Government-run diversity challenge ‘hypocritical’ until public service meets private sector targets: experts
A challenge from the government meant to spur diversity in the private sector is odds with the feds’ own record on diversity in the public service and is lacking accountability measures to ensure results, say industry experts. The 50-30 Challenge, originally launched by Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada in December 2020, asks Canadian companies, non-profits, […]
Racism with a side of brie: the Green Party’s continued self-combustion
OTTAWA—The Green Party is internally combusting like the engines its worked so hard to rid Canada of. For the last six weeks, the Conservatives-in-tree-pose party has been embroiled in accusations of anti-Black racism and sexism towards its leader, Annamie Paul, in internal hostilities over the defection of its star MP, Jenica Atwin, to the Liberals. […]
Is the climate for women in politics getting colder?
Nearly six years after Justin Trudeau declared he’d appointed women to half the seats in his first cabinet “because it’s 2015,” the hurdles facing participants who look different from the white, male, middle-class MP prototype seem ever higher. Four developments in the past month cast doubt on Trudeau’s idea that, by itself, the passage of […]
Paul’s treatment exposes Green Party’s mud pit of institutional toxicity
OTTAWA—The “Conservatives in tree pose” are not respecting their chakras. Instead, they’re a mud pit of institutional toxicity. In October 2020, the Green Party elected Canada’s first Black and first Jewish female leader, which was a shot in the arm of the paltry representation in decision-making roles across the country. As I have written before, […]
Hill security racial profiling complaint highlights need for training, systemic change, say Senators, former MP
The Parliamentary Protective Service needs frequent and mandatory sensitivity training, says one Senator following NDP MP Mumilaaq Qaqqaq’s powerful farewell speech, in which the Nunavut MP revealed feeling unsafe while on the Hill and targeted by its security. “There’s a strong need for more training around issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion as strategies to […]
On Wednesdays, we wear reconciliation
OTTAWA—It seems like Annamie Paul was right about this government when she accused Justin Trudeau of being a fake feminist and a fake ally. As if on cue, the Trudeau government continues to prove that while it pretends to be Dr. Melfi, it’s really Livia Soprano. On June 24, news that Cowessess First Nation discovered […]
Immigration and racism on the pitch at Euro 2020
OTTAWA—It’s Euro 2020 and frankly, it’s a welcome reprieve from Canada’s existential crisis brought about by weeks of racial tragedies. Sports, in addition to pop culture and fashion, are accessible ways to contextualize the greater societal and political issues, and European football is no different. Conversations around immigration and racism play out on the pitch, […]
No more Black suffering on display: expose racist banking to public scrutiny and bring in home-grown ROSCAs
A story that aired in late April on The National outlined how Ottawa painter and construction worker Kensha Spaulding was told by his TD Bank for many years that his money would be subject to a hold. But the Black self-employed painter needed access to his money to do his work. This kind of discretionary […]
Workplace racism ‘amplified’ for Black Canadians, entrepreneurs, new reports find
New data on the experiences of Black Canadians and entrepreneurs suggests the workplace is the “epicentre” of racism and discrimination, highlighting the urgent need to boost representation and better provide mentorship opportunities, say experts and Parliamentarians. Over the last several weeks, there have been two reports released that dive into such sentiments. Framed as the […]
A colour-blind society? Get your vision checked
OTTAWA—May 25 was the one-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd. How much our world has changed, how much it’s stayed the same. Floyd’s death was, what Texans call, “a coming to Jesus moment” for Turtle Island. It removed the veil of denial of police violence on the bodies of Black, Indigenous, and Hispanic […]
