Liberals fixated on colour, not outcome

For a government so politically correct it borders on comedy, the Trudeau Liberals find themselves in yet another controversy concerning race.

This time, the Support for Black Canadian Communities Initiative is at the centre of the drama. Federal officials sent an email last week rejecting hundreds of organizations that applied for funding. Their email informed some Black community leaders that their organizations are not Black enough to qualify.

Specifically, the initiative disqualified some Black groups on the grounds that they weren't satisfactorily “led and governed by people who self-identify as Black.” According to the Toronto Star, the pool of rejected applicants includes Operation Black Vote, which is operated by a team of Black Canadians and supports the election of Black people.

Department officials retracted the initial rejection letter a day later, but community leaders weren't persuaded by a second letter's alternative explanation that applications were rejected because of missing information.

Operation Black Vote's chair, Velma Morgan, told The Canadian Press, “As if we're incompetent or foolish and we're going to believe the second email over the original email.”

Minister of Family, Children and Social Development, Ahmed Hussen, was reportedly “furious” about the initial rejection letter sent out. And for good reason. The letter reveals Ottawa bureaucrats are unfamiliar with the Black community groups being evaluated for grant opportunities. More importantly, having government officials measure “Blackness” feels like a throwback to colonialism. The dehumanizing act of questioning a Black person's Blackness remains far too common. I accused The Globe and Mail of engaging in such colonial behaviour last year when they published a story where I was accused of “anti-blackness.”

No one should be surprised that the individuals who received the rejection letter took offence.

Amidst the controversy, a thoughtful observer might ask: Is the Trudeau government interested in having a measurable impact with public dollars? The rejection letter said nothing about selecting grant recipients based on who can best support Black youth and families. Neither Employment and Social Development Canada, the department behind the program, nor its critics commented on grants going to Black Canadians most in need.

Instead, the focus of this controversy has been on the racial identity of leaders applying for funding.

With Martin Luther King Jr. Day being Monday, this latest episode of Trudeau identity politics reminds us of how far we've strayed from some of the ideas that King lived and died for.

Not too long ago, Canadians openly and unapologetically shared King's vision for a united nation made up of upstanding individuals of strong character.

A Toronto Star op-ed from 2007 borrowed from King's famous “I Have A Dream” speech. The published headline reads: Character, not colour, matters. It's hard to imagine a mainstream newspaper in 2021 publishing a headline emphasizing character over colour. After seeing how journalists and editors have behaved over the last year in particular, it's fair to assume any mainstream newspaper publishing a headline inspired by King's dream would need to hold an emergency Zoom town hall for their staff to express sadness and anger. Twitter mobs would demand an apology, too.

Times sure have changed. In 2021, we rarely, if ever, see public figures acknowledge the fight to overcome racial division is partly a spiritual battle. King's message of racial reconciliation was as religious as it was political. Although King was clear about the need for public policy to address racial inequalities, he did hope for a future in which race would be less important in human interactions.

But King's firm belief in the importance of character is timeless, and the Trudeau administration could learn something from the civil rights icon. If government officials are solely fixated on the colour of the leaders applying for grants, then they will not appropriately weigh the character of the leaders entrusted with public dollars to support communities with urgent needs. Character does matter.

Canadians are understandably concerned about American race politics travelling north. We do not need American slogans to influence how we tackle racial divisions within our own borders. Still, Martin Luther King Jr. Day shows there are occasionally helpful lessons to learn from our southern neighbour.

Our policy-makers should be mindful of the unique challenges facing different communities across our nation. At the same time, Canada should also strive to realize King's dream of a world where people are judged by the content of their character, not the colour of their skin. There's a much needed balance to strike between these objectives; we must keep trying to find it.