Feds recognize ‘there’s more work to be done on diversifying the public service,’ says Liberal MP Alghabra
“Glaring” underrepresentation of visible minorities in the upper echelons of the federal public service—Canada’s largest employer with more than 280,000 employees—continues to be something the Liberal government is looking to address, according to Liberal MP and parliamentary secretary for public service renewal Omar Alghabra, with Canada’s first African Canadian appointed to the Senate calling for […]
Good trouble: Lewis, Mandela, and authentic power
John Lewis, whose scarred, unbreakable skull was a luminous monument to the “good trouble” he so passionately advocated, did not die on Mandela Day. But by the time the world heard about his death, tributes to a man whose journey had stretched from his origins as the son of an Alabama sharecropper to his time as a young lieutenant […]
Don’t silence the voice of justice when it matters
The death of South Africa’s ambassador to Denmark, Zindziswa “Zindzi” Mandela, the daughter of South Africa’s late struggle heroes, has once again reminded me of the enduring legacy of her parents that she strove to continue. Like her mother, Winnie Nomzamo Mandela, and her father Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, Zindzi was firm in her resolve to […]
It’s dictator or bust for Trump
OTTAWA—U.S. President Trump seems increasingly like a mad king—besieged on all sides, raging away in the wreckage of his castle, vowing defeat and destruction to his endless list of perceived enemies. His latest outrage, which led to renewed comparisons of the U.S. under Trump to a Third World dictatorship, came the night of July 10, […]
Forty-nine days of racism in the news
OTTAWA—It’s been 49 days since George Floyd died. It has been forty-nine days of international rally and protest, demands for change, system outrage at demands for change, and general confusion. On that day a Black Canadian was also assaulted by police in Laval. It’s been 49 exhausting days for many Indigenous peoples, black Canadians and […]
Too soon to say if StatsCan will bring in more racialized researchers, says official; ‘we’re just building those relationships’
Canada’s statistics agency is working with an expert advisory committee to better collect race-based data, but it is too early to say whether it will hire more racialized on-the-ground statisticians and researchers to help, says one official. Marc Lachance, acting director of health, justice, diversity, and populations with Statistics Canada, acknowledged in an interview last week […]
Restoring trust to help in race-based data collection could be ‘impossible’—unless communities control the data, say Indigenous experts
Canada’s national police force and government will have to fight an uphill battle to restore trust with Black and Indigenous communities as they begin trying to collect race-based data, some experts say, and one Indigenous leader says a separate, Indigenous data collection agency should be established as part of the effort. “I don’t think we’ve […]
Feds’ policing reforms should respect self-governance of Indigenous people, say experts, Parliamentarians, in wake of deadly, violent run-ins with police
As the government works toward a new legislative framework aimed at improving the relationship between police and Indigenous people, some Parliamentarians and Indigenous experts say reforms should be rooted in self-determination, greater autonomy, and self-governance. Such changes could better reflect Ottawa’s commitment to reconciliation and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, […]
Trudeau shouldn’t abdicate leadership on quashing systemic racism to ‘consensus’ rule
Despite the prime minister’s repeated platitudes on the need to do “more” to tackle systemic anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism in Canada, he has signalled the existence of a significant loophole he can use to not do much at all. Much like other matters of import in this country, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau seems to have […]
Systems are made up of people, systemic racism is based in people
OTTAWA—Racism is harmful. Racism simply says there is no room for those who look different. Anti-racism is a commitment to the value of equity and human rights. One must value the human rights of others, including others who are different, to be inclusive. One must uphold the principle of equity for all, not just those […]
