Monday, June 22, 2020
Signs people will choose work over CERB in jobs data, Qualtrough says
'SIGNS ARE NOT MEANINGS' SEMIOTICS
The Canadian Press June 22, 2020
OTTAWA — Canada's employment minister says the country's most recent job figures suggest that low-wage workers will go back to a job if one is available instead of remaining on federal aid.
Carla Qualtrough says the growth in jobs from May gives her confidence that workers will choose to work when they get an offer and are able to do so.
Statistics Canada's labour force survey for May showed that lower-wage jobs rebounded at a faster rate than the national rate as restrictions meant to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus started to ease.
Speaking at the Senate's finance committee today, Qualtrough says the finding means people chose to work rather than keep receiving the $2,000-a-month Canada Emergency Response Benefit.
Still, she says the government is doing everything possible to retool pandemic-related aid programs like the CERB to help get workers and companies back on the job.
Qualtrough also says the government does not know exactly what the country's labour market will look like in the coming weeks and months, but is certain that some people won't have jobs to return to.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 22, 2020.
The Canadian Press
The Canadian Press June 22, 2020
OTTAWA — Canada's employment minister says the country's most recent job figures suggest that low-wage workers will go back to a job if one is available instead of remaining on federal aid.
Carla Qualtrough says the growth in jobs from May gives her confidence that workers will choose to work when they get an offer and are able to do so.
Statistics Canada's labour force survey for May showed that lower-wage jobs rebounded at a faster rate than the national rate as restrictions meant to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus started to ease.
Speaking at the Senate's finance committee today, Qualtrough says the finding means people chose to work rather than keep receiving the $2,000-a-month Canada Emergency Response Benefit.
Still, she says the government is doing everything possible to retool pandemic-related aid programs like the CERB to help get workers and companies back on the job.
Qualtrough also says the government does not know exactly what the country's labour market will look like in the coming weeks and months, but is certain that some people won't have jobs to return to.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 22, 2020.
The Canadian Press
CANADA
Grocery executives called to testify over pandemic pay cuts
Alicja Siekierska Yahoo Finance CanadaJune 19, 2020
Crisis Management: Pandemic pay gets cancelled
Senior executives at Canada’s largest grocery stores will be summoned to a House of Commons committee to explain why pandemic pay raises were cancelled last week.
Liberal MP Nate Erskine-Smith introduced a motion at the House of Commons industry committee on Thursday calling on executives from Loblaw, Metro and Empire, the parent company of Sobeys, “to explain their decisions to cancel, on the same day, the modest increase in wages for front-line grocery workers during the pandemic, including how those decisions are consistent with competition laws.”
The motion was passed unanimously, with 11 committee members from all four parties voting in support of it. Other witnesses, including union leaders representing grocery store workers, may also be summoned.
Loblaw (L.TO), Metro (MRU.TO) and Empire (EMP) ended the temporary $2 per hour pandemic pay raise provided to frontline workers through the coronavirus pandemic on the same day, June 13. Walmart Canada has also introduced a pandemic pay raise, and confirmed it had returned wages to normal levels earlier.
Unions representing grocery store workers said they support the decision to bring grocery store executives before the committee.
“These workers have always been essential. The pandemic did not create that,” Unifor said in a statement.
“The added pay brought in during the pandemic was a good start in addressing historic inequities in the sector, but more needs to be done. Now is not the time to go backward.”
Grocery executives called to testify over pandemic pay cuts
Alicja Siekierska Yahoo Finance CanadaJune 19, 2020
Crisis Management: Pandemic pay gets cancelled
Senior executives at Canada’s largest grocery stores will be summoned to a House of Commons committee to explain why pandemic pay raises were cancelled last week.
Liberal MP Nate Erskine-Smith introduced a motion at the House of Commons industry committee on Thursday calling on executives from Loblaw, Metro and Empire, the parent company of Sobeys, “to explain their decisions to cancel, on the same day, the modest increase in wages for front-line grocery workers during the pandemic, including how those decisions are consistent with competition laws.”
The motion was passed unanimously, with 11 committee members from all four parties voting in support of it. Other witnesses, including union leaders representing grocery store workers, may also be summoned.
