Racism In Canada Research Articles

Ghosts and Shadows: A History of Racism in Canada

A history of racism reinforces discrimination and exploitation of racialized immigrants in general and African-Canadians in particular. My paper contends that historically institutionalized structures are the ideological fulcrum from which ongoing socio-economic inequalities derive and retain their legitimacy. Specifically, I argue that the historically institutionalized system of slavery and ensuing systemic structures of racial discrimination negatively influence the incorporation of racialized immigrants into the Canadian labour market. A historically racially segmented labour market continues to uphold colour coded social and economic hierarchies. Although Canada’s point system ensures that immigrants are primarily selected on the basis of their skills and qualifications, many professionally trained and experienced racialized immigrants endure perpetual socio-economic constraints, characterized primarily by low-end, precarious forms of employment. While not intended to serve as an exhaustive chronology, this essay draws on three historical periods of Black migration and experience in Canada: the first spans early sixteenth to the end of the eighteenth-century, the second dates from the nineteenth to mid-twentieth century, and the third extends from mid-twentieth century to the present. The following historical timeline traces the prevalence and enduring nature of systemic structures and substantiates Abigail Bakan’s (2008) suggestion that both “racism and a culture of hegemonic whiteness were and remain endemic to the Canadian state” (p. 6). Une histoire du racisme appuie le constat de la discrimination et de l’exploitation d’immigrants appartenant a des groupes raciaux en general et de Canadiens africains en particulier. Mon essai soutient que les structures historiquement institutionnalisees constituent le point de depart des inegalites socioeconomiques actuelles et prolongent leur legitimite. Plus precisement, je pretends que le systeme d’esclavage historiquement institutionnalise et les structures systemiques de discrimination raciale qui en ont decoule ont nui a l’integration sur le marche du travail canadien des immigrants appartenant a des groupes raciaux. Un marche du travail depuis toujours segmente racialement renforce encore la hierarchie economique et sociale fondee sur la couleur. Meme si le systeme de points d’appreciation canadien fait en sorte que les immigrants sont choisis essentiellement sur la base de leur formation et de leurs competences, de nombreux immigrants membres de groupes raciaux disposant d’une formation et d’une experience professionnelles subissent de perpetuelles restrictions socioeconomiques, comme des emplois bas de gamme ou precaires. Cet essai ne pretend pas etre une chronologie exhaustive, mais il decrit trois periodes historiques de la migration des Noirs et de leur experience au Canada : la premiere epoque s’etend du debut du XVIe siecle a la fin du XVIIIe siecle, la deuxieme du XIXe siecle au milieu du XXe siecle et la troisieme, du milieu du XXe siecle a maintenant. Cette chronologie temoigne de la prevalence et de la persistance des structures systemiques et appuie la suggestion d’Abigail Bakan (2008) selon laquelle « le racisme et une culture dominante blanche ont ete et demeurent endemiques dans l’Etat canadien » (p. 6) [traduction libre].

