Racial Discrimination in Canada's Workplace

Racism is defined as prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior. In the workforce, the issue of racism and discrimination has been brought to the center of conversations around the world. Companies claim to be “colorblind” and not hire somebody based on their race or gender, but the employment rates among minorities and women around the world is significantly lower than the majority in the given country. There is also the growing issue of minorities, such as blacks in america, making significantly less money than whites. This issue affects people all around the world who happen

Canada’s identity comes in many shapes and forms. Multiculturalism has been adopted and is at the forefront of Canadian identity. Following the Second World War, Canada’s multiculturalism policies became more acceptable and even successful in, not only accepting, but inviting multiple ethnic cultures in. In contrast to other countries, multiculturalism adaptation works for the Canadian culture. Canadian policies on multiculturalism have shifted over the past few decades; policies are now implemented for integration, not discrimination.

Education along with work experience are vital resources that immigrants convey to Canada’s industry. However, this is not the scenario for many new immigrants, who struggles to get past the preliminary credentials check-up process. In 2007, a report showed that “foreign credentials of 340,000 Canadians or permanent residents of visible minorities have not been recognized” (Andrew Cardozo and Ravi Pendakur, 2007). In addition, a number of unemployed immigrants within that year accounted for the loss of $4.1B in Canada industry. In context, it shows that immigrants have a higher education than Canadian-born, “Statistics show that 47.5% of immigrants, aged 25 to 34, have completed university, compared to 26.6% of Canadian-born, workers” (Canadian government). This shows the proximity of ignorance and prejudice towards hiring an immigrant in Canada. To connect, these contempt results can give rise to many levels of distress, anxiety and psychological problems that can deteriorate and provoke health problems. A study done by Kate Strully at Harvard University concluded that “people had an increase of 81% chance to develop a mental illness after being unemployed” (KW STRULLY -

For example, racialized nurses in Canada may experience multiple forms of everyday racism in their working lives, including instances of tokenism, bullying or invisibility, excessive monitoring, lack of recognition, and verbal put-downs because of race and ethnicity (Das Gupta 2009; Estachio and Saidy-Khan 2014). The micro-racism in the nursing workplace also intersects other negative identity markers such as race, gender, class, and ability to amplify the exclusions or invalidations. Clearly, then, a contradiction is in play: Individuals may be equal before the law in terms of equal opportunities, yet still be slighted or excluded if their identities and realities are misrecognized or discredited through the racialized tone of everyday rhetoric (see Levey 2013). Formal citizenship rights may be real, but they must be exercised in everyday contexts neither constructed to reflect minority realities nor designed to Canadian Ethnic Studies/Études ethniques au Canada advance their interests (Fleras

Discrimination towards ethnic minority continues to find its way in our country. Unfortunately, the subject of racial profiling remains a part of Canada, as officers ignore individual behavior and instead, rely on race in police investigations. According to Katheryn Russell (as cited by Amy Hackney & Jack Glaser, 2013) racial profiling is defined as “The use of race or ethnicity by law enforcement officials as a basis for judgement of criminal suspicion” (Russell, 1998). Racial profiling within our country can be exposed through Canadian history, surveys and interviews from those treated unjustly. All of which stakeholders attempt to remedy for the victimization of the innocent.

Racial profiling is the act of selecting targets for criminal investigation not on behavioural merit, but exclusively on markers of personal identity such as race, ethnicity, and religious orientation (Perry, 2011, p.9). In other words, racial profiling is the by-product of subjecting individuals who are from a particular racial community to a higher degree of scrutiny and surveillance by criminal justice system agents when compared to other racial communities (Wortley and Owusu-Bempah, 2011, p.135). One Canadian community in particular has been impacted by racial profiling: black Canadians.

My belief was that people of African descent were the only group that experiences racism, but when I migrated from the Caribbean to a multicultural country—Canada, I soon realize that my understanding of racism was inaccurate and did not reflect social reality. As a result of my new environment, I learnt that racism is solely based on supremacy where a person of a different background may justify their advantages/power by placing a negative meaning behind cultural differences, thus resulting in unequal treatments. In particular, this short journal will briefly explore how slavery affects(d) people of colour in and over race of people in Canada.