Loblaw (L.TO), Metro (MRU.TO) and Empire (EMP) ended the temporary $2 per hour pandemic pay raise provided to frontline workers through the coronavirus pandemic on the same day, June 13. Walmart Canada has also introduced a pandemic pay raise, and confirmed it had returned wages to normal levels earlier.
Unions representing grocery store workers said they support the decision to bring grocery store executives before the committee.
“These workers have always been essential. The pandemic did not create that,” Unifor said in a statement.
“The added pay brought in during the pandemic was a good start in addressing historic inequities in the sector, but more needs to be done. Now is not the time to go backward.”
Canadians working from home permanently should expect salary changes: experts
AND NOT FOR THE BETTER EITHER The Canadian Press June 21, 2020
TORONTO — When Mark Zuckerberg hosted a townhall in late May with Facebook's 48,000 employees, some were tuning in from new cities they had scrambled to move to as the pandemic hit.
Zuckerberg had a clear message for them: if you plan to stay, expect a change to your pay.
"That means if you live in a location where the cost of living is dramatically lower, or the cost of labour is lower, then salaries do tend to be somewhat lower in those places," he said on the video conference, where he announced more employees would be allowed to work remotely permanently.
Zuckerberg gave Canadian and American workers until Jan. 1, 2021 to inform the company about their location, so it can properly complete taxes and accounting and use virtual private network checks to confirm staff are where they claim.
The demand is part of a new reality Canadian workers are being confronted with as employers try to quell the spread of COVID-19 and increasingly consider making remote work permanent.
The shift means many companies are having to rethink salaries and compensation, while grappling with the logistics of a new work model.
Only one-third of Canadians working remotely expect to resume working from the office as consistently as they did pre-pandemic, while one-in-five say they will remain primarily at home, according to a June study from the Angus Reid Institute.
Like Facebook, Canadian technology companies Shopify Inc. and Open Text Corp. have already announced more employees will soon have the option to permanently work remotely.
Both declined interviews with The Canadian Press, but Richard Leblanc, a professor of governance, law and ethics at York University, said he wouldn't be surprised if their staff that relocate will see their pay change.
"It's inevitable because the cost and expense structure of work has changed," he said.
"If you, for example decide, that you could do the majority of your work from well outside the Greater Toronto Area...and you want to buy a home in Guelph or in Hamilton, should we expect the base salary for those individuals might change? Yes, because your cost of living has changed and your expenses have changed."
If companies calculate salaries properly, neither the business nor workers should feel their salary adjustments are unfair, Leblanc said.
However, figuring out what to pay staff transitioning to permanent remote work is tough, especially with a pandemic raging on and forcing some businesses to lay off workers or keep companies closed.
Owners have to consider what salaries will help them retain talent, but also how their costs will change if workers are at home.
Companies, for example, may be able to slash real estate costs because they don't need as much — or any — office space, but may now have to cover higher taxes, pay for their workers to buy desks or supplies for their homes or offer a budget for them to use on renting spaces to meet clients.
"(Businesses) are looking at every line item on their on their income statement....because they want to make sure they can survive and thrive over the long-term," said Jean McClellan, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP's Canadian consulting practice.
Companies like GitLab, an all-remote company in San Francisco focused on tools for software developers, may offer some clues about how Canadian companies opting for permanent remote work can tackle salaries.
When GitLab started offering permanent remote work years ago it built a compensation calculator combining a worker's role and seniority with a rent index that correlates local market salaries with rent prices in the area.
THESE ARE AVERAGE SALARIES FOR REMOTE WORK IN FACT THEY ARE LESS THAN GAS PLANT WORKERS EARN IN FORT MAC OR TRADESMEN MAKE THERE
Anyone can visit GitLab's site and plug in a role, experience level and location to find a salary.
GitLab's junior data engineers, for example, make between $50,936 and $68,913 if they live in Whitehorse, Yellowknife or Iqaluit, where the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation said the average rents for a two-bedroom home last October were $1,695, $1,100 and $2,678 respectively.
