No Better Than the Rest: Government Responses to Systemic Racism in Wake of Indigenous and BLM Activist Movements in Canada
Lauren McLeod, Online Assistant Editor
August 3, 2020
Countries around the globe are rallying together in response to the recent wrongful death of George Floyd and ongoing injustices towards the BIPOC populations in America. The global community has encouraged outreach towards those to expose their stories surrounding police brutality and use of unjustified governmental powers against minority peoples. A result of the immense outcry is the push for governmental response and action towards these inequalities. However, these official responses from government officials seem too slow, as well as few and far between. As the legislative response heightens within Canada, it is evident that there is a denial and failure of education surrounding Indigenous history in Canada.
Canada is often overshadowed by the US in the discussion of systemic racism despite also being founded on said systemic racism. In recent statements several government representatives have ignored and overlooked Canada’s treatment and victimization of Indigenous communities. The creation of Residential Schools by the Canadian federal government , which existed from the 1870s to the 1996, were formed for the eradication of Indigenous culture and tradition, and the implementation of colonial and Christian education. However, Canada’s prejudiced past and historical racism is an ill-discussed topic in Canadian culture.
It is evident that there is acceptance of ignorance held by many Canadian government administrators on the topic of Canada’s entrenched racism. In Premier Doug Ford’s recent speech discussing Ontario’s action towards Black Lives Matter and addressing inequality he states; “...we’re different than the United States, we don’t have the systemic, deep roots that they have had for years”. This sole quote by Premier Ford hails to the lack of acknowledgement and education towards the topic of racism within the country.
On June 10th, 2020 Royal Canadian Mountain Police (RCMP) commissioner, Brenda Lucki stated, “I think that if systemic racism is meaning that racism is entrenched in our policies and procedures, I would say that we don’t have systemic racism”. The RCMP was historically created for the control and suppression of Indigenous peoples, thus, the statement by commissioner Lucki supports the intolerant understanding of Canada’s past. Both these statements have cast doubt on whether change is possible in Canada. Prominent government officials must first admit to Canada’s history before the country can proceed to alter and fix the infrastructure that supports oppression, inequality and systemic racism.
2020’s heightened activist environment bolsters social media’s attention to the reality surrounding police brutality and exposes ignorance towards minority communities around the nation. The United States has been the continual target of media attention in specific to discriminations against communities of colour. Meanwhile Canada is continually ignored in mass media with respect to police brutality and discrimination. In recent, a New Brunswick Indigenous woman, Chantel Moore was shot and killed by an RCMP officer in her home during a wellness check. Within a week after the death of Moore, an Indigenous Elder was attacked in a parking lot and brutally beaten by an RCMP officer. There is an insufficient amount of reliable data surrounding the relationship between deaths caused by police officers and race, although recent study suggests that over one third of shooting related deaths by the RCMP victims are Indigenous peoples. The media should not perpetuate hypocrisy when Canada has not resolved their own systemic racism. Amid all of these recent racially targeted events found in Canada, governmental representatives such as Ford and Lucki still present uncertainty to its existence.
Despite the growth in recent years of federal acknowledgment of Residential Schools, missing and murdered Indigenous women and the poor conditions of northern Indigenous reserves, it is obvious in gaps of unity throughout federal institutions of the comprehension of systemic racism. Thus, it is clear that the concept of recognizing and the process of reconciliation surrounding Indigenous issues and systemic racism is becoming a performative action. If proper education and tangible movements is not instilled in not only our youth but our governmental bodies, the production of better social relations in Canada will continue to stand still. Systemic racism should not be a topic where those of power should struggle with the definition, and the mention of such demonstrates a failure by the federal government.
If Canada continues to ignore the action of our governmental bodies towards Indigenous peoples and the survival of systemic racism within its foundational infrastructure, Canada will remain a non-transitional society perpetuating a distorted understanding of equality and unity within the nation.