Chapter 4 - Racism and Justice in Canada

Introduction

• Canada was formed as a nation for western settlers.
• Despite diversity celebrations, Indigenous and racialized people still face racism, discrimination, and marginalization.
• Inequalities in housing, education, employment, and the criminal justice system in Canada are excused as anomalies or an inability to adapt to dominant norms.

Imagining a "White" Canada

• A prevailing mythology depicts Canada's development as the work of hardworking settlers on mostly empty land, leading to a great nation.
• First Nations people were demoted to a pre-modern time, while people of color are considered new arrivals to an already developed country.
• Colonialism involved seizing Indigenous land, suppressing Indigenous people, and comprehensively organizing Canada's social, economic, and political landscape based on a structured racial hierarchy.

Racializing Canada

• Social scientists define racialization as the process of sorting individuals into ethnic or racial identities.
• Race is the socially constructed classification of human beings based on perceived characteristics of skin color, informed by historical and geographical context, and is not biological.
• Racialization is an exercise in power.

Structural or System Racism

• Structural or systemic racism operates not only at the individual level but at the level of groups, organizations, and institutions.
• Society's foundations advance a racialized, Eurocentric society, grounded in the exploitation and oppression of Indigenous peoples and racialized minorities while preserving the racialized distribution of power and privilege.
• Definitions of racism reflect values and practices that disproportionately affect racialized groups negatively.

Social Inequality

• Social inequality is an umbrella term for social disadvantages related to powerlessness, discrimination, political participation, institutional involvement, health outcomes, life quality, vulnerability to violence, deprivation, and people's rights violations.

Racism and the Criminal Justice System

• Research shows marginalized social groups and racialized groups are overrepresented in official crime and criminal justice statistics.
• Racialized individuals are more likely to be found guilty by judges and juries or considered deserving of harsh punishments by the public and justice officials.
• Public attention and criticism focus on discrimination by the police.
• A lack of racialized Canadians are serving as Judges, with a lack of representation on juries.
• Racialized offenders are more likely to be detained (remanded), sentenced to federal institutions, and subjected to community supervision.
• Social factors that increase offending behaviors tend to affect socially marginalized groups at higher rates.
• Over-representation in police statistics results from disproportionate police attention or surveillance such as Carding in Toronto.

Racism and Child Welfare

• Canada's Child Welfare system disproportionately affects certain racialized populations.
• Indigenous children make up 7% of the child population in Canada but represent 48% of children in foster care.
• Colonialism and marginalization create conditions of poverty affecting many Indigenous parents and their ability to provide for their children.

Racism and Employment

• Racialized groups earn approximately 26% less than non-racialized group members.
• Indigenous people earn about 25% less than non-Indigenous people in Canada.
• Immigrants' lack of recognition for foreign credentials or work experience block access to skilled jobs, leading to underemployment, unemployment, and vulnerability.

Racism and Immigration

• Early Canadian policy deliberately controlled or excluded certain immigrant groups.
• Canadian government decisions about immigration have been guided by two questions:
  • Are certain immigrants better suited for certain jobs?
  • Are certain immigrants better candidates for participation in Canadian social and political life?
• Throughout history, certain populations were systemically denied the same opportunities as other immigrant groups to settle, establish economic opportunities, and fully participate in Canadian society's social and political spheres.

Multiculturalism

• Canadians tout multiculturalism as part of their narrative.
• Another mythology imagines Canada as committed to justice and equality without addressing ongoing inequality and exclusion.
• It comes from a history of alleviating tensions between French and English Canadians.
• In 1985, it became official policy with the Act for the Preservation and Enhancement of Multiculturalism.
  • The vision was to overcome discriminatory attitudes and avoid tensions and conflicts seen in other ethnically diverse societies.

Conclusion

• While celebrating multicultural identity and condemning serious racial violence and discrimination, fully examining the legacy of white supremacy, which affects racialized people's social, economic, and political lives in Canada today, is required.
• Conversations about justice in Canada must pay attention to those often denied it.