ECS4020 Childcare and Public Policy: Anti-Racism Policy Analysis

This report provides a policy analysis of the anti-racism protocol implemented at Allenby Daycare, examining its purpose, context, and impact on stakeholders. The analysis begins by defining racism and its negative consequences on children, emphasizing the daycare's goal to foster an inclusive and respectful environment. The report details the daycare's setting, its diverse population, and the rationale behind the anti-racism policy, highlighting the need to address racial discrimination in childcare activities and curricula. It discusses historical and societal influences contributing to racism, including colonial roots and immigration patterns, and summarizes the stakeholders involved, including children, parents, and staff. The report identifies barriers to the implementation of the policy, such as lack of cultural sensitivity, personal perceptions, and limited funding. Finally, it recommends strategies for improving the anti-racism policy at both institutional and individual levels, emphasizing the importance of staff training, parental awareness, and cultural sensitivity to embrace diversity. The report concludes with a call for action to eliminate racial inequalities and promote an inclusive environment for all children.

Running head: POLICY ANALYSIS
POLICY ANALYSIS
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

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Policy analysis
Description of the policy
The policy that has been chosen for the discussion is the anti-racism policy taken up by
the Allenby Daycare’s Anti-Racism protocol. Racism can be defined as the discrimination
procedure that is directed towards an individual based on the skin color, ancestry, race, their
ethnicity, the national origin, their citizenship, cast, creed, faith, belief or adornment (Kubota,
2015). Racism might can be intentional or unintentional, but the occurrence of racism. Racism
can be considered as significant psychological stressor that has negative psychological and
physical health consequences on the children and their family (Kubota, 2015). Racism is related
to negative emotions among children and can affect their cognitive growth.
The purpose of the antiracism policy is to provide a stimulating program for meeting the
diverse needs of the children. The main goal of the anti-racism policy is to identify and validate
the experiences and the issue linked with racism as well as the factors contributing to them.
Antiracism policy exists in order to create an environment that is fee from discrimination and
where all the children and childcare staffs are treated with courtesy, dignity and respect,
encouraging or reporting any behavior that causes a breach in the policies , protecting each and
every child and the childcare employees in an appropriate manner (Kubota, 2015).
There are antiracism community grant programs that provides grants to the organizations
in order to implement the anti-racism policies. There are also several Non-governmental
organizations that provides grants to such day care centers. Furthermore, lobbying with the
politicians and influential people might be helpful for arranging grants for the antiracism policy.

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Some of the licensed home child care agencies are funded by the Ministry and contracts with
individual providers who use their own home for providing care to the children. Allen day care
center for children is located within the school and there almost 63 5 of all the child care spaces
ar located in schools that also provide before and the after school programs.
Description of the field placement site
Allenby Daycare is located in Allenby school on 391 St. Clements Avenue Toronto ON
M5N 1M2, Ontario. It is a non-profit child care center that has been opened in 1983, for meeting
the needs of the children present in the Allenby community center. The organization is solely run
by the Board of directors consisting of the Allenby Day care parents. The day care is licensed by
the Ministry of education. The organization provide care for 15 toddlers, 16 preschoolers, 135
school-aged children and 78 junior and senior kindergarten children. They also provide
subsidized childcare spaces for eligible families. The day care center provides a wide range of
activities like summer camps, fun workshops like Hands on Exotics”, “Messy Hands”, “Super
Science”, “Ten Ten Sports Academy”. The organization also arrange for the weekly themed
programs like “Science Exploration and Beyond”, Art Attack, Body , “Mind & Spirit’,
Technology Art & Design.
Reason for the antidiscrimination policy
In spite of all the policies and the procedures to mitigate racial discrimination, incidents
of racial discrimination were common in the schools and the societies. The curriculum or the
childcare activities taking place in the centers might not always consider the culture or the
tradition of children. Again, cultural discrimination is visible in each and every sectors like
employment, schools, and private sectors and more (Greenwood & de Leeuw, 2012). Hence, a

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common approach was necessary to understand racism as a combination of power and prejudice.
It require to make the childcare services more equal and accessible for all the sections of the
society (Greenwood & de Leeuw,2012). One of the main problem that has been identified is that
most of the people are unaware of the actual definitions of “racism” and thus also lack the
perception as of how the racial discrimination can be mitigated (Hiranandani, 2012).. It should
be mentioned that the practice of multiculturalism in liberal democracy is jeopardized by the lack
of clarity in the term “racism’ and “anti-racism”. In most of the cases the antiracism policies
simply cannot be acted on in real or the policies that can be intended for a particular group
might be disadvantageous for the other group (Craig et al., 2015) .
The main stakeholders for the policy procedure are- children, the parents, the governing
body of the school, the assistant heads, the staffs, the indigenous educators and the children. This
is because they are the most effected by the racial discrimination and it is also the responsibility
of the assistant head and the governing body of the school to implement the antiracism policy at
the school. While researching on this particular day care center, it has been found that in most of
the cases the care workers are English speaking and there are no Asian or African staffs in the
center (Currie et al., 2012). The children who are receiving care from this organization often
have diverse culture and traditions. In spite of this, most of the actions and practices taking place
in this organization is as per the convenience of the white children. Instances can be found in the
day care centers where Asian or the African children are bullied or are restricted from
participating in games. This kind of exclusion might make children upset and it is essential that
the teachers should have a complete acquaintances about these kind of discriminative behavior
(Craig et al., 2015).

