Discrimination may contribute to decline of ‘birthweight advantage’ in black immigrants

2020/06/06 Leave a comment

Striking and disturbing findings from Florida. Contrast between Blacks and Latinos also striking:

Black women have the highest prevalence of low birthweight babies compared to other racial and ethnic groups, but black immigrants typically have much better outcomes than their U.S.-born counterparts. Yet, little has been known about whether this “healthy immigrant” effect persists across generations.

According to a new study published by Princeton University researchers, the substantial “birthweight advantage” experienced by the foreign-born black population is lost within a single generation. In contrast, a modest advantage among foreign-born Hispanics persists across generations.

The authors suspect discrimination and inequality in the U.S. may be a contributing factor to this decline. Experiences of interpersonal discrimination, both before and during pregnancy, are likely to trigger physiological stress responses that negatively affect birth outcomes, they said.

The study, published in Epidemiology, has important public health implications given that low birthweight is a significant predictor of a broad range of health and socioeconomic outcomes throughout one’s life. The findings also underscore the potential role of discrimination in producing racial and intergenerational disparities in birth outcomes.

The research was conducted by Noreen Goldman, the Hughes-Rogers Professor of Demography and Public Affairs in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and first author Theresa Andrasfay, who received her Ph.D. from Princeton’s Program in Population Studies.

Motivated by an earlier study of a small number of black immigrants in Illinois in the 1950-1970s, the researchers felt that conclusions regarding intergenerational changes in birthweight warranted a larger sample based on recent data in a popular immigrant destination state.

The authors analyzed administrative records from 1971 to 2015 in Florida, which receives a large number of black immigrants from the Caribbean. They linked several hundred thousand birth records of daughters to those of their mothers. This allowed them to compare birthweights of daughters born to foreign-born and U.S.-born mothers with the birthweights of their granddaughters. The study provides estimates of these intergenerational changes in birthweight for white, Hispanic, and black women.

The results point to what the researchers call a large foreign-born advantage among blacks: 7.8% of daughters born to foreign-born black women are low birthweight (under 2,500 grams or 5.5 pounds) compared to 11.8% among U.S.-born black women. But, whereas foreign-born Hispanic women maintain a birthweight advantage in the next generation, black women see this advantage essentially eliminated with the birth of their granddaughters. These granddaughters are more than 50% more likely than their mothers to be low birthweight. In contrast, the increase in low birthweight prevalence between daughters and granddaughters of U.S.-born black women is only about 10%, which is more in line with national increases in low birthweight over the same time period.

Andrasfay and Goldman were surprised by the rapidity with which the foreign-born advantage among black women was lost. After only one generation spent in the U.S., the prevalence of low birthweight is almost as high among the granddaughters of foreign-born black women as among the granddaughters of U.S.-born black women (12.2% vs. 13.1%) and is considerably higher for both groups of black infants than for white and Hispanic babies.

The authors identified an equally striking finding with regard to differences in low birthweight by level of schooling. Contrary to the pattern found among all other racial and ethnic groups, foreign-born black women are about as likely to have a low birthweight daughter if they have low or high levels of schooling. However, in the next generation, the prevalence of low birthweight declines as maternal education increases. This likely reflects a difference in the context in which mothers received their education.

In the U.S., mothers with less than high school education are disadvantaged in multiple ways, but women who obtained this same level of schooling before immigrating to the U.S. were likely relatively advantaged in their origin countries.”

Theresa Andrasfay, First Author

The authors controlled for socioeconomic and health-related risk factors, including characteristics of women’s neighborhoods that varied among racial, ethnic, and nativity groups, but these factors did not account for their findings. They concluded that the high frequency of low birthweight babies among blacks, and the increase from daughters to granddaughters among black immigrants, were likely both due to exposure to discrimination and inequality. “Unfortunately,” said Goldman, “high quality measures of discrimination are notoriously difficult to obtain.”

