Ontario should set up long-promised anti-racism secretariat
TheStar.com – Opinion/Editorials – Legislation already exists to establish an anti-racism secretariat in Ontario. Premier Kathleen Wynne should act on it.
Dec 27 2015. Editor
Last March, EKOS conducted a poll to measure whether Canadians were becoming more racist. One of its more disquieting findings was that opposition to immigration has nearly doubled since 2005, when it was at an all-time low of 25 per cent.
What’s more disturbing was that the number of Canadians saying we admit too many visible minorities “cracked” the 40-point ceiling for the first time ever, noted EKOS president Frank Graves. Opposition to immigration doesn’t necessarily reflect racial discrimination. It could reflect economic anxiety, he explained. “But it’s hard to see how those saying too many immigrants are visible-minority can be motivated by anything but racial or cultural bias.”
Graves is right. That is why Premier Kathleen Wynne should give serious consideration to NDP Leader Andrea Horwath’s call for an anti-racism secretariat.
As reported by the Star’s Rob Ferguson, the Liberal government passed legislation in 2006 to set up a secretariat to conduct public education and research on racism. But no action was ever taken. But with recent events, and the disturbing polling trend, now is the time to establish one.
Consider that in November, alone, the only mosque in Peterborough was firebombed, windows were smashed at a temple in Kitchener, and two women in hijabs were harassed on the TTC.
Jasmine Noureddin, past director of the Canadian Arab Federation, noted she never used to worry when she was on the subway. But now she is extra cautious. And Anthony Morgan of the African Canadian Legal Clinic adds that black people are victims of “overtly racist views.”
While a secretariat will hardly put an end to racism, it will shine a spotlight on it and the research it would conduct could help the government find ways to reduce it.
As Graves notes, the number of people who admitted to his pollsters that they find there are too many visible minorities entering Canada “should alarm anyone who believes in an open and tolerant society.”
He is right. It is alarming. Wynne should heed Horwath’s request and establish the long-promised anti-racism secretariat now.
< http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2015/12/27/ontario-should-set-up-long-promised-anti-racism-secretariat-editorial.html >
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