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It should be mentioned that the incidence of racism in Canada has deep colonial roots
(Priest et al., 2013). Ethnicity became a common dividing line in the British North American
society in the middle of the 19 the century and racism was imbibed more deeply by the arrival of
Irish immigrants (Dei 2014). The ethnic and the sectarian intolerance divided the upper
communities in the Upper Canada and the Maritime with the arrival of the Irish immigrants. In
order to address racial discrimination across the indigenous Canadian community, Canadian
residential schools were established in the 19th century (Currie et al., 2014). The Canadian
government believed that it was necessary for educating the aboriginal people in Canada. But the
Canadian government developed the “aggressive assimilation” policy in the schools in order to
mold the students in order to prepare for the mainstream society (Priest et al., 2016). In the name
of assimilation the young indigenous children were abused or were subjected to harsh treatment.
With the introduction of the Anti-Black Racism strategy in 2017, the government tried to reduce
the overrepresentation of the black children. Additionally, the ministry of the children and youth
service has introduced the Ontario Black Youth Action plan aiming to preserve the rights for the
Black children such that they can access the development programs, the family support services
(Anti-Racism Directorate.,2017).. A similar action plan- Canada’s Action Plan Against Racism
(2005 – 2010): was a five years horizontal plan by the Department of Canadian Heritage aiming
to ensure social inclusion in the society by the elimination of the social and the economic
barriers.
Summary of what influenced the issue
In the year 2011, the foreign borne population was about 6,775,800 people, that
represents about 20 % of the total population of Canada. The large population of the foreign
borne population lived in the provinces of Ontario, Toronto. More than 200 ethnic origins have

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been reported to be staying in Canada according to the National household survey and three
largest ethnic minority groups that can be visible are the South Asians, Black and Chinese
(Statistics Canada., 2017). Other groups included Latin Americans, South East Asians and
Koreans. Immigration and assimilation of people of different culture has influenced the
population of the workforce, schools, hospitals and even the child care centers. Reflecting on the
economic scenario, it has been noticed that the ethnic minority group had been facing racism in
both education, employment and the health care sector (Statistics Canada., 2017). The earnings
gap experienced by the Black men had been an issue since 1990 and no progress had been made
so far in closing the earning gap. This low economic mobility and the vast differences in income
between the whites and black had largely affected the societal class. Racial discrimination in
every sector has set its paws even in childhood education sectors eventually affecting the overall
development of a child.
Recommendations
Strategies meant for improving the anti-racism policy should be made both at the
institutional level as well at an individual level. Any changes that has to be incorporated should
start from the upper hierarchy of the organization (Miller et al., 2014). The board of directors
and the managers should be in the frontline to create an inclusive culture inside the day care
center.
One of the main motto of the antiracism policy is to eliminate the racial inequalities
related to the access to a high quality of early childhood program, elimination of the racial
inequalities within the childcare program , ensuring an inclusive pedagogy that promote their
sense of self worth from an ethnic or a racial standpoint (Gérin-Lajoie, 2012). Any antiracism

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policy in day care center should be meant for challenging the Eurocentric nature of practice and
curriculum, recognizing the rights of each and every child. The management committee should
ensure that the service complies with legislation . The service manager should be responsible for
monitoring that all the care workers are aware of their responsibilities and are provided with the
training for the development of cultural competency (Gérin-Lajoie, 2012). The service managers
are also responsible for taking the appropriate actions in case of any discrimination (Gérin-
Lajoie, 2012). The staffs should be trained efficiently so that they can identify and challenge the
bias of stereotyping and dealing with any kind of discriminatory incident. Provisions should be
made such that they remain updated on the equality issues (Roberts, 2017). Discussing about the
role of the carers or the parents, they should always keep themselves aware of the equal
opportunity policies and understanding that it applies to all the children and all those that are
involved with the services (Escayg, Berman & Royer, 2017). It should be kept in mind that the
information for the parents are easily accessible , taking in account of the literacy difficulties in
an user friendly language and other languages other than English. Furthermore, supporting the
staffs in a shared understanding and the appreciation of the benefits of the anti-discriminatory
approach (Hiranandani, 2012). Hence, the best recommendation is to educate the care workers
about the cultural sensitive practices that embraces diversity.
Some of the barriers in the implementation policy is the presence of negative emotions
among the parents or the care workers towards children coming from different ethnic minority
group. Lack of cultural sensitivity and education might give rise to stigmatization. For examples,
parents of white children might instruct their children not to interact with the African and the
Asian children (Hiranandani, 2012). Another biggest problem, is the personal perception of the
stakeholders. The stakeholders should identify the true meaning of the antiracism and anti-

