It is time for all Canadians to acknowledge that anti-Black racism is pervasive in Canada.
In fact, the belief that there is little to no racism in Canada is in itself a barrier to addressing it.
Marie-Claude Landry
Chief Commissioner of the Canadian Human Rights Commission
June 2020
For far too long, many have rejected the notion that racism exists in Canada. The time has come where we must take off the blinders and proceed on this anti-discrimination journey with courageous and sincere hearts. We must work together to dismantle and combat racism.
Let’s examine Canada’s uncomfortable past and use our experiences and our learning to create a stronger, more equitable nation where everyone feels comfortable, welcome, valued and is able to shine.
CANADIAN TIMELINE
Prior to European contact, First Nations and Inuit peoples lived in highly developed social systems with 50+ languages and sophisticated economies. What would become known as North America was commonly known in various Indigenous languages as “Turtle Island.”
Three French settlements arose in Canada – all failures. The notion of “race” emerged as the French attempted to gain a colonial foothold.
As early as 1608, slavery was documented in the colony of New France, the first major settlement in what is now Canada. Over the next 150 years, over 3,500 people would be enslaved.
King Louis XIV gave his official authorization to slave traders to import enslaved Black people to New France.
Marie-Josephe Angelique, an enslaved Black woman, was condemned, tortured and hanged for setting fire to her “owner’s” house in Montreal. While her guilt was never proven, Angelique became an icon for Black resistance.
The Shelburne race riots began after a mob of British Loyalists stormed a Black preacher’s home.
The British government passed the Imperial Statute, allowing United Empire Loyalists fleeing the American Revolution to bring slaves to Upper Canada without paying duty on them.
Following years of unfair treatment and discrimination, over a thousand Black Loyalists left Nova Scotia and resettled in West Africa.
The Act Against Slavery banned the importation of slaves and mandated that, going forward, children of slaves would be freed at age 25. Thus slavery continued, although the Act marked the beginning of a long phase-out.
The Underground Railroad, the largest North American anti-slavery initiative, aided over 40,000 African Americans to escape from the American South to Canada via a network of secret routes and safe houses in the free Northern states.
1825 – PEI ABOLISHES SLAVERY
Prince Edward Island abolished slavery completely, nine years before the British imperial abolition.
The Slavery Abolition Act was passed by British parliament and became law on August 1, 1834. Many Canadians still celebrate August 1 as Emancipation Day.
3,000 Irish immigrants died of typhus on Grosse-Île in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence after fleeing famine in Ireland.
The Common Schools Act was passed in Ontario, segregating African-Canadian and white children. The policy would remain in force until 1964.
The Anti-Slavery Society of Canada was formed and remained active through the 1860s as abolitionist sympathizers increased in number.
Fleeing poverty and political upheaval caused by the First Opium War and the T’ai P’ing Rebellion, Chinese people began to immigrate to Canada.
Many provinces in Canada established race-based voting restrictions.
The residential school system, a network of government-sponsored religious boarding schools, was established to assimilate Indigenous children into Canadian society. An estimated 150,000 First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children were removed from their homes. The Canadian Government would not formally apologize until 2008.
The Canadian government passed the Indian Act, resulting in long-term poverty and oppression of Indigenous people who were subjected to an assimilationist agenda.
The Issei, the first generation of Japanese immigrants, arrived in Canada, where they were met with hostility. As the wave continued, Canada reached a “Gentlemen’s Agreement” with Japan to allow no more than 400 immigrants – a number that was later lowered to 150.
The Canadian government banned the potlatch and other Indigenous ceremonies in an amendment to the Indian Act. The sale of alcohol was prohibited to First Nations. These restrictions would prevail until 1951.
The “Chinese Head Tax” took effect immediately after Canadian Pacific Railway was complete. Only males could immigrate; female relatives and children were barred from Canada.