Ghosts and Shadows: A History of Racism in Canada

A history of racism reinforces discrimination and exploitation of racialized immigrants in general and African-Canadians in particular. My paper contends that historically institutionalized structures are the ideological fulcrum from which ongoing socio-economic inequalities derive and retain their legitimacy. Specifically, I argue that the historically institutionalized system of slavery and ensuing systemic structures of racial discrimination negatively influence the incorporation of racialized immigrants into the Canadian labour market. A historically racially segmented labour market continues to uphold colour coded social and economic hierarchies. Although Canada’s point system ensures that immigrants are primarily selected on the basis of their skills and qualifications, many professionally trained and experienced racialized immigrants endure perpetual socio-economic constraints, characterized primarily by low-end, precarious forms of employment. While not intended to serve as an exhaustive chronology, this essay draws on three historical periods of Black migration and experience in Canada: the first spans early sixteenth to the end of the eighteenth-century, the second dates from the nineteenth to mid-twentieth century, and the third extends from mid-twentieth century to the present. The following historical timeline traces the prevalence and enduring nature of systemic structures and substantiates Abigail Bakan’s (2008) suggestion that both “racism and a culture of hegemonic whiteness were and remain endemic to the Canadian state” (p. 6).Une histoire du racisme appuie le constat de la discrimination et de l’exploitation d’immigrants appartenant à des groupes raciaux en général et de Canadiens africains en particulier. Mon essai soutient que les structures historiquement institutionnalisées constituent le point de départ des inégalités socioéconomiques actuelles et prolongent leur légitimité. Plus précisément, je prétends que le système d’esclavage historiquement institutionnalisé et les structures systémiques de discrimination raciale qui en ont découlé ont nui à l’intégration sur le marché du travail canadien des immigrants appartenant à des groupes raciaux. Un marché du travail depuis toujours segmenté racialement renforce encore la hiérarchie économique et sociale fondée sur la couleur. Même si le système de points d’appréciation canadien fait en sorte que les immigrants sont choisis essentiellement sur la base de leur formation et de leurs compétences, de nombreux immigrants membres de groupes raciaux disposant d’une formation et d’une expérience professionnelles subissent de perpétuelles restrictions socioéconomiques, comme des emplois bas de gamme ou précaires. Cet essai ne prétend pas être une chronologie exhaustive, mais il décrit trois périodes historiques de la migration des Noirs et de leur expérience au Canada : la première époque s’étend du début du XVIe siècle à la fin du XVIIIe siècle, la deuxième du XIXe siècle au milieu du XXe siècle et la troisième, du milieu du XXe siècle à maintenant. Cette chronologie témoigne de la prévalence et de la persistance des structures systémiques et appuie la suggestion d’Abigail Bakan (2008) selon laquelle « le racisme et une culture dominante blanche ont été et demeurent endémiques dans l’État canadien » (p. 6) [traduction libre].

Cultural Disjunction in B. Mukherjee’s Wife

After experiencing racism in Canada, where multiculturalism emphasized ethnic differences and fixed identities rather than allowing for cultural interaction and hybridity, the author, B. Mukherjee, moves to the USA whose biculturalism favors cultural interactions and fluid identities. Here she experiences the transformative powers of cultural interactions and frees herself and her work from the static power of cultural disjunction. Her personal experience highlights the need of immigrant characters to connect to the mainstream and not to be isolated from it. The paper explores the problem of cultural adaptability and integration as experienced by Dimple, the main character in Mukherjee’s novel Wife (1975). Based upon contemporary research on cultural and social identity formation, the paper analyses Dimple’s inner struggle of identity in the context of her immigrant status, and it relates her ultimately tragic response to loneliness and alienation resulting in cultural disjunction, non-adaptability, and non-assimilation.

Critical Multiculturalism and Nation-Building Exploring Systemic Racism in Canada

Critical Multiculturalism and Nation-Building Exploring Systemic Racism in Canada

Environmental justice and racism in Canada: An introduction by AndilGosine and CherylTeelucksingh , Emond Montgomery , Toronto , 2008 , 180 pp., paper $27.00 (ISBN 978‐1552392843) Speaking for ourselves: Environmental justice in Canada edited by JulianAgyeman, PeterCole, RandolphHaluza‐Delay, and PatO’Riley , University of British Columbia Press , Vancouver , 2009 , 292 pp., paper $32.95 (ISBN 978‐0774816199)

Environmental justice and racism in Canada: An introduction by AndilGosine and CherylTeelucksingh , Emond Montgomery , Toronto , 2008 , 180 pp., paper $27.00 (ISBN 978‐1552392843) <b>Speaking for ourselves: Environmental justice in Canada</b> edited by JulianAgyeman, PeterCole, RandolphHaluza‐Delay, and PatO’Riley , University of British Columbia Press , Vancouver , 2009 , 292 pp., paper $32.95 (ISBN 978‐0774816199)

