Researching on Racism in Canada

Running head: RESEARCHING ON RACISM IN CANADA
RESEARCHING ON RACISM IN CANADA
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

1
RESEARCHING ON RACISM IN CANADA
Introduction
Racism is an overwhelming issue that concerns every country in the world and that is yet
to be addressed properly. In Canada too, the issue of racism has seen a rise in the past few years
with people from non-white community being continuously harassed and attacked.
In this essay, I shall delve upon the issue of racism in Canada by including sources from
the internet as well as journals. While doing so, I will discuss and analyze the three sources that I
would take from the internet and five scholarly articles to see the difference between both the
sources.
Discussion
In an article written by Stacy Lee Kong for the fashion magazine Flare in Canada, she
mentions that racism in Canada is reaching its worst phase with cases of hate crimes increasing
at a fast pace. According to the author, people in Canada are openly expressive about hared
nowadays. She provides accounts of racial hatred that had happened in the recent days where an
Indigenous man was “allegedly assaulted” at Thunder Bay, Ontario (Kong). In addition, a
Muslim man, aged 39 was brutally attacked by two brothers, in Ontario again. Other such
incidences took place across Canada in 2018 itself, which shows that racism has come out in the
open and in a blatant manner.
The problem of racism in Canada is not a new thing, as many believe. Annette Henry, a
professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC) opines that in Canada, “people have
grown up with racism and they do not question it” (The Tyee). She further states that she herself
has faced subtle racism while teaching at the university and in a grocery store or even in any
other place. Henry claims that the white Canadians look at her in a strange way as if they are not

2
RESEARCHING ON RACISM IN CANADA
used to seeing black people. She published a book on racism titled Dear white people, wake up:
Canada is racist, where she mentions that people who have not experienced racism in Canada
are not aware of the way it functions. The racism in Canada is pernicious and insidious, she
further writes.
People in Canada have for long lived with the myth that the country is polite, honorable
and nice to people of all race and culture but the truth is far from it. While racism in the United
States is visible, racism in Canada is more subtle and hidden but equally dangerous (Langford).
The sexual violence and murder of Canadian Aboriginal women is just one face of the brutality
of racism in the country. Racism is ingrained in Canadian history as is evident from the policies
and ideologies of the previous leaders.
In a study conducted by Cheryl Currie et al, it was found that racial discrimination in
Canada particularly against the Aboriginal people leads to an increased rate of post-traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD) in over 80% adults. The study further revealed that racism even leads to
increased intake of drug amongst Aboriginal adults. The study was conducted in 372 adults in
2010. It showed the health inequities in Canada due to racism.
The research by Colleen Sheppard brings to the fore, systemic racism in Canada and its
influence in all spheres of life. The author finds that the policies, practices, consideration of
value and worth in the modern day are all shaped as per the requirements and demands of the
dominant white groups. These groups see failure and exclusion as inabilities of an individual, not
as “political markers of systemic discrimination”.
Juutilainen et al. conducted a study on structural racism in Canada by examining the
residential and boarding school students belonging to the Indigenous community. A negative