In 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated that systemic discrimination is embedded “in all [of Canada’s] institutions,” following two RCMP officers using force to arrest a First Nations Chief. Four years later, the narrative persists that Canada is a systemically racist country.
But is it?
If we examine the issue from a legal and historical perspective, we find the exact opposite: anti-discrimination has long been embedded in Canadian law, as we point out in a new study for the Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy, When did Canada end systemic discrimination? An historical and legal review.
Consider how early Canada embarked on prohibiting discrimination. On Prince Edward Island, they first began outlawing forms of discrimination before the First World War — in 1913. PEI passed legislation that mandated treatment for tuberculosis victims be administered without regard for “class, creed or nationality.”
In the 1930s, British Columbia and Manitoba began introducing anti-discrimination measures, and most other provinces followed suit in the next two decades. In Ontario, in 1944, the province banned discriminatory signs and symbols that targeted the race or creed of any person. Ontario also followed up in the early 1950s with three additional laws that forbade discrimination in hiring and in accommodation.
By 1959, seven of ten provinces had passed anti-discrimination legislation. As of then, the federal government’s Fair Employment Practices Act (forbidding workplace discrimination based on race, colour, and religion) had already been on the books for six years.
Every province introduced human rights legislation prohibiting myriad forms of discrimination by 1975 — seven years before the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In fact, Canada already boasted twenty-three laws banning various forms and contexts of discrimination by then.
This is the historical record.
When the Canadian Human Rights Commission asserts that “Systemic racism is deeply entrenched in Canadian society,” it does so contrary to the facts. Ironically, the CHRC’s very existence testifies to the ongoing efforts of Canadians to combat racism.
Moreover, the Charter requires equality under the law without discrimination by government — based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability. Further, since 1982, all of the provinces and territories have updated their human rights legislation to reflect and expand upon the Charter’s prohibition against discrimination both by government and by private citizens and organizations.
While the law leaves room for interpretation in many instances, discrimination is one area on which the Canadian legal system is perfectly clear: It is simply not allowed.
There is one exception, however. Under section 15(2) of the Charter, reverse discrimination on the basis of race (also known as “employment equity” or “affirmative action”) is permitted, provided its object is pure; i.e. “the amelioration of conditions of disadvantaged individuals or groups including those that are disadvantaged because of race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability.”
Thus, in fact, Canada is so anti-racist that it allows for ‘soft’ racism against the majority population — in the name of righting past wrongs.
But the case for reverse racism makes little sense. Discriminating to stop discrimination is as absurd as it sounds. Moreover, the data does not support the claim that affirmative action is needed.
If not our legal system, where else might there be evidence that Canada is systemically discriminatory? The major system that is raised next is usually the workplace.
Yet, even if we look at workplace incomes, as Matthew Lau shows using Statistics Canada data, after taking sociodemographic factors into account (such as education), earnings differentials vary little by race.
Canada is not systemically racist.
Does that mean Canada is free of bigots? No. Racists do exist. But Canada also has criminals. Their existence does not mean, to follow the illogic of systemic racism claims, that Canada is a systemically criminal state.
As a nation governed by the rule of law, every individual, regardless of their race, creed, colour, or nation of origin, is equal before and under the law. This long history of respect for individuals should be celebrated for the wonderful achievement that it is, not cast aside by those wishing to score political points in favour of a popular narrative.
When people proclaim Canada to be systemically racist, remember this: a long list of laws and a long tradition of legal equality proves otherwise. Virtually every form of discrimination is legally prohibited in Canada — and has been for generations.
Danny Randell is a researcher at the Aristotle Foundation, and David Hunt is the research director at the Aristotle Foundation. They are two of the three authors of When did Canada end systemic racism? An historical and legal review.