Comment on the Rejoinder of Henry and Tator to Satzevich and Shaffir

From their first paragraph of their Rejoinder to Satzevich and Shaffir, Henry and Tator (2011) make a number of statements about Satzevich and Shaffir's (2009) article for which I can find no evidence in the text of the article itself: that it presents a perspective on the nature of profiling rather than on what is the primary focus of the article--police discourse of denial regarding profiling. and Shaffir (2009) draw no conclusions as to the existence or nature of profiling. That is not their purpose in this article. Henry and Tator (2011) further claim that Satzevich and Shaffir (2009) critique the work of Tanovich and Wortley, where there is only citation and reporting. The rejoinder also claims that that and Shaffir (2009) critique qualitative studies that rely upon reported experiences of profiling (Henry and Tator 2011), when there is no such critique proffered. They state that and Shaffir (2009) believe the emphasis in understanding profiling should be put on the subculture of policing. This is the main topic of the and Shaffir paper, but that hardly constitutes a dismissal or denigration of other emphases. Further into the rejoinder, Henry and Tator (2011) claim that Satzewich and Shaffir tend largely to ignore the significance of racial, cultural, institutional, and systemic (67). This broader issue was not the topic of their paper. Later yet, Henry and Tator (2011) claim Satzewich and Shaffir ... maintain that profiling takes place in policing without the presence of bias or prejudice because profiling is part of the overall profiling done by police, who routinely use a wide variety of descriptive characteristics (68). I would imagine the original authors would take exception with this characterization of their view. In fact, they report the contrary view from their interviews. and Shaffir (2009) write that racial profiling is perceived by the as one in a series of activities that define their work (and) ... occurs even in the absence of officers who may be inclined to prejudice or discrimination against members of visible minorities. Henry and Tator eagerly seize on this statement to conclude police themselves, at least in their sample, admit to profiling because they believe that this practice is a natural part of their work as officers and managers. But it is unclear if and Shaffir (2009) are referring to profiling specifically or whether this statement is intended to describe profiling in general. Throughout the rest of their article, they make clear that perceive that it is criminal profiling, attentiveness to particular signals and 'unusual fits' and Shaffir 2009: 209), that defines their work and that it is critics who mistakenly conclude that blacks are singled out for differential treatment. These baseless claims about the and Shaffir article as well as the long rhetorical passages in the rejoinder that have no bearing on the original article lead a reader to suspect that this response has more to do with seeking an opportunity to express again to the readership of the Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice the opinions of Henry and Tator than with responding to and Shaffir (2009). It seems that the only offence Satzevich and Shaffir (2009) committed to spur this rejoinder is their questioning of the presumptive nature of evidence of profiling offered by Henry and Tator. They write, According to Henry and Tator, racism in Canada is not necessarily determined by, or even related to, intentions and motives. In light of their definition of racism, all those actions and behaviours that intentionally and unintentionally deny the equality of black and other minority communities are racist, regardless of motive. Racism is about consequences, independent of motive. …

Reconceiving Rights and Constitutionalism

Human rights invoked in the international context are often treated as having self-evident content. The focus is on implementation and enforcement. The urge to enforcement is especially strong when...

Rocking the racism boat: school‐based activists speak out on denial and avoidance

The present study seeks insights from current school activists on the tendency of educators and others to engage in denial and avoidance when discussing issues surrounding racism, and how that affects the daily work on social justice projects in schools. The author outlines contemporary and historical aspects of the denial of racism in Canada, and a problematic lack of engagement of school‐based activists, especially young people, in the academic literature, particularly related to their role as active participants in social justice movements. This research repositions student and teacher activist roles in schools and in educational research itself. Excerpts from in‐depth interviews with 11 student and teacher participants include the understandings of those who choose to engage in social justice work in actual school settings, and offer new insights into theoretical and practical considerations regarding the denial and avoidance of racism in schools.

Racial Gradients of Ambient Air Pollution Exposure in Hamilton, Canada

Environmental justice research in the United States has coalesced around the notion that visible-minority status, along with socioeconomic position (SEP), conditions exposure to environmental health hazards. In the context of long-standing debates over Canada–USA urban differences, we address the question of whether racial gradients exist in air pollution across Hamilton, Canada. Monitored air quality data are spatially interpolated with a kriging algorithm. These interpolated exposures are statistically correlated with 1996 data at the census tract scale, with the aid of multivariate and spatial techniques. The proportion of Latin-Americans in a census tract is positively associated with pollution exposure, even after control for many SEP variables. In contrast, Asian-Canadians are negatively associated with air pollution, and Black-Canadians show no clear correlation at all. Thus, the faces of environmental racism in Canada seem more varied and nuanced than in the USA. Given the immigrant basis of visible minorities in Canada, we argue that Hamilton (and the Canadian city generally) may represent new dimensions of environmental racism driven by economic status at time of entry. In drawing on similar findings in the USA and the United Kingdom, the authors conclude that environmental racism appears present in all jurisdictions, but that the nature and extent of disproportionate exposure differ between countries.

