Canada is no stranger to deep-rooted, systemic racism.

6/3/2020

When asked about the protests currently happening in the United States,
Ontario Premier Doug Ford responded with the following:

There’s no doubt they have their issues in the U.S.,
and they have to fix their issues,
but thank God that we’re different than the United States
and we don’t have the systemic, deep roots they have had for years.

- Ontario Premier Doug Ford, June 2, 2020.

People in the United States are protesting the systemic racism deeply rooted in the country,
including one of the recent murders at the hands of police;
on May 25th in Minneapolis, George Floyd, an unarmed Black man,
was murdered by a White police officer.
The officer kneeled on Floyd's neck for eight minutes and forty-six seconds,
even after Floyd was no longer responsive.
Floyd's pleas, including "I can't breathe", were disregarded.
Three other police officers were present as the murder occurred.

People in Canada and around the world have also been protesting,
out of solidarity, and in response to the situation in their own countries.

Premier Ford's statement above is very wrong -
Canada is no stranger to deep-rooted, systemic racism.

Here are a few examples -

White superiority and supremacy.

Exclusionary policies.

The KKK.

Eugenics.

Hostility towards immigrants.

The Chinese Head Tax.

Chinese immigrants forced into the most dangerous jobs during the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

The horrific treatment of Indigenous peoples.

The "Indian Act".

Dividing up the land of Indigenous nations through treaties and other methods.

Failure to acknowledge the complexities of each Indigenous nation.

Marginalization of the Métis nation.

Indigenous communities without water that is safe to drink.

Indigenous languages endangered.

Residential Schools, where Indigenous children
were forced away from their homes and families,
restricted from using their languages,
and abused in a myriad of other ways.

Exclusionary immigration laws.

Interning people with Ukrainian heritage during the First World War.

Interning people with Japanese heritage during the Second World War, including confiscating their businesses and other property.

Denying entry into Canada to numerous Jews during the Second World War, many of whom later died in concentration camps.

Racial segregation.

Redlining.

The demolishing of Africville, a small, primarily Black, community located on the south shore of the Bedford Basin in Nova Scotia.

This is nowhere near a complete list.

Discrimination,
racial slurs,
police violence,
systemic racism -
these have been in Canada a long time.

These horrors are rooted deep.

Claiming otherwise not only ignores history,
but the lived experience of many people in Canada today.