The researchers note several limitations of the study. The study is based on birth records from only one state, Florida, and in order to observe multiple generations within the same family, the study was restricted to families in which both daughters and granddaughters were born in Florida. Though the main analysis used only female births, there is evidence that the findings extend to male births. Nevertheless, their study has important implications.

“Though black immigrants currently make up a small share of the population, their numbers are growing,” said Andrasfay. “This growth emphasizes the importance of understanding how their health evolves with time in the U.S. to better understand future disparities.”

“Foreign-born blacks may experience less prejudice than their U.S.-born peers because they have spent part of their lives in majority black countries where discrimination may be less severe than in the U.S.,” said Goldman. “In contrast, their children spend their entire lives in a more racialized social environment than found in the Caribbean, which could explain the worsening of birth outcomes between generations.”

“This study also underscores the need for more research,” said Goldman, “both to develop better measures of interpersonal discrimination and to identify epigenetic mechanisms that link social stressors to birth outcomes among black women.”

The paper, “Intergenerational change in birthweight: effects of foreign-born status and race/ethnicity,” was published online in Epidemiology on June 1 and will be featured in the September print edition.

Source: Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs

Source: Discrimination may contribute to decline of ‘birthweight advantage’ in black immigrants

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Race, Ethnicity Data To Be Required With Coronavirus Tests In U.S.

2020/06/06 Leave a comment

Canada should follow suit (Canada should have led):

All laboratories will now be required to include detailed demographic data when they report the results of coronavirus tests to the federal government, including the age, sex, race and ethnicity of the person tested, the Trump administration announced Thursday.

The new requirement, which will go into effect Aug. 1, is designed to help provide long-sought, crucial information needed to monitor and fight the pandemic nationally.

“The requirement to include demographic data like race, ethnicity, age, and sex will enable us to ensure that all groups have equitable access to testing, and allow us to accurately determine the burden of infection on vulnerable groups,” said Adm. Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for health in the Department of Health and Human Services.

The U.S. government has faced intense criticism for failing to gather such data on a timely basis. Many public health experts consider this information necessary to blunt the impact of virus, which has claimed the lives of more than 107,000 Americans.

During a congressional hearing Thursday, Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, apologized for the agency’s slowness in gathering better data.

“I personally want to apologize for the inadequacy of our response,” Redfield said. “We didn’t have the data that we needed.”

Public health experts say what’s been needed are detailed breakdowns on how the virus is affecting African American and other minority communities. These groups appear to have been hit especially hard, suffering higher rates of infection, serious illness and death.

“One problem that epidemiologists in particular have seen with all of this new lab testing sites data (pharmacies, drive-throughs, non-traditional lab settings) is incomplete data,” Scott Becker of the Association of Public Health Laboratories wrote in an email to NPR. “The data guidance issued today will aid state and local public health officials to better do their job.”

Better testing data should help identify groups that are being hit hard by the virus and who require priority access to better testing and treatment. In addition, improved data will help health departments more quickly track down people who might have been exposed to the virus, to try to prevent new outbreaks.

“I am particularly encouraged that they plan to included demographic data, which will be important for helping us to better understand observed racial/ethnic and other disparities in case numbers,” Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told NPR via email.

Some state and local health officials, as well as some hospital and commercial labs, have complained that the federal government has issued confusing, contradictory and counter-productive guidance and requirements for testing.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has also been criticized for combining the results of different kinds of testing in its tallies of testing, providing an inaccurate picture of the pandemic.

The new requirement comes as civil unrest has erupted in many places around the U.S. in response to police brutality and the killings of black people.

In announcing the new guidelines, Giroir singled out hospital laboratories and commercial labs for failing to routinely provide detailed demographic information with testing results.

Julie Khani, president of the American Clinical Laboratory Association, which represents commercial laboratories, defended the group’s members.

“Our members have faced obstacles tracking down missing information that is not collected or reported by the provider when the specimen is collected,” Khani wrote in an email to NPR, “and that’s why we’ve been engaged with providers, the CDC, public health agencies and others since the beginning of this public health emergency to ensure we’re doing all we can to collect this information.”