Dialogue education at work: a case book

Foreword (Margaret Wheatley).Preface.The Authors.Introduction: Dialogue Education Today (Jane Vella).Part I: University Education.1. Dialogue Education Goes to College (Jane Marantz Connor).2. Nutrition Education in an Undergraduate Setting (Elena Carbone).3. Creating a Culture for Dialogue in a Nutrition Education Program (Meredith Pearson).4. Dialogue Education at a Weekend College: An Accelerated Master's Degree in Education (Marianne Reiff).5. Dialogue Education in a Videoconferencing Classroom: An Undergraduate-Level Early Childhood Certificate Program (Steven I. Stahl).6. Dialogue Education at a Student Union: College Students as Adult Partners (Jay Ekleberry, Mary Hoddy, Tara Cordes).7. Transformative Learning in Faculty Development: A Case Study from South Africa (Sarah Gravett).Part II: The Public Sector and Not-for-Profit Organizations.8. Dialogue Education Goes to Court: The National Court-Appointed Special Advocate Association Prepares Volunteers Through Dialogue Education (Cynthia Bizzell).9. Changing the Self, Changing the System: A Workplace Success Program Succeeds with a Dialogue Approach (Valerie Uccellani, Jyaphia Christos-Rodgers, Mack Slan).10. From Telling to Teaching in Appalachia: The Mountain Microenterprise Fund of North Carolina (Joye Norris, Greg Walker-Wilson).11. Welfare to Work via Dialogue Education: The Voices of Bread and Roses (Barbara Gassner).12. Appreciative Inquiry and Dialogue Education Meet in Strategic Planning (Darlene Goetzman).13. Teaching Communities to Lobby for Social Justice (Michael Culliton).14. Choices: Steps Toward Health: A Dialogue Education Curriculum of the National Extended Food and Nutrition Program (Jean Anliker).15. Vermont Math and Science Teachers Move from Monologue to Dialogue (Kathy Johnson, Peter Perkins, Nicole Saginor).16. Using Dialogue for Strategic Planning Sessions (Karen G. Ridout).17. Dialogue Education in California's Women, Infants, and Children Program (Valerie Uccellani).Part III: International Education.18. The Double Bottom Line: Dialogue Education in Microfinance Services for the Poor (Robb Davis, Jeanette Treiber, Ellen Vor der Bruegge).19. Dialogue Education Goes to Primary School in Haiti (Linda Gershuny).20. Taking Time for Praxis in Cambodia (Gail von Hahmann).21. Educational Revolution on the Volga River: Learning as a Personal Victory in the New Russia (Peter Perkins, Michaela B. Stickney).22. Using Dialogue Education to Transform Primary Health Care in Chile (Klaus Puschel).23. Organizing to Undo Racism in Canada: Designing for Safety in an Antiracism Program (Peter Noteboom).Conclusion: The Future of Dialogue Education (Jane Vella).Appendix: Selected Principles and Practices of Dialogue Education.Index.

Empowerment Practice in Canada and the United States

Abstract This article discusses the legacy of colonialism and racism in Canada and the United States. It shows how this legacy, combined with a market-oriented philosophy to social and economic issues and policies, has resulted in major, persistent social problems in both countries. It goes on to argue that an empowerment-oriented approach, by restoring policy issues, and therefore social justice issues, to the core of social work, can help the profession address these problems more efficiently. The article concludes by examining three particular challenges related to empowerment-oriented practice: creating partnerships; working with and in communities, and finding optimal ways of integrating all levels of social work practice.

Constance Backhouse, Colour-Coded: A Legal History of Racism in Canada, 1900–1950, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999. Pp. xiii + 485. $60.00 cloth (ISBN 0-8020-4712-2); $27.50 paper (ISBN 0-8020-8286-6).

Constance Backhouse, Colour-Coded: A Legal History of Racism in Canada, 1900–1950, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999. Pp. xiii + 485. $60.00 cloth (ISBN 0-8020-4712-2); $27.50 paper (ISBN 0-8020-8286-6).

Refugees and Racism in Canada

The terms race and racism are defined, and the history of their use in Canada since Confederation is examined. A distinction is made between “macro” and “micro” racism. Examples of interpersonal and systemic racism in Canada are considered in the context of multicultural policies and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Changes in Canadian immigration law and regulations are examined and their implications for refugee movements reviewed. It is concluded that there are unintended consequences of stricter control over borders and the “faster, fairer, firmer” treatment of asylum-seekers, that constitute institutional racism.