The Department of Indian Affairs instituted a pass system whereby Indigenous people were confined to reserves except with permission. Nor could Indigenous people conduct trade with outsiders. These restrictions would remain in place until 1951.
The cost for Chinese males to enter Canada increased tenfold after its introduction, amounting to two years’ salary.
The Vancouver riots spanned three days and caused extensive damage to properties owned by Asian immigrants. Similar riots occurred across the West Coast of North America.
The Continuous Passage Law imposed restrictions on the routes by which immigrants could travel to Canada. Insisting that immigrants come by continuous journey was a mechanism for barring people from China, India, and Japan.
The Immigration Act Section 38 gave the Canadian government enhanced powers to exclude immigrants it “deemed unsuited.”
The Komagatu Maru, with 400 Sikh passengers on board, was denied entrance to Vancouver Harbour even though it had sailed directly from Calcutta in obedience to the Continuous Passage Law. The boat sat on the water for almost three months before the navy escorted it away. It returned to India, where 19 passengers were shot to death upon disembarking and many more were imprisoned.
The Canadian government forced 80,000 Ukrainian Canadians to register as “enemy aliens” and report to police regularly; 5,000 were placed in concentration camps where they endured inhumane conditions and forced labour.
The Dominion Elections Act reinforced provincial racial discrimination by declaring that if a province excluded a racial group from voting, that group would also be excluded at the federal level.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Canada’s federal law enforcement agency, was established. It was used to force Indigenous peoples onto reserves to make way for the Canadian Pacific Railway. The RCMP often intervened in fights between Indigenous peoples and American Traders.
1923 – 1970 – HOGAN’S ALLEY
Hogan’s Alley thrived as hundreds of Black Canadians settled in the East Vancouver community. All 15 neighbourhood blocks were destroyed when the Georgia Viaduct’s construction wiped it out in 1970, along with much of Chinatown.
The Chinese Immigration Act – now known as the Chinese Exclusion Act – banned the entry of virtually all Chinese immigrants for 24 years.
South Africa sent emissaries to Canada to learn about the Canadian reserve system for Indigenous people. The information they gleaned helped them found the apartheid system in South Africa.
The Canadian government stripped all Japanese Canadians of their property, liquidating their homes and businesses to fund their detention in internment camps where inhumane conditions prevailed. The majority were Canadian citizens by birth.
Viola Desmond, a Black Canadian woman, challenged the racial segregation policy in Nova Scotia by refusing to leave the whites-only section of the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow. Today Viola Desmond graces the Canadian $10 bill.
Prohibition ended for Indigenous Canadians with the 1951 amendment of the Indian Act. Prior to this, Indigenous veterans who had served with distinction in the World Wars had not been allowed to enter a Canadian legion.
About 37,000 displaced Hungarians arrived in Canada following the 1956 uprising against Soviet authority.
Indigenous peoples were granted Canadian citizenship and the right to vote without losing their treaty status. Despite their newfound rights, many living in isolated communities – especially Inuit – had no way to exercise the franchise.
The Camp Hill Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia denied burial to a three-year-old Black girl, sparking outrage and causing the segregation bylaw to be rescinded several weeks later.
The Canadian Civil Liberties Association surveyed Ontario employment agencies and found that 11 out of 15 were willing to supply employers with white-only candidates. Two decades later a repeat survey found that three agencies were still willing to discriminate against non-white candidates.
Prolonged political and social unrest stimulated immigration of Latin Americans to Canada. Between 1973 and 1978, nearly 13,000 Chileans fled to Canada.
The RCMP lost its intelligence jurisdiction after it committed illegal surveillance against Black and French rights groups.
Helen Betty Osborne, a Cree high school student from the Norway House Indian Reserve, was abducted, beaten, gang-raped and murdered by four white men. Only one of the men was convicted, 16 years later; two went free and one was never charged.
Windsor, Ontario became the last Canadian municipality to desegregate its public facilities.
