by S. Pieters, B.A. (Criminology), LL.B.
Selwyn Pieters is a Barrister & Solicitor. He has a special interest in Charter litigation, International and domestic human rights law and policy, administrative law and issues surrounding anti-Black racism including racial profiling. He can be reached at selwyn.pieters@utoronto.ca
It is that time again. The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The struggles of African Canadians are not new. In Canada African Canadians has had to endure a legacy of historic disadvantage. Our history in Canada is one of slavery, segregation, economic marginalization, and legally-sanctioned discrimination. [See generally: Leo Bertley, Canada and Its People of African Descent (Pierrefonds, 1977); Tarnopolsky and Pentney, Discrimination and the Law, (Toronto: Carswell, May 1997 update); and Robin Winks, The Blacks in Canada: A History (Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press, 1971). ]
We have fought to retain our dignity in the face of historic disadvantage, systemic discrimination, legally sanctioned discrimination, and other forms of oppression and repression of African Canadians.
In 1966, the United Nations declared March 21 as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Canada would like all and sundry to know that it was one of the first countries to show its support, and in 1989 the first Canadian March 21 Campaign was held.
Our struggle continues today. The picture in Canada for racial minorities particularly those who are black remains grim. It was recently reported that Blacks are the target of 48% of the hate crimes that occur in Toronto. See, Losing the battle against anti-black hate crime , Toronto Star, March 19, 2009
The door to equal opportunity and professional advancement in Employment for Black employees, professional and non-professional, is slammed shut. In the legal arena, I still question why it is that difficult for Black males to be admitted to the Law School, and even when successful in law school find suitable and appropriate articling positions and obtain employment with the “Seven Sisters” and other medium and/or mid-size law firms and/or in practice areas in which they have an interest.
The racial composition of the Judiciary, the Crown Attorney's offices, the police departments, the fire department, the teaching, legal and medical profession are overwhelmingly white and is not reflective of Canada's multicultural society. See, See R. v. Williams (1998), 124 C.C.C. (3d) 481 at 494 (S.C.C.); R. v. Parks (1993), 84 C.C.C. (3d) 353 (Ont. C.A.) and R. v. Wilson (1996), 107 C.C.C. (3d) 86 (Ont. C.A.).
Racism continues today as part of our everyday culture, and as a convenient ideology for maintaining cheap labour provided by people of colour and Black people. . . . the ideology of racism has, in post-slavery and post-colonial days, still resulted in the over-representation of Black workers and workers of colour in the least desirable, least secure, poorest paid segments of the workforce. Simultaneously, they have been excluded from better paid, secure, more desirable jobs through systemic practices in the labour market . . . The labour of people of colour and of Black people is assumed to be "natural", "unskilled", and therefore inferior . . .
[Tania Das Gupta, Racism and Paid Work, (Toronto: Garamond Press, 1996), at 1-40, esp. at pp. 14-5]
In the Federal Public Service and the Ontario Public Service African Canadians and other racial minorities, persons with disabilities, and Aboriginal people are grossly under-represented in the workplace. [ see, Visible Minorities and the Public Service of Canada by John Samuel & Associates Inc., Ottawa, 1997 |]
The Province of Ontario has repealed the employment equity laws. [ see, Employment Equity: Myths and Facts |]
In the halls and academe of higher education Systemic Racism permeates the University of Toronto, York University and beyond in admission, hiring, application of policy, procedures and disciplinary action and retention.[ see, Systemic Racism at the University of Toronto | Racism thrives in Canada, black ex-dignitary says Toronto Star|Police Investigate Racist Letters To York U Students| Racism targets York law school: Black students look for justice after hate letters Toronto Star| Notice to the Osgoode Community by Shelley A.M Gavigan, Associate Dean| See also, Case Analysis, York University, Osgoode Hall Law school | Case Analysis, University of Toronto, Faculty of law | Index of the complainant reply to the Law Schools response to the human rights complaints | Further Response from University of Windsor, York University and Queen's University Law Schools | The Best and the Brightest? Canadian Law School Admissions Wesley Pue and Dawna Tong: (1999) 37 Osgoode Hall L.J. 843-876| Dalhousie seeks to quash transfer of racism case - Professor Aylward's complaint may be heard in Ontario October 31, 2000| April Burey on Tenure at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law | Kin-Yip Chun v. University of Toronto | Nelson v. Durham Board of Education | and Muhammad Saleem Quereshi v. The Board of Education for the City of Toronto et al. |]
The same systemic racism is true in the legal profession. [see, Law Society of Upper Canada, Equity Iniatives Department Publications ]. Black are icreasingly at the receiving end of frivolous Law Society Complaints: See Roach v. Long, [2002] O.J. No. 2471 (Ont. Div. Ct.); See also, Hamalengwa v. Duncan; 2005 CarswellOnt 4451; 202 O.A.C. 233, 135 C.R.R. (2d) 251. The can include: • A complaint received from a third party in a litigation matter opposed in interest to the client of the Licensee. • A complaint received from a third party opposed in interest to the client of the Licensee, in circumstances outside of litigation. Sources of these complaints could be parties involved in negotiations or other transactions, for example in the area of family law, commercial, civil, criminal or quasi-criminal, real estate or labour law. • A complaint received from a third party in a litigation matter opposed in interest to the Licensee personally. The complaint may relate to the Licensee’s behaviour in either a professional or personal capacity. • A complaint received from a third party opposed in interest to the Licensee personally, in circumstances outside of litigation. The complaint may relate to the Licensee’s behaviour in either a professional or personal capacity. • Information received from a third party who is not necessarily opposed in interest to the Licensee but is also not a client of the Licensee (e.g. a member of the judiciary, a government official or the media).