Rearticulating Violence

Rearticulating Violence

Essential Reading on Race and Law

Constance Backhouse, Colour-Coded Law: A Legal History of Racism in Canada 1900-1950 (Toronto: Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History / University of Toronto Press 1999) Sidney L. Hairing, The White Man's Law: Native People in Nineteenth-Century Canadian Jurisprudence (Toronto: The Osgoode Society 1998) James W. St. G. Walker, Race, Rights and the Law in the Supreme Court of Canada (Toronto: Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History / Wilfrid Laurier Press 1997)

Colour-Coded: A Legal History of Racism in Canada, 1900-1950

Colour-Coded: A Legal History of Racism in Canada, 1900-1950

Colour-coded: a legal history of racism in Canada, 1900-1950

Historically Canadians have considered themselves to be more or less free of racial prejudice. Although this conception has been challenged in recent years, it has not been completely dispelled. In Colour-Coded, Constance Backhouse illustrates the tenacious hold that white supremacy had on our legal system in the first half of this century, and underscores the damaging legacy of inequality that continues today. Backhouse presents detailed narratives of six court cases, each giving evidence of blatant racism created and enforced through law. The cases focus on Aboriginal, Inuit, Chinese-Canadian, and African-Canadian individuals, taking us from the criminal prosecution of traditional Aboriginal dance to the trial of members of the 'Ku Klux Klan of Kanada.' From thousands of possibilities, Backhouse has selected studies that constitute central moments in the legal history of race in Canada. Her selection also considers a wide range of legal forums, including administrative rulings by municipal councils, criminal trials before police magistrates, and criminal and civil cases heard by the highest courts in the provinces and by the Supreme Court of Canada. The extensive and detailed documentation presented here leaves no doubt that the Canadian legal system played a dominant role in creating and preserving racial discrimination. A central message of this book is that racism is deeply embedded in Canadian history despite Canada's reputation as a raceless society. Winner of the Joseph Brant Award, presented by the Ontario Historical Society

Book Review: Race and Canadian Legal History - Reviews of: "Race," Rights and the Law in the Supreme Court of Canada, by James W. St. G. Walker; Colour-Coded: A Legal History of Racism in Canada, 1900-1950, by Constance Backhouse

Book Review: Race and Canadian Legal History - Reviews of: "Race," Rights and the Law in the Supreme Court of Canada, by James W. St. G. Walker; Colour-Coded: A Legal History of Racism in Canada, 1900-1950, by Constance Backhouse

Re-Pressing Racism: The Denial of Racism in the Canadian Press

A long-standing and pervasive element of Canadian national identity is the idealization of Canadian society as uniquely tolerant and free of racism. This national myth was seriously challenged when the results of a federally commissioned survey on attitudes toward immigration were made public. Using the methods of critical discourse analysis, this paper examines how the results of this survey were presented and interpreted in The Globe and Mail. Specifically, the press reports are examined with respect to: (a) how the situation of discrimination and intolerance revealed in the survey is encoded, (b) the meaning of the terms “Canadian” and “Canadian culture” in the context of these texts, and (c) how the texts account for the reported change in “Canadian” attitudes towards “visible minorities.” I argue that The Globe and Mail adopted an overall semantic strategy of denial of racism which reinterprets, marginalizes, and mitigates evidence of racism in Canada, and thus reinforces the dominant and preferred view of Canadian society as tolerant, pluralistic, and free of systemic racism.

Discrimination and Denial: Systemic Racism in Ontario's Legal and Criminal Justice Systems, 1892-1961

Champion sprinter Donovan Bailey said it, and this book confirms it. While racism may not be as blatant in Canada as in the United States, it does exist. Members of visible minority groups are discriminated against in employment, housing, and access to public services. The increasing visibility of hate groups and calls to restrict immigration mark the growing tension. Racist attitudes against Asians and Blacks, in particular, have seeped into the criminal justice system. Ironically, since 1960 it has been illegal in Ontario to track crime by race, making it difficult for researchers to collect data. The media, our primary source of information, has sensationalized crimes where minority groups are implicated. Clayton Mosher uses historical data and media reports to expose racism in Canada's social, legal, and criminal justice systems. He considers the social contexts of discrimination, legislation directed against minority groups, law enforcement, and court outcomes. At last, we are offered an objective assessment of racism in Canada. Discrimination and Denial is essential reading for judges, lawyers, police officers, social policy makers, and community leaders. Interpretations of recent events, such as the shooting of officer Todd Baylis by a fugitive alien and gang-style slayings in Toronto's Chinatown, are guaranteed to heat up the embers of public debate.