That salary shoots up to anywhere from $74,359 to $100,603 for those living in Toronto, Vancouver or Victoria, where CMHC reported the average rents for a two-bedroom home last October were $1,562, $1,748 and $1,448 respectively.
Leblanc warned that varying remote work salaries can create "a global competition for talent in an online world."
People who apply for permanent remote jobs, he said, may find their fighting for the role against far more people than ever before because companies will be able to source talent living anywhere in the world.
The companies that don't offer remote work at all could also find themselves at a disadvantage, if their industry starts to value flexibility and look less favourably at companies that don't offer it.
GitLab settled on its model and calculator because the company said they offer transparency and eliminate biases around race, gender or disabilities.
Its co-founder Sid Sijbrandij wrote in a blog that the calculator was dreamed up because every time he hired someone, there was a conversation around reasonable compensation.
The negotiation would usually revolve around what the person made beforehand, which was dependent on what city they were in. Gitlab scrapped that model in favour of the calculator and also started letting workers know if they move their salary could change.
However, GitLab acknowledges that many people see paying someone less for the same work in the same role regardless of where they live as "harsh." The company disagrees.
"We can't remain consistent if we make exceptions to the policy and allow someone to make greater than local competitive rate for the same work others in that region are doing (or will be hired to do)," it says.
"We realize we might lose a few good people over this pay policy, but being fair to all team members is not negotiable."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 21, 2020.
Companies in this story: (TSX: SHOP, TSX:OTEX)
Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press
TORONTO — When Mark Zuckerberg hosted a townhall in late May with Facebook's 48,000 employees, some were tuning in from new cities they had scrambled to move to as the pandemic hit.
Zuckerberg had a clear message for them: if you plan to stay, expect a change to your pay.
"That means if you live in a location where the cost of living is dramatically lower, or the cost of labour is lower, then salaries do tend to be somewhat lower in those places," he said on the video conference, where he announced more employees would be allowed to work remotely permanently.
Zuckerberg gave Canadian and American workers until Jan. 1, 2021 to inform the company about their location, so it can properly complete taxes and accounting and use virtual private network checks to confirm staff are where they claim.
The demand is part of a new reality Canadian workers are being confronted with as employers try to quell the spread of COVID-19 and increasingly consider making remote work permanent.
The shift means many companies are having to rethink salaries and compensation, while grappling with the logistics of a new work model.
Only one-third of Canadians working remotely expect to resume working from the office as consistently as they did pre-pandemic, while one-in-five say they will remain primarily at home, according to a June study from the Angus Reid Institute.
Like Facebook, Canadian technology companies Shopify Inc. and Open Text Corp. have already announced more employees will soon have the option to permanently work remotely.
Both declined interviews with The Canadian Press, but Richard Leblanc, a professor of governance, law and ethics at York University, said he wouldn't be surprised if their staff that relocate will see their pay change.
"It's inevitable because the cost and expense structure of work has changed," he said.
"If you, for example decide, that you could do the majority of your work from well outside the Greater Toronto Area...and you want to buy a home in Guelph or in Hamilton, should we expect the base salary for those individuals might change? Yes, because your cost of living has changed and your expenses have changed."
If companies calculate salaries properly, neither the business nor workers should feel their salary adjustments are unfair, Leblanc said.
However, figuring out what to pay staff transitioning to permanent remote work is tough, especially with a pandemic raging on and forcing some businesses to lay off workers or keep companies closed.
Owners have to consider what salaries will help them retain talent, but also how their costs will change if workers are at home.
Companies, for example, may be able to slash real estate costs because they don't need as much — or any — office space, but may now have to cover higher taxes, pay for their workers to buy desks or supplies for their homes or offer a budget for them to use on renting spaces to meet clients.
"(Businesses) are looking at every line item on their on their income statement....because they want to make sure they can survive and thrive over the long-term," said Jean McClellan, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP's Canadian consulting practice.
Companies like GitLab, an all-remote company in San Francisco focused on tools for software developers, may offer some clues about how Canadian companies opting for permanent remote work can tackle salaries.
When GitLab started offering permanent remote work years ago it built a compensation calculator combining a worker's role and seniority with a rent index that correlates local market salaries with rent prices in the area.