Blacks are being assaulted, shot, injured and killed by the police in disproportionate numbers
Inquitable Treatment and Racial Profiling by Police Services of Blacks in the Greater Toronto Area continues unabated. See, Nassiah v. Peel (Regional Municipality) Services Board, [2007] HRTO 14 and David Tanovich, The Colour of Justice: Policing Race in Canada (Toronto: Irwin Law, 2006); “Racial Profiling” in Policy and Guidelines on Racism and Racial Discrimination (Ontario Human Rights Commission) (9 June 2005); Melchers, “Inequality before the Law: The Canadian Experience of ‘Racial Profiling’” (2006); Gold, “Media Hype, Racial Profiling, and Good Science” (2003), 45 Can. J. Crimin. & Crim. Just. 391; Gabor, “Inflammatory Rhetoric on Racial Profiling Can Undermine Police Service” (2004), 46 Can. J. Crimin. & Crim. Just. 457; Wortley and Tanner, “Inflammatory Rhetoric? Baseless Accusations? A Response to Gabor’s Critique of Racial Profiling Research in Canada” (2005), 47 Can. J. Crimin. & Crim. Just. 581.
Racial Discrimination and Harassment of Black and Native Correctional Officers and Inmates in Ontario's Correctional Facilities continues unabated. See, Charlton v. Ontario (Ministry of Community Safety & Correctional Services) 2007 CarswellOnt 4099. See also, See, for Example, December, 1993; Racism Behind Bars: A Brief to the Commission On Systemic Racism in the Ontario Criminal Justice System (OPSEU); 1994 Racism Behind Bars: Interim Report of the Commission On Systemic Racism in the Ontario Criminal Justice System; January 1994 Executive Summary: Racism Behind Bars- The Treatment of Black And Other Racial Minority Prisoners in Ontario Prisons; March, 1996 Racism Hurts!: A Brief to the CLC Task Force On Racism, (OPSEU); October 21, 1996; Ontario Correctional Services – Culture and Human Resources Review- Final Report; January 2, 2002.
Impermissible Racial Profiling of Black Canadian Citizens at Port(s) of Entry in Canada continues unabated with the full sanctioning and support of the Canadian Government. See, Racial Profiling: Racism in Practice?CBA. See also D.M. Tanovich, “E-Racing Racial Profiling” (2004), 41 Alberta Law Review 905 at 929-931 and “Using The Charter To Stop Racial Profiling: An Equality-Based Conception Of Arbitrary Detention” (2002), 40 Osgoode Hall L.J. 145 at 181-183.
The Criminal Justice System in Ontario is systemically racist in its treatment of Black and Native Peoples ad how it stereotypically view people of these races: See, Janet Mosher, Discrimination and Denial: Systemic Racism in Ontario’s Legal and Criminal Justice Systems, 1892-1961 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1998); Chan and Mirchandani, Crimes of Colour: Racialization and the Criminal Justice System in Canada (Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview Press, 2002); Justice Arthur Gans reportedly told an accused before him "If you transgress, I'm going to make sure that the next shower you take, there's going to be some big black guy right behind you. Do you understand me, young man?" . See also, Tanovich, “The Further Erasure of Race in Charter Cases” (2006), 38 C.R. (6th) 84 and Francis Henry and Carol Tator, Racial Profiling in Canada: Challenging the Myth of “A Few Bad Apples” (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006). On the issue of sentencing, see R. v. Ramsay and R. v. Hamilton” (2004), 22 C.R. (6th) 57. See also T. Williams, “Sentencing Black Offender In The Ontario Criminal Justice System” in J.V. Roberts and D.P. Cole, Making Sense of Sentencing (Toronto: UofT Press, 1999); and, D.E. Roberts, “The Social And Mass Cost Of Mass Incarceration In African American Communities” (2004), 56 Stanford Law Review 1271.
African Canadians and other racialized groups rely upon legislatures and courts for the protection and promotion of their equality rights in all areas, but more specifically in the employment sector. Since 1950, successive governments in Canada have attempted to end discrimination in many sectors of life.
In Ontario, the Ontario Human Rights Code has been the main legislative vehicle in this regard. However, the eliminating systemic racial discrimination in employment and the provision of services to Black Ontarian remains hallow. See, Smith, Racial Profiling and Law Enforcement in Canada (Toronto: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2007).
I say to the Prime Minister, the Premier of Ontario, federal, provincial and municipal politicians stop the hiprocracy. We need action, not self-serving words.
The dismal and shameful record of Canada's treatment of Black, African Canadians and Native, Aboriginal Canadans speaks for itself. See, Reber and Renaud, Starlight Tour: The Last, Lonely Night of Neil Stonechild (Toronto: Random House, 2005); Chan & Mirchandani, Crimes of Colour: Racialization and the Criminal Justice System (Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview Press, 2002); “The Impact of Racial Profiling on the Aboriginal Community” in Paying the Price: The Human Cost of Racial Profiling (Ontario Human Rights Commission) (2003)
Now take action to implement social, legal, political and economic changes to end the conditions in Canada that continues to foster the subordination and racial oppression of African Canadians in Canada.
For those of us who are true, committed anti-racist, we must continue to fight against all of the evils of racism which evident within our society. We are not the first to fight this battle. We do not want the next generation to have to fight this battle again.
March 21 is a time for us to re-dedicate and re-commit ourselves to fight any and all social injustices that isn't beneficial to the society in which we were brought up [and in which some of us has adopted as our home].
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