The first wave of Vietnamese immigrants, consisting largely of professionals, arrived in Canada. The second wave, referred to by media as “boat people,” fled the deteriorating human-rights conditions in recently unified Vietnam.
Until 1977, Canadian immigration law categorized gay people with “prostitutes,… pimps or persons coming to Canada for these or any other immoral purposes,” and denied them citizenship.
Sandra Lovelace Nicholas lost her status under the Indian Act after she married a non-Indigenous man. No such restrictions existed for status men who married non-Indigenous women. Nicholas appealed the decision and went on to become the first Indigenous woman appointed to the Canadian Senate.
Spurred by deep political and economic crisis, a significant wave of Polish immigrants arrived in Canada. About half settled in Ontario.
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was signed into Canadian law, guaranteeing political and civil rights as well as equality for all Canadians.
James Keegstra, an Alberta teacher, was charged with promoting hate propaganda and Holocaust denial to his students. He fought a lengthy court battle before finally being convicted.
1985 – Bill C-31 IS AMENDS THE INDIAN ACT
Bill C-31, an amendment to the Indian Act intended to address gender discrimination against Indigenous women and allow them to retain their status after marrying non-Indigenous partners, was passed into Canadian law.
The Canadian government formally apologized to Japanese Canadians for their internment during the Second World War. The Redress settlement included $21,000 for each survivor, $12 million for a Japanese community fund, and $24 million for a race-relations foundation to ensure a similar human rights violation never occurs again.
Controversy erupted over whether Sikhs serving in the RCMP should be allowed to wear turbans. A quarter of a million Canadians signed a petition stating that “a handful of Sikhs wearing turbans would crack up the RCMP.” Many wore anti-turban pins, and racist imagery involving turbans flourished across Canada.
The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples recommended a complete restructuring of the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, to restore justice and propose practical solutions.
Vriend v Alberta, a Supreme Court of Canada case involving the dismissal of Delwin Vriend, a gay man from a private religious college, found that the omission of sexual orientation from Alberta human rights legislation was unconstitutional. Unanimously, the Supreme Court found that gay and lesbian Canadians were entitled to equal protection.
Alberta amended its Marriage Act to define marriage as applying only to a man-woman partnership. In 2005, same-sex marriage became legal.
Mississauga mayor Hazel McCallion was quoted as saying the hospital emergency was “loaded with people in their native costumes.” When she was accused of making anti-immigration remarks, she said she’d been taken out of context by the National Post.
A Starbucks manager fired Aisha Syed for refusing to remove her nose stud while at work. She and another Indo-Canadian woman filed a complaint with the BC Human Rights Tribunal.
Calgary Police Service reported 133 cases of hate/bias crime. A disproportionate number were directed LGBT people. These crimes may represent the tip of the iceberg, as only 10% of hate crimes are reported.
Kingston Police Service conducts the first racial-profiling study ever undertaken by a Canadian police force. A University of Toronto criminologist has found that Black motorists and pedestrians in Kingston are almost four times more likely than Caucasians to be stopped and questioned by officers on patrol.
Commissioned by Police Chief William Closs, the year-long study found that while 1.4 aboriginals were stopped for each white person, the percentage of Asians and South Asians was lower than among whites.
The 2006 Census found that almost half of on-reserve First Nations lived in homes needing major repairs (vs. 7% of the non-Indigenous population).
2006 – CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION CANADA DROPS “LAST NAME” POLICY
After banning immigration applicants with the last names “Singh” and “Kaur” for ten years on the grounds that the names were too common and presented a data-management challenge, Citizenship and Immigration Canada dropped the policy.
The Canadian government issued a formal apology for the head tax imposed on Chinese Canadian immigrants from 1885 to 1923. Only 20 still survived; these received “symbolic payments.” Their descendants received no compensation despite the lifelong impacts on their families from paying the exorbitant tax.
Shawn Brant, a Mohawk activist, organized a 30-hour blockade of an Ontario CN Rail line over a land claim dispute in Tyendinaga.
