Racism in Canada traces both historical and contemporary racist community attitudes, as well as governmental negligence and political non-compliance with United Nations human rights standards and incidents in Canada.[1] Contemporary Canada is the product of indigenous First Nations combined with multiple waves of immigration, predominantly from Europe and in modern times, from Asia.
Overview
In a 2013 survey of 80 countries by the World Values Survey, Canada was ranked among the most racially tolerant societies in the world.[2] In 2021, the Social Progress Index ranked Canada 6th in the world for overall tolerance and inclusion.[3][4]
Canadian author and journalist Terry Glavin claims that white Canadians consider themselves to be mostly free of racial prejudice,[failed verification] perceiving the country to be a "more inclusive society" than its direct neighbor the United States,[5] a notion that has come under criticism.[6][7] For instance, Galvin cites the treatment of the Aboriginal population in Canada as evidence of Canada's own racist tendencies.[8] These perceptions of inclusion and "colour-blindness" have also been challenged in recent years by scholars such as Constance Backhouse stating that white supremacy is still prevalent in the country's legal system, with blatant racism created and enforced through the law.[9] According to one commentator, Canadian "racism contributes to a self-perpetuating cycle of criminalization and imprisonment".[10] In addition, throughout Canada's history there have been laws and regulations that have negatively affected a wide variety of races, religions, and groups of persons.[11][12][13]
Canadian law uses the term "visible minority" to refer to people of colour (but not aboriginal Canadians), introduced by the Employment Equity Act of 1995.[14] However, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination stated this term may be considered objectionable by certain minorities and recommended an evaluation of this term.[15]
Canada is a settler-colonial nation whose initial economy relied on farming and exporting natural resources like fur, fish, and lumber.[26] This resulted in the dispossession of lands and forced migration of Indigenous peoples using various justifications.[27][28][29][30] The Canadian government implemented policies such as the Indian Act, health-care segregation, residential schools and displacement that attempted forced assimilation of Indigenous peoples into Euro-Canadian culture while asserting control over the land and its resources.[31][28] Despite current views that might define these actions as racist or genocidal, they were seen as progressive at the time.[32] In response, Indigenous communities mobilized to resist colonial policies and assert their rights to self-determination and sovereignty.[33]
Canada had also practiced segregation, and a Canadian Ku Klux Klan exists.[38][39]Racial profiling occurs in cities such as Halifax, Toronto and Montreal.[40][41] Black people made up 3% of the Canadian population in 2016, and 9% of the population of Toronto (which has the largest communities of Caribbean and African immigrants).[42] They lived disproportionately in poverty, were three times as likely to be carded in Toronto than Whites, and incarceration rates for Blacks were climbing faster than for any other demographic. A Black Lives Matter protest was staged at Toronto Police Headquarters in March 2016.[43][44]
On August 12, 1911, the Governor General in Council approved a one-year prohibition of black immigration to Canada because, according to the Order-in-Council, "the Negro race" was "unsuitable to the climate and requirements of Canada."[45] It was tabled on June 2, 1911, by the Minister of the Interior, Frank Oliver, following mounting pressure from white prairie farmers who were discontented with an influx in the immigration of black farmers from the United States.[46] It was never officially enforced or added to the Immigration Act, likely because the government—led by Prime MinisterWilfrid Laurier—was hesitant to alienate black voters ahead of the 1911 federal election.[47] It was repealed later that year.[48]
In Nova Scotia, a community which mainly consisted of Black Canadians were forcibly removed and eventually razed between 1964 and 1967 after years of intentional neglect by the government in Halifax.[49]
The 1918 Toronto anti-Greek riot was a three-day race riot in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, targeting Greek immigrants during August 2–4, 1918. It was the largest riot in the city's history and one of the largest anti-Greek riots in the world.