THESE ARE AVERAGE SALARIES FOR REMOTE WORK IN FACT THEY ARE LESS THAN GAS PLANT WORKERS EARN IN FORT MAC OR TRADESMEN MAKE THERE
Anyone can visit GitLab's site and plug in a role, experience level and location to find a salary.
GitLab's junior data engineers, for example, make between $50,936 and $68,913 if they live in Whitehorse, Yellowknife or Iqaluit, where the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation said the average rents for a two-bedroom home last October were $1,695, $1,100 and $2,678 respectively.
That salary shoots up to anywhere from $74,359 to $100,603 for those living in Toronto, Vancouver or Victoria, where CMHC reported the average rents for a two-bedroom home last October were $1,562, $1,748 and $1,448 respectively.
Leblanc warned that varying remote work salaries can create "a global competition for talent in an online world."
People who apply for permanent remote jobs, he said, may find their fighting for the role against far more people than ever before because companies will be able to source talent living anywhere in the world.
The companies that don't offer remote work at all could also find themselves at a disadvantage, if their industry starts to value flexibility and look less favourably at companies that don't offer it.
GitLab settled on its model and calculator because the company said they offer transparency and eliminate biases around race, gender or disabilities.
Its co-founder Sid Sijbrandij wrote in a blog that the calculator was dreamed up because every time he hired someone, there was a conversation around reasonable compensation.
The negotiation would usually revolve around what the person made beforehand, which was dependent on what city they were in. Gitlab scrapped that model in favour of the calculator and also started letting workers know if they move their salary could change.
However, GitLab acknowledges that many people see paying someone less for the same work in the same role regardless of where they live as "harsh." The company disagrees.
"We can't remain consistent if we make exceptions to the policy and allow someone to make greater than local competitive rate for the same work others in that region are doing (or will be hired to do)," it says.
"We realize we might lose a few good people over this pay policy, but being fair to all team members is not negotiable."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 21, 2020.
Companies in this story: (TSX: SHOP, TSX:OTEX)
Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press
Anchorage wants to buy 4 properties to relieve homelessness
The Canadian Press June 22, 2020
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Anchorage municipal officials said they are considering spending up to $22.5 million to buy property that would be converted to shelters and service sites.
The proposed ordinance for the purchases would use federal coronavirus relief funding designated for the municipality.
The properties under consideration include the Bean’s Cafe food service and shelter and a former Alaska Club building for use as engagement centres for homeless residents.
The city is also considering buying a Best Western/Golden Lion Inn for a treatment facility and an Americas Best Value Inn & Suites for housing and for resource distribution.
Mayor Ethan Berkowitz said Friday that the public would be involved throughout the process to address longstanding community problems.
“There are hard choices in front of us,” Berkowitz said. "One of the choices we can make is doing nothing. But doing nothing at this point is a deliberative choice.”
Berkowitz's chief of staff, Jason Bockenstedt, said the Americas Best Value property in Spenard has 100 rooms that could accommodate unsheltered residents and provide office space for social service agency workers.
The property would provide what Bockenstedt called “bridge housing."
Bridge housing offers temporary accommodations while tenants search for permanent homes and address other life issues, often with the help of case managers.
The former Alaska Club building near the Old Seward Highway could accommodate up to 125 people in an overnight shelter in addition to serving as a daytime engagement centre , said Chris Schutte, Anchorage economic and community development director.
The coronavirus health emergency initially shifted the city’s homeless shelter system away from the Brother Francis Shelter and Bean’s Cafe.
The city opened two sporting arenas as mass shelters to allow social distancing between cots. The Ben Boeke Ice Arena has since ended shelter services while the adjacent Sullivan Arena continues to accommodate up to 377 people.
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death. The vast majority of people recover.
The Associated Press
High art: Banksy and Warhol works to adorn Toronto pot shop
Jeff Lagerquist Yahoo Finance Canada June 15, 2020
The Tokyo Smoke store at 21 Bloor St. E.
A downtown Toronto cannabis store is featuring works by famed British street artist Banksy and American pop art icon Andy Warhol.
The Tokyo Smoke location at 21 Bloor St. E is owned by Toronto-based filmmaker Rob Heydon.