Canadian workplaces today seem to be a fairly diverse place, with a blend of many religions, ethnicities, and genders present. However, although people preach affirmative action and melting pots in current times, many inequality and power issues still abound. One strikingly noticeable example is gender discrimination. Women in the workforce face many challenges like smaller wages, harassment, male privilege in hiring or promotions, and lack of support when pregnant or raising children. One half of the planet is women, and it can be assumed the same for Canada, but they still face judgment at work because they lack the authority to dispute against big corporations or even their male supervisor. It cannot be argued that

And this solution led to liberal immigration laws that admit 200,000 new immigrants to Canada each year. About 70 percent of recent immigrants to urban Canada are visible minorities; people of color make up nearly 50 percent of populations in Vancouver and Toronto and are the fastest growing communities in Canada’s eight largest cities (J. Y. Yee and G. C. Dumbrill, “Whiteout: looking for race in Canadian social work practice,” inMulticultural Social Work in Canada: Working With Diverse Ethno-Racial Communities, A. Al-Krenaw and J. R. Graham, Eds., pp. 98–121, Oxford University Press, Don Mills, Canada, 2003.) For instance, RBC Financial Group has ensured that 22% of their workforce is comprised of visible minorities (V. Dugale, “The changing color of Canada,” Our Times, vol. 25, no. 5, pp. 24–28, 2006.) Similarly, FedEx has a high proportion of visible minorities (almost 7%) in senior management positions. Its staff represents about 19 nationalities at its Mississauga, Ontario headquarters (R. Robin, “Delivering diversity,” Canadian Business, vol. 77, no. 7, p. 38, 2004.)

Black civil rights in Canada have changed immensely over the last century, giving black Canadians a sense of identity and equal opportunity within Canadian communities. This document provides a detailed overview of the struggles, oppression, and changes that individuals went through, as well as the changes they enacted into the Canadian system to improve the living standards of black Canadians. The purpose of those like (insert people’s names) and their causes are explained in detail; but also gives a background on each person’s life and the struggles that they themselves dealt with when they first moved to Canada. Some groups or movements are also touched on in detail, and how they had an impact on the way civil rights changed both socially and politically as they were eye-opening experiences for the Canadian government and its citizens.

In the eyes of many Canadians our country is viewed as a historically racially-inclusive society. This idea is false, and there is very limited evidence to support the contrary. Many events in Canada’s history have shows that it is guilty of promoting racial hierarchies and cultural insensitivities. Throughout Canada’s development there has always remained an emphasis on promoting the supremacy of the white race, and Anglo-Canadian culture.

Immigrants today now have the privilege of entering and residing in Canada but along with this privilege, there are also barriers that impede their integration and deprive them of equal opportunity in the society. The undervaluing of foreign education and credentials has emerged over the years as a huge obstacle faced by recent immigrants who seek employment in the areas that they have been trained, and worked in for decades in their respective home countries. For years, newcomers in Canada have been denied inclusion into the Canadian labour market simply because of policies that were

Of course discrimination based on race is not the only form of discrimination. Sexism, ageism, homophobia, etc. also exist. What ties different forms of discrimination together is that they all involve ignorance, fear, and/or hate toward groups of individuals who we see as different, unknown, and/or inferior. In a study of twenty-three Anglophone and non-Anglophone immigrant women in Fredericton, Miedema and Nason-Clark found that many women felt that the hardest thing about being an immigrant woman was not being accepted into Canadian society. One visible minority woman commented that people always view her as a foreigner, as if Canada is not really her home (Miedema and Nason-Clark, 1989: 70). 68% of the women, both visible minority and non-visible minority women, reported direct discrimination. One English-speaking visible minority woman reported that shortly

Discrimination is nothing new to our society or is it something that should be taken lightly and for many decades our Nation has endured many conflicts that have tested the will of Americans over the decades and it is evident that as we have become more diverse so too has our workforce. Although, we are in the twenty first century the goal is to understand why prejudice and discrimination is still so prevalent and how we can do better while trying to bring together our different backgrounds, skills, and experiences still has proven to be an issue that minorities are constantly fighting as they struggle to find there place in society. Through an array of well-educated researchers showing how diversity is nothing new to our society, but if we are to continue to grow and move forward we must be able to understand that with diversification we can foster a strong and inclusive economy that is built to last and nurture a nation that will continue to lead the world as standard setter.

A country built on immigration, Canada has long had a reputation of being culturally and ethnically diverse. While multiculturalism is meant to be built on equality and appreciation of different cultures, its concept has gained both support and opposition. On one hand, it allows for more assortment and the voices of minorities have a higher chance to be heard. On the other hand, loss of unity and conflicts may occur due to contrasting worldviews of the citizens. All in all, multiculturalism is a controversial policy that has both advantages and disadvantages, but has proven to be a successful strategy in Canada.