Antisemitism in Canada is the manifestation of hatred, hostility, harm, prejudice or discrimination against the Canadian Jewish people or Judaism as a religious, ethnic or racial group. Some of the first Jewish settlers in Canada arrived in Montreal in the 1760s, among them was Aaron Hart who is considered the father of Canadian Jewry.[50] His son Ezekiel Hart experience one of the first well documented cases of antisemitism in Canada.[51] Hart was repeatedly stopped from taking his seat in the Quebec legislature due to his Jewish faith, as members claimed he could not take the oath of office, which included the phrase "on the true faith of a Christian".[52]
Influential figures of the age, such as Goldwin Smith, promoted antisemitic ideas in the 19th century, describing Jews in derogatory terms.[53] Political leaders such as Henri Bourassa, publicly argued in the early 20th century against Jewish immigration.[54] Quebec saw a strong anti-Jewish movement, particularly from the Catholic Church, which associated Jews with modernism and liberalism from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century.[55] Various Catholic publications and activists played a significant role in spreading anti-Jewish sentiment.[55] One of the most severe incidents occurred in 1910 in Quebec City, where a violent attack against Jewish storekeepers was incited by an antisemite speaker.[56]
During the interwar period, figures like Abbé Lionel Groulx further fueled anti-Semitic views,[57] influencing Quebec’s intellectual elite and leading to movements that boycotted Jewish businesses and employment, most notably the Days of Shame.[58] Across Canada, antisemitism thrived in English-speaking regions as well, with various organizations promoting these negative attitudes. Significant events included the Christie Pits riot in Toronto in 1933 a violent confrontation arising from swastika displays.[59] In the 1920s and 1930s, Jewish people still faced numerous restrictions across many areas of life, including employment and housing.[60] Many were excluded from hospitals, universities, and professional sectors.[61] During the Nazi Holocaust, Canada's federal government adopted restrictive policies against Jewish immigration.[62] Despite desperate requests from Jewish refugees, many were turned away, most infamously exemplified by the MS St. Louis incident.[63] Discriminatory practices and legislation were common, reflecting societal attitudes in Canada and internationally.[55][64]
Since the end of World War II, antisemitism in Canada has been in decline as a result of the passage of human rights legislation as well as a result of the increasing acceptance of multicultural ideology in Canada.[65] Beginning in the 1960s legal barriers were removed, and Jews began to hold
high-powered and high-profile positions in Canadian society.[66] Despite Canada's progressive attitudes towards diversity in the 21st century, antisemitism persists as a small component of Canadian society, evident in random hate crimes and extremist groups.[67][68] Notably, anti-Jewish incidents surged in response to the outbreak of the Israel–Hamas war and the geopolitical relevance of accusations that Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza.[69][70]
In 1914, Indians arriving in Canada were not allowed to enter despite being British subjects, leading to the deaths of dozens of immigrants in the Komagata Maru incident.
Chinese Canadians
Boarded windows and storefronts on Pender Street in Chinatown after the September 1907 riots
Starting in 1858, Chinese "coolies" were brought to Canada to work in British Columbia in the mines and on the Canadian Pacific Railway.[72] After anti-Chinese riots broke out in 1886, a "Chinese head tax" was implemented to curtail immigration from China. In 1907, the Anti-Oriental Riots in Vancouver targeted Chinese and Japanese-owned businesses, and the Asiatic Exclusion League was formed to drive Asians out of the province. League members attacked Asians, resulting in numerous riots.[73] In 1923, the federal government passed the Chinese Immigration Act, commonly known as the Exclusion Act, prohibiting most Chinese immigration.[74] The Act was repealed in 1947,[75] but discrimination limiting non-European immigrants continued until 1967 when a points-based system was introduced to assess immigrants regardless of origin.
Japanese Canadians
A Royal Canadian Navy officer questions Canadian fishermen of Japanese descent as their boats were confiscated.