The art from Heydon’s private collection will include “never-before-seen in Canada” pieces by Banksy, as wells some of the artist’s most celebrated works. The store will also feature pieces from other “disruptive artists,” including Andy Warhol, as part of a permanent exhibit.
“In these strange times, it felt fitting to allow customers to browse, shop and learn about cannabis while enjoying some art, while waiting patiently as we practise social distancing,” Heydon stated in a news release on Monday.
Tokyo Smoke, a brand owned by cannabis giant Canopy Growth (WEED.TO)(CGC), currently has five stores open throughout the city.
This new location is steps from one of Toronto’s poshest shopping districts, dubbed the “Mink Mile” for its concentration of luxury brands like Hermes and Prada. Cannabis retailer Fire & Flower (FAF.TO) has been renting pricy retail space on the same stretch of Bloor Street for a store that has yet to open due to regulatory delays.
Jeff Lagerquist Yahoo Finance Canada June 15, 2020
The Tokyo Smoke store at 21 Bloor St. E.
A downtown Toronto cannabis store is featuring works by famed British street artist Banksy and American pop art icon Andy Warhol.
The Tokyo Smoke location at 21 Bloor St. E is owned by Toronto-based filmmaker Rob Heydon.
The art from Heydon’s private collection will include “never-before-seen in Canada” pieces by Banksy, as wells some of the artist’s most celebrated works. The store will also feature pieces from other “disruptive artists,” including Andy Warhol, as part of a permanent exhibit.
“In these strange times, it felt fitting to allow customers to browse, shop and learn about cannabis while enjoying some art, while waiting patiently as we practise social distancing,” Heydon stated in a news release on Monday.
Tokyo Smoke, a brand owned by cannabis giant Canopy Growth (WEED.TO)(CGC), currently has five stores open throughout the city.
This new location is steps from one of Toronto’s poshest shopping districts, dubbed the “Mink Mile” for its concentration of luxury brands like Hermes and Prada. Cannabis retailer Fire & Flower (FAF.TO) has been renting pricy retail space on the same stretch of Bloor Street for a store that has yet to open due to regulatory delays.
Systemic Racism Exists In Canada. It’s A Fact, Not An Opinion
There are two crises in front of us: COVID-19 and the emergence of systemic racism deniers.
By Zi-Ann Lum
MERT ALPER DERVIS/ANADOLU AGENCY VIA GETTY IMAGES
JEFF MCINTOSH/CP
We can all certainly do better in diversifying our newsrooms, particularly in leadership roles.
While Murphy was allowed to write his pointless polemic, journalist Desmond Cole has been fighting for years for police to end racial profiling, which has not been unheard of on Parliament Hill. But his byline disappeared from the Toronto Star a few years ago because the newspaper found his advocacy, which he’s described to be in the service of Black liberation, unsavoury. But other reporters were given space to write stories about their own activism.
For Black, Indigenous, and people of colour, it takes an enormous amount of emotional labour to explain the invisible barriers they face. Look at poverty and incarceration rates. The suicide rate among Indigenous people is three times higher than among non-Indigenous groups.
“No one should have to make the case for why their humanity matters,” wrote TVO journalist Nam Kiwanuka recently. “If this conversation makes you uncomfortable, ask yourself why.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday that Canadians continue to watch the police brutality at anti-police brutality protests in the United States with “horror and consternation.” He said Canada has to look inward and “make sure that the millions of Canadians who face discrimination and intolerance every single day in their lived reality get better support.” He did not elaborate on what help would be offered.
Though their hearts may be in the right place, politicians who reaffirm that racism exists aren’t helping by stating what’s been obvious for people’s entire lifetimes.
Trudeau joined a solidarity march in honour of Floyd on Parliament Hill in Ottawa Friday and took a knee.
Since 2015, the prime minister has repeated variations of the phrase, “diversity is Canada’s strength.” But his party, and the federal Conservatives, both launched Chinese-language ads in Asian grocery stores during the election, playing into anti-Blackness stereotypes that exist within those communities to shore votes.
