Anti-Racism

Directorate
26th November 2016 -- Thunder Bay, Ontario
Minister Michael Coteau
Policing
Graduation levels, Incarceration levels

Sam Erry
Cultural, individual, societal, systemic
Ensure racial equity
Systemic racism
Racialized, indigenous populations
Mandate:
Eliminate systemic racism
Action, behavior modification
Education about systemic racism
Policy, research
Race-based data, not just identity-based
Disaggregated race-based data
Racial equity impact assessment
Province-wide anti-racism strategy
Public education and outreach
Community collaboration
Directorate should not be a political exercise

Questions/Comments from attendees

Education, resources, funding
Race, gender, class
Commitment; reflected in policies
Stronger link & consultation between parents & community members

Member of Asian Canadian Alliance

Over-representation of black children in social support services
PoC more likely to be in poverty, lower pay for the same position
Ontario employment equity act (cancelled by conservative government)

Gap between representatives & decisions

Pushed down by bands & cities

Address white community

Policies, legislations
2 systems of education in province: discriminates against religion & creed
Universal daycare

Indigenous land
Ontario mining act
No consent required -> allows railroading -> evidence of present day colonialism
Left out of economy
Massive amount of suffering inflicted upon people
Child welfare systems
Criminalizes parents
Acknowledge indigenous people -> fund language & education programs
Power to make decisions for ourselves

Living on aboriginal lands

Irresponsible to claim "eliminate systemic racism"
Govt. has a possessive investment in systemic racism
Economic projects i.e. mining forestry etc.
Engaged in settler-colonialism, govt. is complicit
Dismantle settler-colonialism
Harm reduction is the real topic being discussed, not systemic racism
White Supremacy

Racism is socially-unacceptable behavior

Institution of govt. must acknowledge and eradicate its own racism first
Money funds racist educational systems -- all the way to post-secondary
In a post-secondary institution students stated that they were "tired of
first nations' content & discussion"
This is terrible and unacceptable

Problems in education system

Problems with curriculum
Native studies, history are important
Indigenous history
"frustrating"
Trained for jobs but don't qualify for them
Huge overhaul required

Training on white privilege, colonialism

Role of white people in current state of affairs
Education system of the whole country must be overhauled
Fairy-tales in place of truth
Most kids do not get a truthful education

Country founded on colonialism, by Europeans

Directorate should engage in educating on Colonialism
Children come in who have prejudice
Challenge to teach about systemic racism
No room for truth in present curriculum
Anti-racism is not instilled in Ontario education system

Strong acknowledgment of lack of safe spaces

2 minutes not enough to articulate message at the meetings
Anti-racism must be a theme of society at all levels
Colonialism is a huge factor

Anti-racism work must disrupt white supremacy

Media representation of racist abuse

Abusive publications
Rohe Singh -- denied service
Transphobic discussions; focused on stereotypes
Incorporate education on media bias
Critical analysis of media
"How can people hold media accountable?"
Upsetting to see transphobic letters
Indicates more education required
Importance of safety
Hate speech vs. freedom of expression
Invest in growth, arts & culture

Criminal Justice Perspective

Bail program for people without resources
Criminalizing mental health
Lack of education, resources, funding
Community resources
Restructure the system
Jurisdiction
Restrictions on how govt. can help
Stop passing the buck
ACTION
Need changes right now

Flawed methodology
Compartmentalized
Referred to irresponsibly
Strategy to further bureaucratize
Vague initiatives
Quantitative data
Ask for better

Minister Michael Coteau's response to previous comment

Just a collection of ideas
Presenting ideas & issues
No formal strategy at this point
Collecting information, not finalized yet
Just a template to guide discussion

Aboriginal deaths in police custody

Racism in policing
Numerous statistics on discrepancies between aboriginal & white experiences
with police & legal system
Attorney General not present
"Legal system" and not "justice system"
Solve homelessness
13x per capita homelessness
Fighting over jurisdiction

5 year old dies; ensuing fight over who pays

Land issues; pensions; munitions; mining; shooting; mass rape; displacement;
civil war; Eritrea; Abuse carried out by Canadian mining companies all over
the world

Education about colonialism

Economic system; corporations
Resource extraction for wealth for Europeans
Unequal distribution of wealth
Affects all people
Educated but no work
Very violent, negative reactions
Fear can be exploited & turned against racialized groups; an easy target
Unequal economic system
Never intended to be equal or fair

Neo-liberalism is the new colonialism

Capitalism, class, intersection
White privilege
Complex power relations, class privilege
Community collaboration
Terrible racist incidents related by students

Indigenous content requirement

Hasty nature of implementation, lack of consultation
"1 size fits all" approach
Tokenizes & devalues
Further consultation necessary