Source: Race, Ethnicity Data To Be Required With Coronavirus Tests In U.S.

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If Black lives matter, it’s time for true policy action and accountability

2020/06/06 Leave a comment

From former Liberal MP Celina Caesar-Chavannes, a mix of the practical (better data, more support to community organizations) to more challenging (more funding despite recent increases and more pressing COVID-19 pressures, immigration or visitor visa changes – not clear which one she advocates, more Black GiC appointments – better data would be a starting point, more Black DM and ADM appointments).

To that list, I would add more thorough evaluations of existing and future programs to improve the evidence-basis for what works and what is more effective.

All are good points for discussion, debate and consideration.

Over the past several days, in the midst of the protests related to the killing of George Floyd and death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet in Toronto, many people have asked me (and other Black people) this question: what does the government do now? What are the solutions to racism in Canada, Celina?

As much as it frustrates me, and likely other members of the Black community, to be recipients of racism and still be asked to come up with solutions, I will acquiesce to this request, and provide some insights for government colleagues.

First, acknowledge and understand that racism exists. And not just the capital “R” racism that is consuming all the oxygen in our media, but the daily “death by a thousand cuts” microaggressions that Black, Indigenous and people of colour face every day. This is the truth. And there is no reconciliation without truth.

Next, provide adequate, intentional and sustained funding to community programs and organizations that empower and uplift communities. Don’t make announcements about combatting “guns and gangs” in the Jane and Finch area of Toronto while handing over money to law enforcement for the further over-surveillance of an already stigmatized community.

While the area has its fair share of problems, the community has also had a tremendous amount of success – notably highlighted in the film Mr. Jane and Finch (about community advocate Winston LaRose), which recently won a 2020 Canadian Screen Award for best social/political documentary program.

There are organizations like Zero Gun Violence run by Louis March, Trust 15 run by Marcia Brown, and Generation Chosen run by Dwyane Brown and Joseph Smith. Each of these organizations has been working tirelessly to help uplift and empower our youth. Itah Sadu, owner of A Different Book List bookstore, has been raising funds for a cultural centre for the community. All of these individuals are tired of jumping through hoops to get funding. They have demonstrated their ability to effect change and have sustained their businesses with proven results. Our governments could find ways to help them scale up and grow (in the same way they are helping Canadian commercial entities and projects to scale up). This should extend to the government’s procurement processes, as Black-owned businesses are often left out of the conversation, off the list and fail to receive invitations to trade missions.

Additionally, if governments are going to make announcements about investments in Black communities, they should do the math first. Budget 2018 dedicated $19 million to addressing challenges faced by Black Canadians. Such efforts include $10 million over five years to provide more culturally focused mental health programs to the Black Canadian community and $9 million over five years to enhance community supports for Black youth. Additionally, $23 million was allocated to increase multiculturalism funding. Part of the funds were to be used to conduct cross-country consultations on a new anti-racism approach, which will find new ways to collaborate and combat discrimination.

But when you do the math on these numbers, they don’t make sense, and they certainly do not speak to Black lives mattering. Let’s use the example of $10 million over five years for mental health programs (or $2 million per year). There are 1.2 million Black people in Canada. For ease of this analysis, let’s make this number an even million. If we use the current statistics of mental health challenges impacting one out of five people, we can hypothesize that approximately 200,000 Black Canadians are impacted by mental health issues. This budget is essentially allotting $10 per year per person affected by mental health ($2,000,000 divided by 200,000). How TF is that supposed to do anything? How is that going to have impact? Was this investment intentional or some sort of window dressing? Have we been took? Hoodwinked? Bamboozled? Led astray? Run amok?

However, doing the math is only useful if you are putting forward good policy. And please do not let “how well a particular issue will poll” get in the way of good policy. If you are considering how good policy will impact your ability to get re-elected, find a new line of work, because you do not deserve to represent the people who need you the most.