This week, federal leaders stood in the House of Commons to express their support for the Black community and to denounce racism. “Diversity is the result of our strength and our strength is and always has been our freedom,” said Conservative Opposition Leader Andrew Scheer. But these were not original words written for an unprecedented time. The message has been repeated word-for-word for a year, most recently in a statement about Holi.
These kinds of vague statements fetishize multiculturalism by focusing on optics. They can perpetuate systemic racism by failing to move a national dialogue beyond well-used truisms.
“Non-controversial aspects of culture such as food, clothing, dance and music” are promoted and monetized in tourism campaigns, according to Canadian author Kogila Moodley. The message of multiculturalism isn’t focused on equity or affirmative action.
Though their hearts may be in the right place, politicians who reaffirm that racism exists aren’t helping by stating what’s been obvious for people’s entire lifetimes.
The pandemic and protests have together drawn a big, red circle around the perverse, disproportionate impact systemic racism has on racialized groups. It’s also revealed a dearth of race-based, socioeconomic data that could be compiled to improve access to employment, housing and other essential services. But there are sensitivities to work through, too. Historically, racial data hasn’t always been analyzed with good intentions.
When systemic racism deniers reveal themselves, during a pandemic, it’s insensitive, upsetting and enraging. But addressing blind spots in health care, immigration, justice, media, and political systems isn’t for the faint of heart. There’s a new generation of leaders — Black, Indigenous, and people of colour — growing, learning, and waiting in the wings.
Legault’s approval ratings may be soaring right now, but that oomph doesn’t give him licence to amplify his opinion that systemic racism doesn’t exist. It does. If denying climate change is unacceptable, why is denying systemic racism OK?
There was a moment in April where the Quebec premier confessed the province entered the pandemic “ill equipped.” “I assume full responsibility,” he said. If he were able to redo one thing to better prepare his province for the arrival of the novel coronavirus, Legault said: “I would have increased the wages of orderlies faster, even without the accord of the unions.”
So, he’s watching and listening. And others are, too.
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CLARIFICATION: An earlier version of this column stated Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet denied systemic racism exists in Canada, in reference to vague comments made in a press conference on June 2, 2020. The next day, he offered a clearer response saying “it does exist.” This version has been updated.
There are two crises in front of us: COVID-19 and the emergence of systemic racism deniers.
By Zi-Ann Lum
MERT ALPER DERVIS/ANADOLU AGENCY VIA GETTY IMAGES
Thousands attend a protest against racism at the Olympic Cauldron at Jack Poole Plaza on June 5, 2020 in Vancouver.
It felt like there was a wild glitch in the universe this week when Quebec Premier François Legault, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and now-former CBC commentator Stockwell Day either sidestepped questions or denied that systemic racism exists in Canada.
Ford and Blanchet both responded to the subject this week with initial vague comments that were later clarified. “Of course there’s systemic racism in Ontario, there’s systemic racism across this country,” Ford said. Blanchet, in turn, referenced the government’s treatment of First Nations people as an example that “it does exist.”
Legault expressed solidarity with thousands of protesters in Montreal who marched against police brutality last weekend following the killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died in Minneapolis last week after a white officer knelt on his neck during an arrest. Looking at our country, the Quebec premier downplayed the problem of racism. There’s “some discrimination,” he said. “There’s no systemic discrimination.”
Systemic racism and discrimination exists. It’s a fact, not an opinion. And it’s certainly not up to white men in positions of power to arbitrate whether or not it does.
CARLOS OSORIO / REUTERS
It felt like there was a wild glitch in the universe this week when Quebec Premier François Legault, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and now-former CBC commentator Stockwell Day either sidestepped questions or denied that systemic racism exists in Canada.
Ford and Blanchet both responded to the subject this week with initial vague comments that were later clarified. “Of course there’s systemic racism in Ontario, there’s systemic racism across this country,” Ford said. Blanchet, in turn, referenced the government’s treatment of First Nations people as an example that “it does exist.”
Legault expressed solidarity with thousands of protesters in Montreal who marched against police brutality last weekend following the killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died in Minneapolis last week after a white officer knelt on his neck during an arrest. Looking at our country, the Quebec premier downplayed the problem of racism. There’s “some discrimination,” he said. “There’s no systemic discrimination.”