Jurisdiction: federal govt. has fiduciary responsibility

FN citizens are residents of Ontario
Forget about jurisdictional squabbles

Raised kids in poverty

Decreased crime rate: Unit 16
People are in poverty; constant trauma in their lives
Applying for grants is impossible when suffering from trauma
Deal with death, stabbings on a regular basis
Teach students about colonialism, white privilege
Suicides -- 3 in 1 night
People do not understand the trauma
Trump normalizes racism
In a crisis
Rain barrels installed, not connected
Child family services
Whole system needs to be changed
Guaranteed basic income instead of food banks
Drug & alcohol problems
"Just talk, no action"
Money doesn't matter, can't drink money

Very poor Indian woman living in her own rich country

Residential school survivor
Made to be nothing, born to be nothing
"The very bad Indian"
Son committed suicide, another stuck in Criminal Justice System
Systemic racism
Poor person; rent is $650/month
Survive on $106/month
Difficult to live without resorting to criminality
Trying to feed everybody is a constant struggle
Shut down by own tribe
"Like dogs chasing their own tails"
Many people getting sick
Chief doesn't acknowledge when on reserve
"Only on-reserve people get assistance, not off-reserve"
Easy to be homeless in a second
Landlords
Vicious cycle
Very hard living like this

Poverty reduction programs, anti-racism committee

Deal with systemic racism as well as its effects
Funding for social assistance
Victims of systemic racism overwhelmingly poor
Ensure every person has sufficient OW, ODSB

It has to start at home

Spread the word

30 years work on anti-racism

Policy & research
Funding
Province-wide education & outreach
Incorporate already running programs
Motion recognizing racism is rampant
Don't stop community collaboration
"Not going to end in our lifetime"
If we don't start & work on it, there will be no improvement
Stand up & say "NO RACISM"
Understand & respect other members of community

5th Estate -- No Foul Play

False allegations towards FN people, systemic racism
White male doctor was ashamed to share: "Problems we have with respect to FN
people are not due to FN"
Need to work in harmony, unity
Try to find solutions
Call on the FN people
Go to FN people
What can we do to learn from/about FN people

Grade 10 Muslim girl

Receives lots of racist abuse

Is a Canadian citizen
In school: no discussion of issues FN people face
Misinformation & lies about FN people
"School needs to change"
"This is the FN's country, their land"

Brutally abused with racist insults at workplace

Canadians get promotion, he does not as an immigrant; receives excuses
instead
Lots of discrimination is prevalent
Opportunities given to white Canadians over PoC
Inability to get a job due to name
Black person applied for a position as a server, given a position as a
dishwasher instead
Hardships & suffering for him and his friends
At bar: abused by white racists
No moral ethics in this society
"Did you help or bring a smile to someone else today?"
"We are human beings first & foremost"
Management etc. are creating such issues

Systemic racism in indigenous policing

While in custody: lit mattress on fire as there was no heating
Lena Anderson committed suicide
No partners for police in indigenous areas

Colonialism, capitalism, racism

Need more spaces to have such discussions
Racism is the mental illness of these systems

Closing remarks by Minister Michael Coteau

Work together with municipalities
Fight to collect race-based data (school board): won by 1 vote
No data -> No problem -> No solution

3rd December 2016 -- Ottawa, Ontario

Opening remarks by Janelle
Statement by First Nations chief/elder
Survivor of residential schools

Minister Frasier
Comments on our biases

Minister Coteau
People are frustrated; govts come and go but improvements are few and far
between
Stephen Lewis report of 1992: replace 1992 with 2016 and the report still
stands
Stephen Lewis Report on Race Relations in Ontario - June 1992
https://github.com/manasb/PDF/blob/master/Stephen_Lewis-Report_on_Race_Relations_in_Ontario.pdf

Sam Erry
Systemic/Institutional racism
Truth & Reconciliation report
Identity-based vs. Race-based data
Bias model
Open government

Janelle
Additional comments can be sent to anti-racism@ontario.ca

Questions/Comments from attendees

White teachers are heavily over-represented while minority teachers are few

CLC: Anti-Racism taskforce report

Comment about teachers by a man whose wife is a teacher

Teachers must teach from a wider perspective
Model of education must change; encourage courageous conversations

OCDSB Trustee: "we need resources"

Michelle Gill: manager of public health

Comments on Goderich tornado
Describes racist incidents
"Why can't I be?" (2 years ago)
Let go of job, had to go on welfare, now works in an OPS file room
"Where am I today?"

