Racial and Ethnic Discrimination in Canada

"You know the world is off tilt when the best rapper is a white guy (Eminem), the best golfer is a black guy (Tiger Woods), the tallest basketball player is Chinese (Yao Ming, 7’6”) and Germany doesn’t want to go to war (in Iraq)”. Charles Barkley stated in a 2003 interview, pointing out various misconceptions with stereotypes.

A stereotype is defined by dictionary.com as: “something conforming to a fixed or general pattern; especially: an often oversimplified or biased mental picture held to characterize the typical individual of a group”. I have commonly heard stereotypes such as the French are good cooks, Italians are great lovers, and the Irish are lazy or comments made like dumb jock, lazy Cape Bretoner, or that women are not strong!! The list could go on endlessly as there appears to be stereotypes regarding people of all races, religions, sexes and ethnic groups, etcetera. Stereotypes can be either positive or negative. Most stereotypes tend to make us feel superior in some way to the person or group being stereotyped. Stereotypes ignore the uniqueness of individuals by painting all members of a group with the same brush.

Throughout the course of this paper I plan to discuss some racial and ethnic issues in Canada. Where some of these issues originated from, what we can personally do to help eliminate discrimination in the workplace and what the government is doing to try to combat such discrimination.

Let me first begin by defining discrimination, racism and ethnicity since these terms are all important terms to understand before going into further discussion. To discriminate is simply defined by yourdictionary.com as: “To make distinctions on the basis of class or category without regard to individual merit; show preference or prejudice.” Therefore, discrimination occurs when a person is not treated equally because of their gender, race, religion, ethnic origin, nationality, sexual orientation, or age. Yourdictionary.com defines racism as: “The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others. Discrimination or prejudice based on race.” In other words, when an individual or group is treated unfairly or abused because of their skin color or racial heritage they are victims of racism. Ethnic, as defined by yourdictionary.com is: “Of or relating to a sizable group of people sharing a common and distinctive racial, national, religious, linguistic, or cultural heritage. B. Being a member of a particular ethnic group, especially belonging to a national group by heritage or culture but residing outside its national boundaries.“ With that being said, it is my belief that stereotypes and ignorance about others most often lead to discriminatory behavior both inside and outside the workplace.

I have heard Canada described as a multicultural nation meaning that Canadians are not of any one cultural background, race or heritage. For all Canadians, including Aboriginal People, this multicultural diversity can be traced to an immigrant past. This does not mean that the majority of today's Canadians are immigrants but rather that the majority of Canadians have in their past, perhaps many generations ago, a family member who migrated here from another country. That is why many of us have a mixed ancestry, for example; Irish, Scottish, Ukrainian, French and Aboriginal, and the list can go on.

Canada's Aboriginal People were the first to immigrate, and settle across the continent, tens of thousands of years before European settlers. After the European settlers came the French, followed by the English, Scots and Irish formulating Canada into the diverse country it is today. In the years before the American Civil War, thousands of black slaves escaped slavery in the United States by following the “Underground Railway” north to Canada. Then, at the turn of the century, American farmers moved northward into the Canadian prairies to develop farm lands.

Although Canada originally consisted of a wide variety of immigrants, some people were not as welcome in the country as others and were therefore not treated equally. Those who were of different race, color, or religion then the majority of Canadians were labeled as "foreigners". The use of the term "foreigner" held many connotations for example, different, strange or inferior and many at the time wanted to see the “foreigners” assimilate to fit into Canadian society.

There are many events in Canada's past that has contributed to the racism and discrimination in Canada today for example, the disregard and unfair treatment of Aboriginal Peoples by European’s who settled here. Even though a vast majority of African-Americans moved to Canada to avoid slavery, from early in the 1600’s until 1834 there was a recorded 4092 slaves throughout the country,