Systemic racism and discrimination exists. It’s a fact, not an opinion. And it’s certainly not up to white men in positions of power to arbitrate whether or not it does.
CARLOS OSORIO / REUTERS
Friends and family of Regis Korchinski-Paquet lead protesters as they march on May 30, 2020 to protest the deaths in the U.S. of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, and of Toronto's Regis Korchinski-Paquet, who died after falling from an apartment building while police officers were present.
It’s everywhere. Systemic racism is entrenched in our health-care and immigration systems. It manifests in practices and policies that exclude or promote members of a particular group. And it’s been well-documented: Countless reports have been released documenting unique barriers Black and Indigenous people face in accessing health care.
Coronavirus outbreaks have torn through long-term care homes in this country partly due to interconnected problems flagged years earlier. At the time of writing, COVID-19 has been linked to 7,700 deaths in Canada; 64 per cent in Quebec. The pandemic has exposed significant gaps in existing practices and policies that have put Black communities at increased risk of COVID-19 infections.
Denying racism exists won’t give you the full picture of what’s behind these tragedies.
Canada’s history of undervaluing and underpaying care workers, a workforce over-represented by racialized and immigrant women, has exacerbated the impact of coronavirus outbreaks in care homes. Temporary foreign workers tied to one employer for a “specific, short-term labour need” may face unsafe conditions, but risk deportation by quitting. Workers facing this Catch-22 situation filled the High River, Alta. meat-processing plant that became the site of one of North America’s largest coronavirus outbreaks, with more than 1,500 documented cases.
Coronavirus outbreaks have torn through long-term care homes in this country partly due to interconnected problems flagged years earlier. At the time of writing, COVID-19 has been linked to 7,700 deaths in Canada; 64 per cent in Quebec. The pandemic has exposed significant gaps in existing practices and policies that have put Black communities at increased risk of COVID-19 infections.
Denying racism exists won’t give you the full picture of what’s behind these tragedies.
Canada’s history of undervaluing and underpaying care workers, a workforce over-represented by racialized and immigrant women, has exacerbated the impact of coronavirus outbreaks in care homes. Temporary foreign workers tied to one employer for a “specific, short-term labour need” may face unsafe conditions, but risk deportation by quitting. Workers facing this Catch-22 situation filled the High River, Alta. meat-processing plant that became the site of one of North America’s largest coronavirus outbreaks, with more than 1,500 documented cases.
JEFF MCINTOSH/CP
A mourner touches a photo at a memorial of Hiep Bui Nguyen, a Cargill worker who died from COVID-19, in Calgary, Alta. on May 4, 2020.
When someone denies racism exists in Canada, it signals that this person has, at most, a very partial understanding of how systemic barriers are embedded in our everyday lives. It’s alarming when these words come from the mouths of political party leaders.
Systemic racism is baked into the foundations of our justice and media systems. Is recognizing systemic racism a politically volatile subject? Maybe if you exclusively read the white-dominated opinion pages of the country’s broadsheets. We can all certainly do better in diversifying our newsrooms, particularly in leadership roles.
This week, the National Post ran a column by Rex Murphy giving him free rein to make the backward suggestion it’s only senior members of the Liberal party “who have a clear view of all this racism and discrimination.” His colleague, journalist Vanmala Subramaniam, took him to task the next day for his blind diatribe. She shouldn’t have had to do that. As Subramaniam put it: “Someone who has absolutely no lived experience of racism ... most certainly should not be allowed to declare that racism is over nor be given a national platform to do so.”
When someone denies racism exists in Canada, it signals that this person has, at most, a very partial understanding of how systemic barriers are embedded in our everyday lives. It’s alarming when these words come from the mouths of political party leaders.
Systemic racism is baked into the foundations of our justice and media systems. Is recognizing systemic racism a politically volatile subject? Maybe if you exclusively read the white-dominated opinion pages of the country’s broadsheets. We can all certainly do better in diversifying our newsrooms, particularly in leadership roles.