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discriminatory practices and should be able to embrace diversity at the personal level (White et
al., 2012). Another barrier that can be faced with in the implementation of practices is limited
funding (Dei, 2014). Education and training would require hiring of educators or cultural
friendly resources for the origination that would require a separate funding. Furthermore,
conduction of workshops with children and parents to celebrate different cultures and diversity
would also require effective finance management (Roberts, 2017).
Description of the other less preferred options and rationale behind not recommending them
Day care centers for children are often faced with crowding due to the increasing
numbers of the working mothers and the emergence of the economic class. Due to the shortage
of the staffs and the workload of the day care centers, it becomes impossible to race relation
education or training programs (Reading, 2014). In such cases, personal mail might be sent to the
workers containing a copy of the antiracism policies or newsletters might be published in the
bulletin board of the day care center. Newsletters and personal mail might be an excellent
method to disseminate a practice, but in an organization with heavy workload, shortage of
staffing and financial constraints, the care workers are likely to omit or overlook such emails or
newsletters. The staffs and the careworkers should be informed about the legal obligation of the
careworkers as well as the penalties that can be imposed, if they do not comply with the policies
and the procedures (Reading, 2014).
Another less preferred option is the multicultural programs and the policies as they
typically does not reflect on racism as they fail to recognize the boundaries and the concept of
diversity. Reading, (2014) have argued that multicultural programs recommended exclusively for
the ethnic minority group is another form of racism as such a program and the activities often
objectify a particular race. Such a focus on the minority leads to victim blaming. The

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multicultural policies and the procedure should be broad enough and should be made on the basis
of the experiences of people who had been the victims of racism (Escayg, Berman & Royer,
2017).
It should be remembered that the policies and the procedures might serve as a form of
indirect racism if all the approaches taken re irrespective of any cast and creed. Addressing
racism would require a broader and specific policy procedures implemented both at the
organizational level and the institutional level.

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References
Anti-Racism Directorate. (2017).Ontario’s Anti-Black Racism Strategy. Access date:
9.2.2019. .Retrieved from: https://www.ontario.ca/page/ontarios-anti-black-racism-strategy
Craig, G., Atkin, K., Flynn, R. & Chattoo, S. eds., (2012). Understanding'race'and ethnicity:
theory, history, policy, practice. Policy Press.
Currie, C.L., Wild, T.C., Schopflocher, D.P., Laing, L. & Veugelers, P., (2012). Racial
discrimination experienced by Aboriginal university students in Canada. The Canadian
Journal of Psychiatry, 57(10), .617-625.
Dei, G.J.S., (2014). A prism of educational research and policy: Anti-racism and multiplex
oppressions. In Politics of anti-racism education: In search of strategies for
transformative learning (pp. 15-28). Springer, Dordrecht.
Escayg, K.A., Berman, R. & Royer, N., (2017). Canadian Children and Race: Toward an
Antiracism Analysis. Journal of Childhood Studies, 42(2),.10-21.
Gérin-Lajoie, D., (2012). Racial and ethnic diversity in schools: The case of English
Canada. Prospects, 42(2), .205-220.
Government of Canada. (2018) .Deepening Understanding, Developing Ideas: A Cross-Country
Conversation on Anti-Racism. Access date: 12.2.2019. Retrieved
form :https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/campaigns/anti-racism-engagement/
deepening-understanding-developing-ideas.html

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Greenwood, M.L. & de Leeuw, S.N., (2012). Social determinants of health and the future well-
being of Aboriginal children in Canada. Paediatrics & child health, 17(7),.381-384.
Hiranandani, V., (2012). Diversity Management in the Canadian Workplace: Towards an
antiracism approach. Urban Studies Research, 2012.
Kubota, R., (2015). Race and language learning in multicultural Canada: Towards critical
antiracism. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 36(1), .3-12.
Miller, D.P., Bazzi, A.R., Allen, H.L., Martinson, M.L., Salas-Wright, C.P., Jantz, K., Crevi, K.
& Rosenbloom, D.L., (2017). A social work approach to policy: Implications for
population health. American journal of public health, 107(S3), .S243-S249.
Priest, N., Paradies, Y., Stevens, M. & Bailie, R., (2012). Exploring relationships between
racism, housing and child illness in remote indigenous communities. J Epidemiol
Community Health, 66(5),440-447.
Reading, C., (2014). Policies, programs and strategies to address aboriginal racism: A Canadian
perspective. National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health.
Roberts, W., (2017) Trust, empathy and time: Relationship building with families experiencing
vulnerability and disadvantage in early childhood education and care services.
Australasian journal of early childhood, 42(4), 4.
Statistics Canada., (2017). Immigration and Ethnocultural Diversity in Canada. Access date:
13.2.2019. Retrieved from: https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/as-sa/99-010-x/99-
010-x2011001-eng.cfm

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White, K., Budai, J., Mathew, D., Deighan, M.R. & Gill, H., (2012). Educators' Perspectives
about a Public School District's Aboriginal Education Enhancement Agreement in British
Columbia. Canadian Journal of Native Education, 35(1), .42.