So, here are some policy changes that can be made. They are suggestions, and not in any particular order of priority. They all should have been done a long time ago. (Most are listed on my Top 43 things to do in the 43rd Parliament tweet thread dated December 4, 2019).

Let’s start with the expungements of criminal records for those folks, predominantly Black and Indigenous, who have been charged with marijuana possession. The government has introduced pardons; however, the over-surveillance of Black and Indigenous communities, which is a violation of our human rights, has led to a disproportionate over-representation of these groups in the prison system. It is time to right the wrong. And while you are at it, get rid of mandatory minimums, too.

Immigration patterns for the approvals of visas from Black and Brown countries into Canada is abysmal. This was a topic of countless conversations during the 42nd Parliament; however, very little was done to improve the situation. The government should investigate immigration practices that discriminate against people from these countries and review visa lifts. In the interim, they should increase the number of mobile biometric units, which track information necessary for a visa application, available in Caribbean and African countries.

Domestically, if representation matters, increase the number of Black people in Cabinet and Black people in Governor in Council appointments. Name an experienced Black person to head the new Anti-Racism Secretariat within the department of Canadian Heritage and increase the number of Black political staffers in prominent positions. Honour the spirit of my private member’s Bill C-468, and remove the barriers that exist for Black federal employees to be promoted within the federal system, especially in deputy minister and assistant deputy minister positions.

Lastly, as a former entrepreneur in the area of research, I was heartened that budget 2018 dedicated $6.7 million to create a new Centre for Gender, Diversity and Inclusion Statistics at Statistics Canada. This centre will work to improve our understanding of the social, economic, financial, and environmental issues facing groups, including Black Canadians. This new information will help organizations and leaders better understand the barriers faced by the community and will inform future evidence-based policy. So, start collecting and analyzing race-based data, especially around COVID-19, to properly use our limited resources strategically.

Now, I know what you are going to say. “You were there, Celina. If this was a problem with government policy and spending, why didn’t you do something about it instead of complaining now?” And with this statement, you would be partially correct. I was there during the time the announcements were made in 2018 around anti-racism program and funding. But I was not a part of the conversations or decisions involved in the outcome. In fact, meeting attendees were told not to tell anyone about the meetings’ logistics or discussions. They were especially kept secret from me. Additionally, after the announcement was made and I made my frustrations known, I was told that I needed to “get on board” because it looked bad that I was “bad mouthing” the government and the related stakeholder group that had been consulted.

Herein lies what is the biggest impediment to collective progress. Exclusion. The exclusion of voices of dissent and unusual suspects around the table. The ones who will speak truth to power, call out your bullshit and hold you accountable. The exclusion of ideas that are considered “too extreme” because you are too lazy to see the other side of the coin.

Talking about defunding police is apparently an absolute non-starter, though it has been skillfully addressed by women like Sandy Hudson and Robyn Maynard for quite some time. Their core idea is that if you reduce funding for policing, you can increase funding that uplifts communities and you can invest in mental health supports. Are those also non-starters? I hope not.

Lastly, and most hurtful, the deliberate and intentional exclusion of marginalized groups, and in particular, Black female voices from conversations. Everyone thinks they want the Black woman in the room to fill the diversity quota (Black person – check; female – check), but do they really want her opinion? Do they really want her to tell the truth? Or, dare I say, tell them where they are wrong?

If diversity is truly going to be our strength and #BlackLivesMatter is going to be a reality beyond the hashtag, our governments need to be serious and intentional about policy that is inclusive and funding that is sustainable. We are beyond the point of community consultations and rhetoric. It is time for accountability and action. And both need to start now.

Source: If Black lives matter, it’s time for true policy action and accountability

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Yes Canada, we too have an anti-Black racism problem

2020/06/06 Leave a comment

Good reminder of the insights from the Black Experience Project:

The anguish and confrontations spreading across the United States in response to the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by a white police officer have captured the attention of news audiences in that country and around the world. We are transfixed by images of shocking police brutality and the widespread community resistance they have inspired.