This week, the National Post ran a column by Rex Murphy giving him free rein to make the backward suggestion it’s only senior members of the Liberal party “who have a clear view of all this racism and discrimination.” His colleague, journalist Vanmala Subramaniam, took him to task the next day for his blind diatribe. She shouldn’t have had to do that. As Subramaniam put it: “Someone who has absolutely no lived experience of racism ... most certainly should not be allowed to declare that racism is over nor be given a national platform to do so.”
We can all certainly do better in diversifying our newsrooms, particularly in leadership roles.
While Murphy was allowed to write his pointless polemic, journalist Desmond Cole has been fighting for years for police to end racial profiling, which has not been unheard of on Parliament Hill. But his byline disappeared from the Toronto Star a few years ago because the newspaper found his advocacy, which he’s described to be in the service of Black liberation, unsavoury. But other reporters were given space to write stories about their own activism.
For Black, Indigenous, and people of colour, it takes an enormous amount of emotional labour to explain the invisible barriers they face. Look at poverty and incarceration rates. The suicide rate among Indigenous people is three times higher than among non-Indigenous groups.
“No one should have to make the case for why their humanity matters,” wrote TVO journalist Nam Kiwanuka recently. “If this conversation makes you uncomfortable, ask yourself why.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday that Canadians continue to watch the police brutality at anti-police brutality protests in the United States with “horror and consternation.” He said Canada has to look inward and “make sure that the millions of Canadians who face discrimination and intolerance every single day in their lived reality get better support.” He did not elaborate on what help would be offered.
Though their hearts may be in the right place, politicians who reaffirm that racism exists aren’t helping by stating what’s been obvious for people’s entire lifetimes.
Trudeau joined a solidarity march in honour of Floyd on Parliament Hill in Ottawa Friday and took a knee.
Since 2015, the prime minister has repeated variations of the phrase, “diversity is Canada’s strength.” But his party, and the federal Conservatives, both launched Chinese-language ads in Asian grocery stores during the election, playing into anti-Blackness stereotypes that exist within those communities to shore votes.
This week, federal leaders stood in the House of Commons to express their support for the Black community and to denounce racism. “Diversity is the result of our strength and our strength is and always has been our freedom,” said Conservative Opposition Leader Andrew Scheer. But these were not original words written for an unprecedented time. The message has been repeated word-for-word for a year, most recently in a statement about Holi.
These kinds of vague statements fetishize multiculturalism by focusing on optics. They can perpetuate systemic racism by failing to move a national dialogue beyond well-used truisms.
“Non-controversial aspects of culture such as food, clothing, dance and music” are promoted and monetized in tourism campaigns, according to Canadian author Kogila Moodley. The message of multiculturalism isn’t focused on equity or affirmative action.
Though their hearts may be in the right place, politicians who reaffirm that racism exists aren’t helping by stating what’s been obvious for people’s entire lifetimes.
The pandemic and protests have together drawn a big, red circle around the perverse, disproportionate impact systemic racism has on racialized groups. It’s also revealed a dearth of race-based, socioeconomic data that could be compiled to improve access to employment, housing and other essential services. But there are sensitivities to work through, too. Historically, racial data hasn’t always been analyzed with good intentions.
When systemic racism deniers reveal themselves, during a pandemic, it’s insensitive, upsetting and enraging. But addressing blind spots in health care, immigration, justice, media, and political systems isn’t for the faint of heart. There’s a new generation of leaders — Black, Indigenous, and people of colour — growing, learning, and waiting in the wings.
Legault’s approval ratings may be soaring right now, but that oomph doesn’t give him licence to amplify his opinion that systemic racism doesn’t exist. It does. If denying climate change is unacceptable, why is denying systemic racism OK?
There was a moment in April where the Quebec premier confessed the province entered the pandemic “ill equipped.” “I assume full responsibility,” he said. If he were able to redo one thing to better prepare his province for the arrival of the novel coronavirus, Legault said: “I would have increased the wages of orderlies faster, even without the accord of the unions.”
So, he’s watching and listening. And others are, too.
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CLARIFICATION: An earlier version of this column stated Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet denied systemic racism exists in Canada, in reference to vague comments made in a press conference on June 2, 2020. The next day, he offered a clearer response saying “it does exist.” This version has been updated.
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