Matthew Lau: Black justice strategy would be a disservice to Canadians of African descent

Second article critical of the strategy in a week in the Post:

….According to the steering group, the federal government should also “establish a committee of Black justice professionals, academics and community leaders to study options for reparations to Black people for enslavement, segregation and racially biased laws,” work to give lower interest rates and debt forgiveness to Black articling students and early-career lawyers, increase resources “for the development and improvement of Black businesses,” categorize Black people as a “priority group” in federal employment and housing programs and so on.

The steering group’s Black justice strategy focuses on dividing society by race and delivering governmental favours to the Black population. But this is a failing strategy, as seen most evidently in the United States and documented by, in addition to Thomas Sowell, prolific Black scholars such Walter Williams and Jason Riley. As their work has shown, Blacks and other communities make the most progress when focused on building human capital through education and economic advancement instead of trying to achieve political clout. Black Americans made much greater progress before the explosion of Black elected officials, welfare programs and affirmative action in the 1960s than after it.

It is no different in Canada. Among Canadian-born men and women, those of Japanese, Chinese and Korean ancestry have significantly higher average earnings than the white population. These groups are also underrepresented among criminal offenders. Their relative success in Canadian society has nothing to do with federal programs giving them preferential treatment or with the Department of Justice having a Japanese justice strategy, Chinese justice strategy or Korean justice strategy — that much is clear. Such government favours and strategies will not help Canada’s Black population, either.

Source: Matthew Lau: Black justice strategy would be a disservice to Canadians of African descent