-19 than their white counterparts” and are 4 times as likely to need to be hospitalized for it (Gerster and Ng). Some of the reasons why this is true could be stress from racism and discrimination, pre-existing health disparities linked to social and economic factors, challenges accessing health care and social services, or an inability to follow public health guidelines because they are essential workers or living in overly crowded homes. (Gerster and Ng).
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