Canadian Minorities, The Forgotten People: Racial Discrimination In Canada

Introduction

Canada has always been under exceptionalism in the aspect of discrimination of people of a visible minority. Racism in the country has long been believed to only be persistent in the neighboring southern nation, USA. Multiculturalism in Canada has faced various threats from the legal domains to the individual levels, as evidenced by research conducted across the citizens. It is essential to evaluate the various social determinants across different social groups and races to determine the extent of discrimination in the country. It is thus favorable to financial, health services, and life chances the nonwhite citizens in the country to have a better understanding of the problem. A racial discrimination study across Canadians is essential in revealing the extent to which the minority groups suffer and experience hardships from racism in Canadian society. Said discrimination can be observed in several dimensions of inequality, most notably; educational opportunity, occupational prestige, income, ancestry and in the justice system and political systems respectively. The interplay of the first four dimensions contributes even more to the grand tally of unequal opportunities for minorities in Canada and ultimately, decreasing their social mobility, while the last two are a byproduct of their implicit second-class status. This ultimately upholds the views of conflict theory, claiming that power, wealth and prestige are what bring people to the top and keep people at the top of our societal superstructure. However, these three defining features are extremely racially biased in our Canadian society.

Interplay of dimensions

The structure of employment in the country is guided by the educational and competence levels of the citizens. The nonwhite Canadians are exposed to multiple discriminations from early life in their career paths. Respondents to the research reveal that they perform excellently but end up being offered courses that are below their institutional capacity. It thus makes their social domains to trail behind in the acquisition of well-paying jobs in the nation. In most cases, students end up in educationally unfavorable situations and end up being victims of unemployment. In a paradoxical manner, it takes money to make money. That is to say that education is an investment, it takes capital to achieve, but a degree is the key to financial success and upward assimilation.

Ancestral cycle

Though slavery is often attributed to our southern neighbour, Canada has suffered its fair share of it. Before it was abolished in 1835, being born either white or not determined social mobility. For minorities, said mobility was nil, money was kept in white hands. Even after it was abolished, First Nations People and African Canadians were regarded as second class citizens and unfortunately, especially for the former, attempts at their assimilation were concentrated into total institutions called residential schools. Conditions in these schools were dire and, in an attempt of resocialization, students as young as five years old were cut off from contact with their families and forbidden to speak their native language (1995). All that to say, the ancestry of minorities in Canada is nothing short of horrendous, thus explaining the lack of funds in their family. Wealth runs in the family, rich parents lead to rich children through education. The opposite is also true, in terms of poverty. Essentially, this capitalistic stratification is a prime example of a racially biased closed-society. And therein lies the inequality in occupational prestige which only perpetuates that of the educational and ancestral dimensions.

Immigrants and refugees

However, this cycle of little money leading to little education leading to little funds left over for the future of their bloodline does not only apply to Native Canadians. Immigrants face a similar issue relating to either lack of money (mostly refugees) or the invalidation of the educational prestige abroad. The economic returns of the non-native Canadians are viewed shapely to below from the average national income. It thus reflects the bias of unfair employment platforms to nonwhite Canadians. Respondents from the Canadian white society reveal that a sense of fragmentation in the overall society is imminent with the influx of foreigners in their nation. The push for retrenchment of multiculturalism is a motive suggested by the white Canadians in pursuit to empower their communities in sharing the national cake. The blacks and Hispanics and people from eastern parts of Europe are engaged in low-quality job opportunities to limit their mobility to upper social strata which comprise of a conducive welfare as characterized by good jobs and power. Women from other racial sentiments in Canada are subjected to harsh conditions, among them being poor job opportunities and subjection to sexual education. Low women empowerment is chronic to women of color. The prenatal and postnatal services issued to women are testified to below the standards of the ideal maternal health services.