The Canadian government made a statement of apology to former students at Residential Schools. After years of work by survivors, communities and Indigenous organizations, the Settlement Agreement was enacted, leading to the launch of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established to inform Canadians about what happened in Residential Schools and document the truth of survivors, families, communities and all those personally affected by the experience. The TRC would lead to the release of 94 calls to action in 2015.
The 2012 Census revealed a significant gender pay gap with a disproportionate effect on racialized women in Canada whose earnings were found to be just over half those of white men.
Black Lives Matter Canada, the Canadian chapter of #Blacklivesmatter (an international organization and movement fighting police/state violence and Anti-Black racism), is founded.
The Black Lives Matter movement began with the use of the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter on social media after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of African-American teen Trayvon Martin 17 months earlier in February 2012. The movement became internationally recognized for street demonstrations following the 2014 deaths of two African Americans – Michael Brown and Eric Garner.
Robert-Falcon Ouellette spoke out about the racism he’d experienced during his campaign to be mayor of Winnipeg, including hateful emails and abusive comments on his Facebook page. An 18-year veteran of the Armed Forces and PhD holder, he said it was important to start talking about the issue of racism.
Quebec judge Eliana Marengo refused to hear the case of Rania El-Alloul unless she removed her hijab in court. El-Alloul’s car had been impounded and she was trying to get it back. Marengo suspended the case indefinitely. She has since apologized to El-Alloul following years of fighting the complaint.
Analysis of Toronto policing showed that Black males were three times more likely to be stopped and asked for ID by police than non-racialized groups.
The Canadian government apologized formally for the Komagatu Maru incident in which 376 passengers from India were barred from entering Canada.
A study found that racialized groups were underrepresented in police forces across Canada. Only one city, Halifax, had a force that accurately reflected its community’s racial diversity. In contrast, only 12% of Nunavut’s police force was found to be Indigenous, despite its 90% Indigenous population.
A crowd of Syrian refugees attending an event at the Muslim Association of Canada were pepper-sprayed by an unidentified man on a bicycle in Vancouver.
The Canadian government launched the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG). The Truth Gathering Process consisted of three parts – community hearings and statements; knowledge keeper and expert hearings, and a final report revealing the Indigenous rights violations and abuses behind Canada’s high rates of violence against Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people.
Alexandre Bissonnette opened fire in a Quebec City mosque, killing six worshippers and injuring 19 others. Despite the event being characterized as a terrorist attack, Bissonnette was not charged under the terrorism provision of the Criminal Code.
The Canadian government issued a formal apology for turning away 907 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany in 1939.
Responding to one of the TRC’s calls to action, the Canadian government announced plans to introduce a new statutory holiday to mark the Residential Schools legacy. The bill didn’t make it through the Senate, but the government is currently “looking at options” to revive it.
Canadians protested in solidarity with Black Lives Matter to protest the murder of George Floyd after an arresting officer knelt on his neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds. His murder heightened scrutiny about police use of force across Canada.
Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black ER technician, died after a police officer “shot blindly” at her (in her home) at least eight times. Across Canada people protested in response to the reports of police brutality.
Across Canada thousands took part in peaceful protests to end anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism, including Black Lives Matter events. Organizations released solidarity statements and position papers, and municipal governments across the country began to develop anti-racism initiatives.
Canadians of Chinese ethnicity found themselves the targets of widespread racism and accusations of complicity in the release of the coronavirus.
It isn’t easy to acknowledge Canada’s painful past. However, acknowledgment is the only way to heal, move forward and create change. We must work together to actively fight racism and discrimination.
Parris Consulting is very proud of the millions of Canadians, especially young people of all origins and backgrounds, who are fighting for equality and peacefully protesting for change across Canada and around the world.
Parris Consulting works with organizations and individuals to assist in combatting racism and discrimination. We customize specific plans ensuring equality for all within and outside of the workplace.