Adamjeet Singh: OHRC

Government maintains, creates or perpetuates racist practices
Turbans not recognized as religious symbol
Government has dropped the puck, done absolutely nothing despite sustained
effort over many, many years

Michael Kevin
Emphasizes White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) culture of Canada

Canadian Pakistani Community

Teach students in school about anti-racism

Bessu, Refugee
Fear, poor understanding of racism
94% of students selected for medical school are white elites

PK: retired public servant

"What is success in 10 years time? Not having these meetings"
Bridge the gap, talk to those who need to improve

President of conn. Youth of Africa

15 years in Canada. Never identified to any community
"Why should we be in a box?"
HRT complaint
People afraid of differences
Race is a fake concept
Racial over representation in jails

Out of 4 sectors, judicial system is unrepresented. Would like to know why

Calls for school board to be more granular

No legislative recognition if turbans. Not recognized in Ontario

Hawan Ahmed, Somalia

Hammer minister & unions into taking action

Racists within the system

1979: Western EU, German speaking country
Tried to write a thesis on the depiction of dark-skinned people in German
literature
Could not get ANY SUPERVISORS
Racists do not realize what their actions mean
OVERHAUL EUROCENTRIC EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS

Community issues

Individual gets more respect outside of Canada when speaking about issues
than inside Canada
Raise societal/cultural awareness
Everyday issues that need to be addressed

Patrick Joseph
Problems start in the home
Population of black offenders: 71% INCREASE
Problems start in the community

Seema, CAWN
Intersectional approach needed
Racialized women
Culture of workplace is toxic

People are not illegal, they are made illegal

Push back against privatization

Sheela Khan
Urgent issues that must be addressed
Hate crimes
Education system must be conscious of intolerance & oppression

Minorities over-represented in legal system

Economic inequalities
No knowledge/Limited knowledge

Screening criteria are biased

Interviewees are given preference based on their name
Provide tools for equity in HR processes
Fight ignorance
OCAP principles
Realistic, holistic practices

Category of racialized peoples

Communities of color
Colonialism
Amplify the fact that racism is felt in a hierarchy
Dismantle and/or reform policies & institutions
QoL, green spaces
No more policies on diversity, instead focus on anti-oppression training

Intersectionality

Woman of Carribean descent; with a disability

People must be open to education at any stage
Always asked "Where do you come from?" "The hospital"

Legislate criminality of racist, abusive behavior

Hit their pockets or nothing will improve
Moral harassment

Rita
Accountability of employer
Mental health must be supported
Merit-based hiring

Run large ad campaigns informing/educating about racism

Start at home
Questions about diversity in OPS as well as their respective ranks

Halima
Has been observing for the past 30 years
Perpetrators are never invited to meetings, only the victims
Hit their pockets

David
Appointee to advisory committee on Anti-Racism Secretariat
No indication at all that allows for community groups to contribute
People's experiences are important
"How does the police engage with PoC?"
Something is very wrong with the system
Hate crimes against religious groups in Ottawa

Educator at a university
Was involved with the secretariat
Meaningful & accessible data is important
Help schools

"Had to learn what 'visible minority' meant when she came to Canada"
Child welfare
Stealing futures
6 year old boy; bounced around households; deported back to Somalia at 28,
doesn't speak Somali/Arabic

Julia, lawyer
Workplace culture is very white

Racism assessment

June
25 years & now: things are essentially the same
Story about collaboration between people of multiple races in aiding an
Iranian man prepare for a job interview
Story about a racist neighbour who tried to have a ticket given to her for
doing something she clearly could not have done. City employee lets her off
with a "warning"
Tells neighbour about all pertinent historical events, starting from
Christopher Columbus

Allan
Aim for a demographically representative workplace

CUC, Carribean
Address, tackle systemic racism
White supremacy
Comments about South Africa's struggle to end apartheid

Racism & violence in South Africa

Parliament
Must be aware & conscious of white supremacy
Dr. Martin Luther King
Color of Racism
Disney etc. mentality of "white is better"
People & culture of white supremacy

Zora, Afghanistan
Laws
Must start with government officials
Racist laws give a "license" to be racist

Priscilla, lawyer
Criminal justice system
Education
Teach children
Culturally diverse curriculum
Diversity in govt
Employment
Professional programs
No one wants to hire
Retention
Racism in the workplace

Consultation in communities
Respect our own diversity
Classism
Must model change
"Community leaders" "Who are these people? I never voted for them to be the leader of my
community"

Gurchand Singh
Refuse to believe that the legislature is deaf, dumb & blind
Have conspired to ignore the suffering & the issues
Govt needs to understand racism & the issues surrounding racism, not us. We KNOW racism
Comments on the "qualified staff"

Denise, Equity Ottawa

Essential to collect data

Start with education systems

Racist comments such as "terrorist", "I'm gonna cut your hair off"
Racist comment received when young: "Indians ruined Christmas"
Residential schools
Grassy Narrows
TOO KIND