Canadians don’t recognize racism in own society, U of R professor contends

As the world watches protests in the United States in response to the racist treatment of African Americans, a Regina professor says Canadians shouldn’t be smug about their own country ’s history.

“In Canada, we have such a high opinion of ourselves that I don’t think we’re dealing with the institutional racism that’s embedded in our society,” said James Daschuk, associate professor at the University of Regina.

“(Former Assembly of First Nations national chief ) Shawn Atleo said in the 2011 election said that an Indigenous child has a better chance of being incarcerated than graduating from high school.”

Daschuk attributes Canada’s inability to recognize racism here to the scale and dispersed nature of minority communities.

“Minority populations are so small, we can turn our backs on them,” he said.

The problem is, there are no quick fixes to these issues.

Addressing the social determinants of health, for instance, is a long-term process that often doesn’t yield results quick enough for federal or provincial parties to point to come election time.

“You’ve got to have some kind of return by the next election, or you’re seen to be doing nothing,” Daschuk said.

“This is for both sides; no one has had the vision to go upstream and try to address those questions.”

He said a measurable indication of inequality is the prevalence of diabetes in Indigenous communities.

According to the Canadian Journal of Diabetes, 17.2 per cent of Indigenous people living on-reserve have diabetes compared to 10.3 per cent of Indigenous people living off-reserve. According to the Government of Canada one in 14

Canadian adults, or seven per cent, are diabetic.

“Listen, if it’s not racism, it’s institutionalized marginalization,” Daschuk said, adding that, historically, there has been an underfunding of on-reserve education from the federal government.

“Indigenous Canadians can expect to have 15-year shorter life spans than non-indigenous Canadians.”

Daschuk is the author of Clearing the Plains: Disease, Politics of Starvation, and the Loss of Aboriginal Life, and pointed to the existing number of reserves with boil-water advisories and the high rate of tuberculosis in Nunavut.

“In 2019, Inuit tuberculosis, the rates (were) 290 times higher than the non-indigenous population of Canada,” he said.

In non-northern communities, he noted, tuberculosis has barely affected the lives of Canadians.

Daschuk also noted that this year, the province’s northern communities have been disproportionally affected by COVID-19.

On Tuesday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford contended that Canada does not have the “systemic, deep roots” of racism that America does.

Daschuk challenged that, saying the roots are there, but the acknowledgment is not.

“Canada doesn’t have the recognition of its racism that the United States does,” Daschuk said.

“You’d have to be blind or deaf purposely not to know what happened in residential schools.”

In Canada, we have such a high opinion of ourselves that I don’t think we’re dealing with the institutional racism that’s embedded in our society.