Question Period Note: Systemic Racism in Canada

• The Government condemns racism in all its forms and is investing in efforts to combat systemic racism and discrimination in Canada.

• Since 2019, we have committed close to $100 million through Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy to combat systemic racism and discrimination in Canada.

• In addition, Budget 2021 provided close to $20 billion, and Budget 2022 provided $85 million to support Indigenous Peoples, as well as Black, racialized, and religious minority communities while also raising awareness of issues related to racism and hate in Canada.

• We are taking meaningful steps to build a more inclusive society by renewing and strengthening Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy, developing a National Action Plan on Combating Hate, as well as increasing funding for multicultural community programs across the country.

• Census 2016 showed approximately 27% of Canada’s population identified as either “visible minority’’ or Indigenous.

• Systemic racism consists of organizational culture, policies, directives, practices or procedures that exclude, displace or marginalize racialized groups, create unfair barriers for them to access valuable benefits and opportunities, and which have the effect of privileging non-racialized groups and disadvantaging others.

• According to the 2020 General Social Survey on Social Identity, among those who reported having experienced discrimination, race and ethnicity were the most frequent cited reasons and the only ones that increased since the start of the pandemic.

• The pandemic further exacerbated pre-existing issues of systemic racism and discrimination. Racialized groups were among the hardest hit from the pandemic in 2020. Several groups had rates of joblessness significantly above average, including Arab (17.9%), Black (17.6%), Southeast Asian (16.6%), and South Asian (14.9%) Canadians compared to 9.4% for those not designated as racialized or Indigenous (August 2020).

• Since its creation in October 2019, the Federal Anti-Racism Secretariat (ARSEC) has engaged directly with thousands of Indigenous partners as well as racialized and religious minority community members, and established interdepartmental working groups designed to increase awareness of issues facing these communities in an effort to provide better informed services.

• 2021 also saw the Government of Canada taking steps to mark key commemorative dates for the first time in our history including:

o On August 1, 2021, Canada celebrated Emancipation Day for the first time, marking the end of slavery in British colonies, including in Canada.

o September 30, 2021, marked the first-ever National Day of Truth and Reconciliation in Canada, dedicated to the public commemoration of the missing children and survivors of residential schools, while acknowledging this system's painful and intergenerational impact and legacy.

• In the December 2021 mandate letter for Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion, Ahmed Hussen, the Minister was tasked with leading a whole-of-government approach to building a more inclusive, equitable and just society, working to combat systemic racism, discrimination and xenophobia.

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