But Canadians should challenge themselves to look past the deeply disturbing American news clips and reflect on the situation here at home, including the recent death in Toronto of Regis Korchinski-Paquet, a 29 year-old Black woman. If we do, we will learn there is no room for complacency in this country.

When we look in the mirror, we see a society in which Black people are regularly treated unfairly because of their race. The Black Experience Project, which focused on the Greater Toronto Area, found that two-thirds of the region’s Black residents report being treated unfairly on a continuing basis. The forms that this treatment takes are specific, varied and tragic.

Three in five young Black men say they are frequently or occasionally accused of something or treated suspiciously because of their race, and a similar proportion report being observed or followed while in public places. Three in four say that others frequently or occasionally are afraid of them or intimidated because of their race.

In the case of young Black women, more than 60 per cent say that others frequently or occasionally expect their work to be inferior because of their race, and that they are treated rudely or disrespectfully because of the colour of their skin.

When it comes to dealings with police – the focal point for the current wave of protests – things only get worse. One in two Black Torontonians and a staggering 80 per cent of Black men between the ages of 25 and 44 report that they have been stopped in a public place by the police. Two in five Black Torontonians and two in three Black men between 25 and 44 say they have been harassed or treated rudely by police.

In short, this unique survey research shows that Black youth in Canada’s largest city are growing up being observed, questioned, dismissed and belittled by their fellow citizens because of their race, and are routinely harassed by the very public institution that we should turn to for protection.

Yes Canada – we, too, have an anti-Black racism problem.

Racism doesn’t stop there. The recent Race Relations in Canada Survey found that Indigenous peoples in Canada are just as likely as Black people to experience unfair treatment because of their race. South Asian and Chinese Canadians also experience racism; fewer than one in five say this never happens to them.

If there is any good news to hold onto in these bleak times, it is that, on the whole, Canadians are not in denial about this reality. Three-quarters of white Canadians recognize that Black people in this country are either frequently or occasionally the subject of discrimination in Canadian society. Just a handful (3 per cent) said this never happens.

Yet this general recognition of the problem carries us only so far. Three in 10 non-Indigenous Canadians disagree with the statement that it is easy to understand the anger of Indigenous peoples, as do 39 per cent of non-Black people in the case of the anger of Black Canadians. Somehow, a significant number of Canadians seem to expect that people who experience racism should not get too upset about it.

That ship has sailed.

Will things change for the better? The survey research provides some grounds for optimism. Canadians from all racial groups are more likely to say that race relations in this country are getting better as opposed to getting worse. And, crucially, personal connections among racial groups in Canada are growing.

The majority of Canadians not only have regular contact with people from other races, but contact that is overwhelming described as friendly. These friendships can only deepen our understanding of each other’s experiences.

Most strikingly, six in 10 Canadians are optimistic there will be racial equality in Canada in their lifetime; just one in four are pessimistic. Pessimism, at 30 per cent, is higher for Black Canadians, but is not the majority view. When we ask non-white Canadians whether the next generation will experience more racism than today or less, they are much more likely to anticipate that racism will diminish.

These results were collected before George Floyd was killed. The optimism that shone a few months ago may well have diminished in recent days. It will not be rekindled by congratulating ourselves for doing better than our American cousins. The determination to do better needs to be reborn and sustained by our own actions to confront and eliminate racism in Canada, not just by institutions and authorities such as the police, but by each and every one of us.

Source: Yes Canada, we too have an anti-Black racism problem: Michael Adams and Marva Wisdom

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Horgan calls for national anti-racism program; will pitch idea to PM, premiers

2020/06/06 Leave a comment

The challenge lies in the specifics, and better information in terms of what works, is more effective and is scaleable.

My experience when running the multiculturalism program, rather dated now, was that small projects, while worthwhile in many ways, had little long lasting impact and that previous strategies have had little impact on the communities most affected:

Saying Canada’s diversity and multiculturalism mean we need a national strategy to combat racism, Premier John Horgan will make his case to the Premiers and federal government today.

