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.
• Disaggregated data from Statistics Canada highlights that different groups have unique challenges and lived experiences of racism and discrimination. This is evident in the range of successes and challenges communities experience in employment, education, and poverty. Their experiences are the proofs of systemic racism.
• This is why we are taking meaningful steps to build a more inclusive society by renewing and strengthening Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy, developing Canada’s Action Plan on Combating Hate, as well as increasing funding for multicultural community programs across the country.
• Since 2019, over $200 million has been committed through Canada’s Anti-Racism Strategy to combat systemic racism and discrimination in Canada. This includes investments through Budget 2022 and Budget 2023 to further advance the Strategy and fight all forms of racism, including but not limited to anti-Indigenous racism, anti-Black racism, anti-Asian racism, antisemitism, Islamophobia.

• 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.

• Although racialized people are generally more likely than their non-racialized, non-Indigenous counterparts to earn a bachelor's degree or higher, a Statistics Canada study highlighted that they are less likely to find jobs that offer the same pay and benefits in the years following graduation. In particular, two years after graduating, racialized graduates reported lower employment earnings and lower rates of unionization and pension plan coverage than their non-racialized, non-Indigenous counterparts. (Early career job quality of racialized Canadian graduates with a bachelor’s degree, 2014 to 2017 cohorts (statcan.gc.ca)

• Higher poverty rates among specific demographic groups are widely recognized as a sign of systemic discrimination, as they reflect entrenched inequalities in access to education, employment, housing, and healthcare. Individuals who are part of visible minority groups in Canada experience a higher poverty rate (12.1%) compared to those who are not considered visible minorities (6.6%). Individual Market Basket Measure poverty status by visible minority groups and demographic characteristics: Canada, provinces and territories, census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations with parts (statcan.gc.ca)

• Overqualification is one of the crucial factors to consider when interpreting higher education attainment in relation to the labor market, as it reflects potential mismatches between individuals' educational backgrounds and their current employment situations, often highlighting underlying systemic issues and discriminatory practices. On average, visible minorities are more likely to be overqualified for their jobs (22.0%) compared to non-visible minorities (10.8%). This significant difference can be indicative of systemic barriers and discriminatory hiring practices that make it more challenging for individuals from visible minority groups to obtain jobs that match their qualifications. Overqualification rate, by groups designated as visible minorities and selected sociodemographic characteristics for the employed labour force population aged 15 years and over in private households, 2011 and 2016 (statcan.gc.ca)

• 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) – now housed at Employment and Social Development Canada as of July 2023 - has engaged directly with 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: On August 1, 2021, Canada celebrated Emancipation Day for the first time, marking the end of slavery in British colonies, including in Canada; and 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.

• Police reported crime data in Canada within 2022 reveals that The Crime Severity Index (CSI) is up by 4%, increasing for the second year in a row. In fact, 3,575 police-reported hate crime incidents occurred in 2022, increasing by 7% over the previous year. Those police-reported hate crimes targeting race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation increased while those that targeted victims by religion decreased.

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