Political representation

Taking a step outside of the financial realm and stepping into its brother in arms, the political system, a caucasian tendency is apparent among elected officials. The political positions in Canada are dominated by white leaders who secure the best privileges to the people of their descent. Designation of policies that favors the existence of Caucasian society re-revealed by the immigration policies which perceive the influx of foreigners to predate the economic opportunities in the country. A phrase from Prime Minister Mackenzie about how massive migration conflict the social welfare of Canadians reflects how the Caucasian society perceives the threats from the immigration of individuals to their nation (Veenstra and Patterson, 2016). Economic problems are viewed as a critical threat brought about by foreigners who are termed as visible minorities. This ties in very well conflict theory’s view of social stratification, those at the top (whites) are dead set on perpetuating the classist ideology in which they reign, thus keeping all political influence for themselves.

Judicial system

Fifth of all, a racial bias is reflected in our judicial and legal systems. Again, incidents of racial profiling or the unfortunate excessive force on minoritie is associated with the United States. As usual, Canadian incidents of this nature fly under the global radar, hidden by the supposedly more radical US. Despite Canada classifying itself as a nation that considers ethnic diversity, there are still elements of prejudice experienced and continues to persist. For instance, recently, in the case of a student in grade seven at Christ, the king school was termed to be a member of a gang by the school management (Stodolska, 2018). The student was suspended from the school premises for a period of one year. The case was because the student put on a durag within the schooling period. The teacher associates the student to be a member of a gang as he put on a symbolic item of criminal groups in the society. His mother complained about her child and was later locked up in the school. Despite the presence of legal frameworks to conduct the jurisdiction and also make verdicts over the case, the school authorities subjected the parent and her student to being mishandled as potential gang members. Such instance has never happened to parents of a Caucasian descent in the nation. It reflects the rotten ideations which are held by the Canadians against the nonwhite members of society. From a more profound perspective, the student had not earlier been involved in a criminal offense in the school. It thus shows how the white society negates prompts of the marginalized social groups from excelling in their educational activities. However, a retired police officer who is an advisor of the school's resource team was found to have branded the student as a member of a gang. Racial dynamics from the case depict the extent by which the minority groups are exposed to harsh ways of our closed society.

Mental health

Through the economic and political dimensions of inequality, we discover that access to social services for minorities in Canada, particularly healthcare, is not as easy as it may seem. Canada’s healthcare system is often held in high esteem, deemed free and easily accessible. Though for the most part, this is true, several exceptions to this prejudice have been reported. Lack of healthcare only worsens the problems minorities in Canada face, hindering the productivity and physical abilities to pursue economic goals and decreasing their social mobility once again. Provincial studies carried out by health associations depict the trivial racial conditions which surpass quality social services. The hiring of reliable health insurance is problematic, specifically for the people of color in Canada. Individual physical requirements based on color and religion act on health frameworks imminently by hindering aspects of social inclusion in health (Paul et al, 2018). Personal health is also threatened based on how physicians from other racial groups are set to issue the diagnosis and prescription. Psychotic problems are among the notable health challenges which dominate the Canadian ethnic minorities. It results from exposure to stressful conditions that are cropped to verbal prejudice and also segregation by society. Neglect occurs in depression conditions, especially to individuals who are threatened by racial abuse. Minorities are therefore affected by an added level of stress for several reasons. Most notably, they are subject to what DuBois called, “double-consciousness”. Essentially, this is a psychological concept with sociological implications and causes. Double consciousness is a case of split identity, an inability to have a unified sense of self. Though we all have a sense of self that is in part defined by others, the looking-glass self, double consciousness stems from the looking-glass self being particularly deprived from positive outlook. When minorities feel looked down upon by the generalized other, their self esteem suffers the consequences. Double-consciousness can imply severe consequences for the state of one’s mental health, causing anxiety, depression and in some cases can contribute to a lack of social integration which can lead to egoistic suicide. Due to this added stress caused by this problem affecting minorities, perhaps equality is not what should be strived for in terms of mental healthcare, but equity, to compensate for said added mental taxation.

Conclusion

In sum, the long hidden, or at least ignored problem of racial discrimination is beginning to catch national attention. The realities of being a minority in Canada affect citizens’ income, occupational prestige, educational opportunity, access to social services, and outcome in the legal system. These long lasting problems are deeply rooted in our society and are damaging to individuals and to Canada as a whole. Action needs to be taken to increase the social mobility of minorities in our country, for the betterment of Canada.

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