Racism in Canada

I was just asked a question about Canada.  I was as asked about racism.  Before I would have, without hesitation, said that there was very little, certainly not compared to the United States.   But that was before.

Before I went and lived in the city, Big Smoke.  Big Smoke allowed me to look at Smallville and see the racism in the town.  

The only source of Racism is fear of death.  I am afraid of them because they might kill me.  Most people would laugh at that and say that they know that they  won't kill them.  And they won't, because they are just as afraid of you.  Racism also comes from ignorance, they are different than us, they might kill us.  When people start to see similarities, the fear disappears and so does the racism.  When people lose their ignorance, the racism disappears.

When racist people hear two people talking in a language that use they do not understand, they assume that they are talking about them and become offended, because they are afraid of them.  What do you talk about with your friends?  That is what they are talking about.  I will give you two examples, one personal. 

I had a friend who spoke an obscure language from Madagascar.  He was a cashier at a grocery store in Big Smoke.  A couple of friends were getting their  paying for their purchases at talking in this same language.  They were talking about things that one should not talk about in public of a very intimate nature, but believed know one understood them.  When they paid, he wished them a very pleasant day, in the same language.  

I came into work and there were two co-workers chatting in Hindu, or Tamil, I was not sure which, but I followed the conversation anyways.  After they were done I told them I knew what they were talking about.  They were talking about a co-worker that had missed the previous few days and was still away.  I was right, they were amazed.

People around the world talk about what they always talk about, what you talk about.  They do not talk about strangers, or people beside them; they talk about themselves.  Of course, now I have to qualify that.  People in Smallville, who talk about other people because they are bored, have more to fear by what their neighbour is talking about and less what that stranger is talking about.

In Big Smoke, the are lots of people from all over the world.  Name a country, and you will find a whole bunch of those people living somewhere in it.  Some of them would be at war with some of them, if they were in their home country, but not here.  

Which is to say that the traditional type of visible mean minded Racism does not really exist in Big Smoke.  In pocket yes, generally no.  But what it does have is a more insidious type of racism, called Bureaucratic Racism.  

I am a teacher and I took a course called ESL, English as a Second Language.  One task we had to do was find racism in Canada.  I looked and I found it.  People in Canada are amongst the most racist people in the world and the least.  "I would like to help you, but you have to fill out this form," or jump through this hoop.  The hoops and the forms are all in English and the language services are difficult to use and cumbersome.  Many of the positions within government are held by multigenerational Canadians, meaning not immigrants.  

There is Cultural Bureaucratic Racism, women are not allowed to wear a hijab when they are in the courts or in citizenship ceremonies, Sihk boys are not allowed to wear a kurpan in the schools, and there are others.  A kurpan is a ceremonial dagger, but it is in a sheath and is bound and a Sihk person would consider using it as a weapon in the same way that a good catholic person would to wipe their ass with a cross.  Sikhs also do not cut their hair, thus the turban, a handy way to get their hair out of the way.  

Small towns like Smallville have more of this type of racism.  Montreal is very cosmopolitan but smaller towns have posted signs to all people, please migrate here, we want you to come but understand, we will not make allowance to your religion but we expect you to make allowances for our religion.  Small towns across the country are like this, the cities are approaching Big Smoke's over 50% immigrant populations, but small towns are under 10%.  In Smallville, we have a very large Native population, in this case there is real racism.  Talk down to, of and in many cases refuse to employ.  That is a different topic, what happens when two different people both believe what the one tells the other and what happens when one culture oppresses another culture for a really long time.

But in conclusion, I can not remember the last time someone was murdered in Canada, because they were different, unless they were a Native.  I cannot remember a minority attacked, or property damaged, except Jewish property, mostly by NeoNazis and Holocaust Deniers ( Most of those were convicted by Hate Laws).  The was a few cases of vandalism after 911, but those were only a few.  Canada does have some racist laws, but only towards the Native Peoples.