Survey: 1 in 6 Canadians victims of racism

[Ma Deuce]

One in six Canadians victims of racism, suggests Ipsos-Reid survey

Sun Mar 20, 4:29 PM ET

TERRY PEDWELL

OTTAWA (CP) - Roughly four million Canadians, one in six adults, have been victims of racism, a national survey to be released Monday indicates.

A majority of those surveyed said they thought racism in their communities has not changed in the last five years.

Approximately one in 10, or 13 per cent, believed that racism has decreased in their community over the last five years, says the Ipsos-Reid survey, conducted to mark International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

About 17 per cent indicated they believed racism has been on the rise.

The poll results fly in the face of descriptions of Canada as a "multi-cultural nation, a model of tolerance to the world," said Rudyard Griffiths, director of the Dominion Institute, which commissioned the poll.

"We knew that racism was a problem of the last generation," said Griffiths.

"Well, according to four million of our fellow citizens, they feel that they've been the victim of racism. I think that shows that we can't be kind of complacent about the need to challenge racism whenever it rears its ugly head."

Last month's federal budget allocated $56 million to combat intolerance, particularly in the workforce.

Sources say Multiculturalism Minister Raymond Chan is to unveil a government anti-racism plan Monday, including a "racism-free workplace strategy."

Another part of the package is "sort of a welcoming communities strategy that will work with non-governmental organizations to foster a more welcoming environment for newcomers," said one source familiar with the plan.

"That will include educating children and youth."

Nearly 15 per cent of those surveyed by Ipsos-Reid said skin colour makes a difference at work. It's expected that, by 2020, Canada will have to rely solely on immigration for all of its labour growth.

The government's strategy must move away from historical references to racism, and toward changing attitudes among new Canadians, says Griffiths.

"We've got to start making an argument about the values we share in common as Canadians," he said, noting that the survey also found that racism is prevalent among ethnic groups and recent immigrants.

"Fighting racism is about creating a society where there's equal opportunity and mutual respect."

The survey also asked Canadians what groups they believe are most likely to be targets of racism in their community.

Muslims and Arabs topped the list at 38 per cent - a finding that largely results from the after-effects of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States, Griffiths suggested.

"We often associated (9-11) with racial profiling of Arabs and Muslims as something . . . that was symptomatic of the American response to the terrorist attacks," he said.

"But I think that has affected us here in Canada as well."

Second among groups believed most likely to be targeted for discrimination were aboriginals, followed by blacks, East Indians, Asians, Jews and Hispanics.

Perhaps one of the more alarming findings of the survey was that approximately one in 10 Canadians would not welcome people from another race as next-door neighbours.

As well, 13 per cent of respondents said they would never marry or have a relationship with someone of another race.

About a third of respondents believed that schools were the most effective institutions in promoting racial tolerance. The government was at the bottom of the list, with just seven per cent of those polled thinking it was effective in boosting tolerance.

The survey of 1,001 randomly selected people was conducted Mar. 12-15. The results are considered accurate to within plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

[General Brock]

Well, there is a pecking order to the mosaic. The first thing immigrants seem to pick up is that the Aboriginals are that part of the totem pole stuck in the ground. Aboriginals appear to have their own sorting order; an Indian is not just another Indian. Then, there is the notion that only white people are racist - and somehow that misimpression excuses their own prejudices. Some people mistake ethnocentrism for racism, or ethnic chauvanism for racism.

Given how sophisticated the problem is now, I am not at all comfortable with a new multicultural spending initiative, as opposed to a more across the board promotion of awareness of human and democratic rights and responsibilities, programs that allow Canadians to interact with one another as Canadians first.

Multiculturalism will only work as long as there is a strong mainstream people want to share in; otherwise there is the risk of balkanization. A lot of ethnic interest groups seem more interested in Federal money than the rest of Canada. I think a subculture should be supported by it's participants more so than the taxpayer, if only because the participants are then motivated by the benefits of their culture, not Federal grant money.

[Wicked Pilot]

Is there an actual discrimination problem going around, or are people just being bigots on the inside?

[General Brock]

Wicked Pilot asked [snip]

It is hard to describe, to separate from genuine personality differences and aracial assininity. The race card is a very serious one, no-one wants to get called on it. I suspect more as a matter of social fashion than a deeply thought out understanding of human dignity, but as good a start as any for a just society.

Bigots obviously are going to be smarter about how they dis others, but although they don't keep it inside among peers, they are less likey to discriminate among stangers.

Let's see, an example of nebulous racism is the experience of Victor Li, son of the Hong Kong billionaire, who wanted to buy Air Canada. He was a Canadian citizen, but National Post financial columnist Diane has never said a good word about the family's dealings; they are never Canadian enough. An Air Canada Union boss told him to take his money on a boat and go back to China, but there were hard concessions being demanded of the union, as the pension fund was a disaster. Naturally acrimonious business dealing in a competitive atmosphere, or was racism also a factor, in that the Canadian business elite is not ready for new faces?

Another example would be how people of all races may study Asian martial arts, but only whites do, say, Ukrainian dance; discrimination, or honest lack of interest? Do some presume an entitlement to cross tiles in the mosaic, while others must keep to their designated space? Of course, you could argue that AMA is international, like classical music.

People can be very smooth at being two-faced and fork-tongued. There can be disappointment when real people of race are just people and not like the poster examples.

I mean, you really can't tell on casual contact, unless the bigot has no use for you and feels confident enough to bite. Unless you know the look; the condescension or the hardness, and the talk, the tightness in the voice, eyes, mouth, it is very hard to discern fake from genuine politeness.