Although a British–Japanese treaty guaranteed Japanese citizens freedom of travel, they were nevertheless subject to anti-Asian racism in Canada, though a slightly lesser degree at the time than the Chinese before World War II, as an informal agreement between the Japanese and Canadian governments limited Japanese immigration in the wake of the Vancouver anti-Asian riots.[76]
In 1942, during World War II, many Canadians of Japanese heritage—even those born in Canada— were forcibly moved to internment camps under the authority of the War Measures Act.[77] At first, many men were separated from their families and sent to road camps in Ontario and on the British Columbia–Alberta border. Small towns in the BC interior such as Greenwood, Sandon, New Denver and Slocan became internment camps for women, children and the aged. To stay together, Japanese–Canadian families chose to work in farms in Alberta and Manitoba. Those who resisted and challenged the orders of the Canadian government were rounded up by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and incarcerated in a barbed-wire prisoner-of-war camp in Angler, Ontario.[78] Japanese–Canadians fishing boats were also seized, with plans to drastically reduce fishing licenses from them and forcibly redistribute them for white Canadians.[79] With government promises to return the land and properties seized during that time period, Japanese Canadians left their homes. This turned out to be untrue, as the seized possessions were resold and never returned to the Japanese Canadians. Unlike prisoners of war, who were protected by the Geneva Convention, Japanese–Canadians were forced to pay for their own internment.[80]
COVID-19 pandemic
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Asian Canadians reported increased incidents of violent assaults, especially against women of Asian descent.[81] According to an Angus Reid survey from 22 June 2020, up to 50% of Chinese-Canadians had experienced verbal abuse, and 29% had been made to feel feared, as if they posed a threat to public safety.[82][83] Another survey of 1,600 adults conducted by ResearchCo and obtained by the Agence France-Presse revealed one in four Canadians of Asian descent (70% of whom were of Chinese descent) who lived in British Columbia knew someone within their household who had faced discrimination.[84] The survey also revealed 24 percent of Canadians of South Asian descent reported racist insults.[84]Canadians of Indigenous origin had also reported discrimination.[84]
Anti-Sikh sentiment in Canada has a historical and contemporary presence marked by several key events and ongoing issues. Early instances include the 1907 Bellingham Race Riot, where South East Asian and South Asian immigrants, mostly Sikhs, were violently targeted by white mobs in Washington (state), spilling over into Canadian anti-immigrant sentiments and the Pacific Northwest.[85][86][87]
The 1914 Komagata Maru incident incident further highlighted institutional racism when 376 Indian passengers, mostly Sikhs, were denied entry into Canada and forced to return to India, where many faced persecution.[88]
Post September 11 attacks, Sikhs in Canada experienced increased xenophobia and hate crimes, often being mistaken for Muslims due to their turbans and beards.[89]
The representation of murdered Indigenous women in crime statistics is not proportionate to the general population.[90] In 2006, Amnesty International researched racism specific to Indigenous women in Canada.[91] They reported on the lack of basic human rights, discrimination, and violence against Indigenous women. The Amnesty report found that First Nations women (age 25–44) with status under the Indian Act were five times more likely than other women of the same age to die as a result of violence.[92] In 2006, the documentary filmFinding Dawn looked into the many missing and murdered Aboriginal women in Canada over the past three decades.[93]
In September 2016, in response to repeated calls from Indigenous groups, activists, and non-governmental organizations, the Government of Canada under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, jointly with all provincial and territorial governments, established a national public inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.[94]
Indigenous people still have to deal with racism within Canada and the challenges that the communities face are often ignored.[95] There are still negative stereotypes associated with Indigenous people such as being freeloaders, drug addicts or dumb.[96] Indigenous people are more likely to feel depression due to several factors such as poverty, loss of cultural identity, inadequate health care and more.
In 2020, the staff at a hospital in the Quebec city of Joliette were shown on video mocking and making racist remarks at an Atikamekw woman who eventually died. Indigenous leaders say the video exposes the grim realities of systemic racism that have long gone ignored or suppressed throughout Canada.[97]
^ abRichardson, Benjamin (2020). Richardson, Benjamin J. (ed.). From student strikes to the extinction rebellion: new protest movements shaping our future. Cheltenham, UK Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar. p. 41. ISBN978-1-80088-109-9. Canada is a settler colonial state, whose sovereignty and political economy is premised on the dispossession of Indigenous peoples and exploitation of their land base' (2015:44). Many of the most egregious genocidal...
