Canada election: Activists ‘frustrated’ over party leaders dodging racism issue – National

The vast majority of Canadians oppose racism and admit it’s a problem in Canada, according to a new poll, although about two-thirds of all non-white Canadians say they’ve been. go through that.

Those results come just before the 2021 federal election – an election with platforms that, according to some supporters, are not strong enough to combat anti-black and anti-indigenous racism. as well as a commitment to police reform in Canada.

Sandy Hudson, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Canada, says the lack of attention to these issues in terms of the party’s policy and background is not only “extremely frustrating” but “speaks up” value of the parties.

Although most major federal parties have included racism and discrimination in some parts of their platforms, outlining several calls to action to address racial issues, Hudson say that what they currently have is not nearly enough or substantive.

The NDP’s platform includes a pledge to “confront racism” and ban grooming, while the Liberal Party announced further support for an action plan against systemic racism, while The Green Party is credited with having a unique platform with specific promises to reduce the size of police organizations such as the RCMP.

The Conservatives have not made any promises about tackling systemic racism or anti-blacks in their platform – with the party’s leadership even pledging to hire more police when faced calls from advocates of sabotage and reform of policing institutions across the country.

That is the view Freed Khan of the United Against Hate of Canadians made in an interview with The Canadian Press on Saturday.

Khan, who also pointed to the lack of discussion about racism from Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh during their campaign, told The Press that it made him self-confident. Ask them how seriously they took the matter.

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Global country: September 10

“On a platform when it’s going to make the biggest impact in an election, they haven’t talked about it yet,” Khan said.

“So what tells me and a lot of people, activists, is maybe what they’ve been saying over the past year is just talkative, and they’re not as serious about fighting hate as they have been. speak. “

Hudson says she’s not surprised that anti-black and Indigenous anti-racism issues have been pushed aside from the leaders’ trail and campaign platforms.

The fact that the Black Lives Matter movement has yet to overcome political barriers in Ottawa speaks to a “democratic crisis” in Canada, Mr. Hudson said.

She raised the question of why anti-black racism, or racist policies in general, is not a big platform on the agenda of federal leaders despite the major BLM rallies last year.

“How do you get into a problem where a lot of people take a lot of action… in a pandemic, going out to prove… and that’s not one of the most important things. yours that you are dealing with,” she said.

“What will happen to them to care? It’s disgusting to have a system where people… put so much energy into saying this is our priority and they all just really shade it… or ignore it altogether. “

Meanwhile, the Ipsos-specific Global News poll found that 96% of Canadians say racism is a “terrible thing”.

Just over a quarter of Canadians say they have been a victim of racism, though that percentage spikes to 65% for Canadians who identify as non-white.

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Canada election: O’Toole calls Quebec racism debate ‘somewhat unfair’

Darrell Bricker, Executive Director of Ipsos Public Affairs, says there’s been a “huge shift” on racism in general across Canada.

“It’s no longer a question of whether racism is a problem in this country and whether change is needed to address it,” Bricker said.

“But I still realize, like the people in the survey, that there is a serious problem and that other people are having it. The poll also revealed stark gender, age and regional disparities when it comes to Canadians’ experiences with racism.

According to the poll, young to middle-aged Canadians are more likely to say they have been victims of racism than those 55 and older, while men say they have experienced racism more often. are women.

Geographically, Canadians in western Quebec were more likely to say they were victims of racism, with about 30% living in the provinces of Ontario and Prairie and almost a quarter of all people in BC.

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Examining the impact of COVID-19, racism on black youth in Quebec

On the other hand, the majority of people in Quebec and Atlantic Canada say they are not direct victims of racism, with 57% of people in those areas strongly agreeing that they do not experience discrimination. racial segregation.

Additionally, while more than three-quarters of Canadians in most parts of the country say they fully agree that racism is a “terrible thing,” that sentiment dipped slightly to 67 percent in the country. Quebec.

According to Bricker, Canada’s shift in attitudes towards systemic racism came after the murder of George Floyd and the growth of the Black Lives Matter movement – as well as the push for Indigenous reconciliation.

The majority of the Canadian population – the majority of the Canadian population – believe this is wrong and that something needs to be done to address it. ‘ said Bricker.

– With files from the Canadian Press

These are some of the findings of a poll conducted by Ipsos from September 3 to 6, 2021, on behalf of Global News. For this survey, a sample of n = 1,500 Canadians aged 18 and over were interviewed online, through the Ipsos I-Say panel and out-of-group sources. Respondents earn a nominal incentive for their participation. Quotas and weights are used for demographic balance to ensure that the composition of the sample reflects the composition of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results that are approximate to the sample universe. . The accuracy of Ipsos polls including non-probability sampling is measured with confidence intervals. In this case, the poll was accurate to within ±2.9 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, all Canadians polled. Confidence intervals will be wider between subsets of the population. All sample surveys and probes may have other sources of error, including, but not limited to, range and measurement errors.