Which is why I would support a non-multicultural approach. People will always find ways not to get along, and race is just one more excuse. Canada prides itself on its 'tolerance' of difference, which seems a little fascile. Tolerance has to be guided by human rights and responsibilities, otherwise, things like extreme Sharia law are awkward to censor.

The mosaic is OK when it works, especially for new immigrants, but very inflexible. The American melting pot has advantages, in that no-one can say, this is my people's space, shove off, with official sanction, or conversely be assigned a cultural Bantustan.

Its hard not to be a hyphenated Canadian in some parts of Canada. Outright violence and direct deprivation of economic opportunites is rare; not rare enough, but it does raise eyebrows. I wish I could give a more definitive answer to your question.

[Col. Crackpot]

Let's see, an example of nebulous racism is the experience of Victor Li, son of the Hong Kong billionaire, who wanted to buy Air Canada. He was a Canadian citizen, but National Post financial columnist Diane has never said a good word about the family's dealings; they are never Canadian enough. An Air Canada Union boss told him to take his money on a boat and go back to China

nebulous my ass! Thats fucking blatant! Is this asshat still running the union?

[General Brock]

The comment was certainly bigoted, but no more so than 'Yankee go home', nationalist chauvanism which some Canadians assert at the slightest shadow of a hint of provocation. Nationalist chauvanism is not necessarily racism.

Li, Ka Shing's sons became Canadian citizens in the wake of the Hong Kong takeover by mainland China, and so have the 'passport of convenience' stigma. Their operating base is Hong Kong, not Canada, and their billions are out of reach of the Canadian tax man.

The context was in the negotiating room, and was actually spoken by an unamed lead union negotiator; (my initial post was misleading and poorly thought out on this detail). Yes, someone in that position should know better, and is likely very powerful, but was probably once a working guy. Threatening a working guy's pension plan is just asking for trouble, if only because union bosses like having all that money there.

Trinity, Li's company, demanded that new workers and those with age and years of service totalling less than 60 accept a defined contribution pension plan, which does not guarantee a specific pension at retirement, ending the defined benefit pension plan, which gives workers more certainty, but the cost of which threatens AC's profitability and competitiveness. They also demanded employees pay 30 per cent of their health care costs. Air Canada at the time had a 1.3 billion dollar pension deficit, and Li's people were playing hardball, threatening to withdraw their takeover offer and leave AC bankrupt. The union called him on it.

The Canadian Auto Workers led the union front, and Buzz Hargrove, the president, has spearheaded anti-racist initiatives in the past, so calling him a racist is probably dead wrong.

Following the story over months, I coudn't help but wonder if Li was led by the nose by his 'trusted' Canadian advisors on the soundness of an AC takeover and the negotiating strategy to pursue. I mean, for a billionaire would-be corporate raider, that was not a good show.

In fact, corporate Canada came out on top; an inexperienced billionaire's scion was milked for roughly $200 million by various lawyers and consultants on a failed takeover, the unions were shaken up, Air Canada screwed its former shareholders because the restructuring that keeps it flying today tanked the old shares, and players like John Milton, Air Canada Chairman and the man some commentators hold as responsible for the entire debacle, somehow kept his job and bonuses.

With all that in there, while racism is certainly part of the mix, it is not a definitive part of a very complex series of aracial hardball tactics and dirty dealings. If it just so happens that the Li family is somehow left in the cold by corporate Canada, and Li, Ka Shing has recently divested himself from Husky Oil and and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Canadian business may find itself without powerful friends in Asia. There is the sense that a Canadian will not work as hard or as honestly for a Chinese investor, compared to an American or European, and we are not all Norman Bethunes.

Given our presumed sainted reputation, any breaks that goodwill buys us abroad are toast with any confirmation of two-facedness.

Of course, the Ipsos-Reid survey might also be a some sort of call to legit ethnic vote buying. There is a scandal invoving how money was spent to appease Quebec separatists right now, which chilled a lot of pork initiatives accross the board. Multiculturalism was in large part a means of accomodating Quebec's distinctiveness as a francophone society.

I have a note citing The Globe and Mail, April 3, 2004, 'Li Walks Away From Air Canada Rescue'. I can't find the rest of the hardcopy, and will have to hit the old fashioned library stacks if I want to confirm that this is the right article.

[Darth Wong]

Of course 1 in 6 canadians have experienced racism. I consider that to actually be unrealistically low, even in a country which has a pretty good record on racism. If you're a visible minority and you've somehow gone through an entire life spanning decades and meeting thousands of people without experiencing racism, you're a lucky son of a bitch.

[Elheru Aran]

And on a similar note, race on its own is by no means a safeguard from racism. Allow me to provide an pertient example... in Africa, even though they're all technically Negroid, the amount of discrimination one sees is unbelievable-- based primarily upon tribal allegiance, so one could call it political. However, many Africans firmly believe in the sanctity of their tribal group, and that other tribes/clans are lower racially speaking. I've witnessed numerous examples of this in Nigeria, and of course everybody should know about the Amin regime in Uganda...

But enough off-topic-- my point, I suppose, is that racism is not necessarily between races, but can also be found within a race.... in which case I suppose it becomes discrimination rather than racism...

[Korvan]

I wonder just exactly what they mean by "experiencing racism". If it's as broad as even one incident, then I imagine it would be a lot greater than 1/6. Even myself, as a member of the majority have been racially discriminated against on the rare occaision. Usually in the form of disrespect from shopkeepers. It feels lousy, but to me it's not much different than people being assholes in other ways. It would be way worse if it seemed that I was being discriminated against by society at large.