^Williams, Kimberly (2021). Stampede: Misogyny, White Supremacy and Settler Colonialism. Fernwood Publishing. ISBN9781773632179. Canada is a settler colonial state, it is also what hooks (Jhally 1997) calls a white supremacist capitalist heteropatriarchy...
^Backhouse, Constance B. (2010). "Anti-Semitism and the Law in Quebec City: The Plamondon Case, 1910-15". SSRN Electronic Journal. Elsevier BV. doi:10.2139/ssrn.2273753. ISSN1556-5068.
^Abella, I.; Troper, H.; Menkis, R.; Koffman, D.S. (2023). None Is Too Many: Canada and the Jews of Europe, 1933-1948. University of Toronto Press. p. 12,17. ISBN978-1-4875-5438-5.
^"CMHR". CMHR. 5 November 2021. Retrieved 24 December 2024.
^Wilford, Timothy (2011). Canada's Road to the Pacific War: Intelligence, Strategy, and the Far East Crisis. Vancouver: USB Press. p. 28. ISBN978-0-7748-2124-7.
^Dutt, Nirupama (1 September 2017). "110 years after racial riots against early Sikh immigrants, an Arch of Healing in US city". Hindustan Times. This has been reported by the Bellingham Herald newspaper which incidentally had also reported the 1907 riots. At that time the early Sikh immigrants were termed Hindus and the banner headline of the daily on September 5, 1907, cried out, Hindus hounded from city, with the subhead saying, Mob drives foreigners from lodging houses and mills.
^Englesberg, Paul (1 January 2015). "The 1907 Bellingham Riot and Anti-Asian Hostilities in the Pacific Northwest". Walden University. if something were not done soon the agitation started in Bellingham would spread all over the Sound country and massacres of the Eastern aliens was likely to result. Fowler was one of the speakers in Vancouver and some blamed him and League organizers from the U.S. for setting off the riot in Canada.
^Ledger-Lomas, Michael. "If These Streets Could Talk: White Riot: The 1907 Anti-Asian Riots in Vancouver". Library Review of Canada. This hate speech reflected a broader phenomenon, as the retired professor Paul Englesberg shows in his contribution to the book. The mob had listened that Saturday night to A. E. Fowler, an activist from Seattle who gave an "impassioned speech," in which he invoked a riot against Sikh workers in Bellingham, Washington, just days earlier. Beyond the West Coast, white supremacism existed throughout the British Empire — personified by the presence of a New Zealand clergyman at the league's meeting
^Sian, Katy (2017). Surveillance, Islamophobia, and Sikh Bodies in the War on Terror. Vol. 4. Center for Race and Gender, University of California, Berkeley. p. 4. Both the US and Canada have seen a sharp increase of hate crimes waged against the Sikh population who have been 'mistakenly' targeted in racist attacks directed at Muslims – for example the first person to be killed in a 'revenge attack' following 9/11 was Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh turbaned man in Arizona
^Michalke, C. (2015). Violence against Aboriginal women, a social phenomenon. Vancouver Island University Library. Retrieved: http://hdl.handle.net/10613/2585
^"Stolen Sister". Amnesty.ca. 2006. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
Dhamoon, Rita Kaur (2016). "Re-presenting Genocide: The Canadian Museum of Human Rights and Settler Colonial Power". The Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics. 1 (1): 5–30. doi:10.1017/rep.2015.4.
Lightfoot, Kent G.; Nelson, Peter A.; Grone, Michael A.; Apodaca, Alec (2021). "Pathways to Persistence: Divergent Native engagements with sustained colonial permutations in North America". In Panich, Lee M.; Gonzalez, Sara L. (eds.). The Routledge Handbook of the Archaeology of Indigenous-Colonial Interaction in the Americas. Routledge. pp. 129–146. ISBN978-0-429-27425-1.
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