Each Thursday Horgan attends a weekly conference call with other provincial and territorial leaders and the Prime Minister. Today he says he will push for a “coast-to-coast-to-coast” strategy to tackle racism.

“I think that lifts up all Canadians and we can identify and recognize that it’s a diverse, multicultural country; better to have a national approach to these issues and having provinces fully supporting those.”

He also took a moment to express his horror at the death of George Floyd in the U.S., and understands the need to protest and have your voice heard right now, despite the pandemic.

“Be responsible to yourself and more importantly, to the people around you,” he asked of British Columbian’s planning to attend protests.

Horgan acknowledged a series of well-known historically racist events and policies, including the Chinese Head Tax, the Komagata Maru incident, aimed at South Asian migrants and ongoing racism towards Indigenous people.

The premier also spoke out recently against alleged racially-motivated attacks against Chinese-Canadians during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: Horgan calls for national anti-racism program; will pitch idea to PM, premiers

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Liberal election promise to strengthen anti-racism strategy, double funding still unmet

2020/06/05 Leave a comment

Given only six months into the mandate and the ongoing focus on COVID-19, somewhat unfair to criticize the government at this stage.

And as noted in the related post (Heather Scoffield: Justin Trudeau says he wants to tackle racism. Ahmed Hussen has a plan), the effectiveness of some of these and previous initiatives is yet to be demonstrated:

As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calls for action against anti-Black racism in Canada following new mass protests over police violence, a promise by his party to double funding and strengthen Ottawa’s national anti-racism strategy remains unmet.

The $45-million strategy, unveiled a year ago and called “Building a Foundation for Change,” provides a framework for a government-wide approach toward tackling racism in the public service and in federal policies and pratices, establishing a $4.6-million anti-racism secretariat in October to oversee such efforts.

The three-year strategy also includes $6.2 million to improve race-based data collection, $3.3 million for public education, as well as $30 million for two programs providing grassroots organizations funding for community-based projects and events.

In the 2019 election, the Liberal Party promised to “strengthen” and double funding for the strategy. While the COVID-19 pandemic has derailed many promises from the election, the party proposed $341 million in new spending over four years to support diversity, anti-racism and multiculturalism initiatives, including $50 million for the current fiscal year.

Brittany Andrew-Amofah, senior policy and research analyst at the Broadbent Institute, said now is a good time to meet its commitment. She said the Trudeau government has yet to offer new action on addressing racism since the election.

“We haven’t seen any legislation or actual policy commitments that they can point to,” she said. “I think the main thing is moving some words to action.”

In recent days, as anti-racism demonstrations have taken place in American and Canadian cities in response to the police killing of George Floyd, a Black Minneapolis man, Trudeau and other federal Liberals have cited the anti-racism strategy as one of the measures his government has taken to address systemic racism in the country.

Andrew-Amofah said while the strategy provides a necessary framework to inform federal decision-making and help to improve policy outcomes for racialized Canadians, at the very least, legislation is still needed to establish permanent guidelines and funding.

She added that any anti-racism strategy should also endorse a shift in policing and justice and consider a directorate that deals specifically with anti-Black racism. Currently, there is no federal anti-Black racism strategy.

“We need to understand that racism does disproportionately impact Black and Indigenous peoples more than it does other races,” she said.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Diversity, Inclusion and Youth Minister Bardish Chagger did not say whether the Liberal government would soon move on its election promise to improve funding for the anti-racism strategy.

“What’s been made clear over the past few weeks is that there is much more work to be done to combat racism,” said director of communications Danielle Keenan. “Our government remains committed to doing that work.”

Keenan added that “while COVID-19 has resulted in a change of programming for many organizations, we remain available to support however we can.”

Recent departmental figures suggest community program funds at Canadian Heritage are well tapped into, with spending nearing or exceeding annual authorities provided. The strategy includes two program funds, the Anti-Racism Action Program and the Community Support, Multiculturalism, and Anti-Racism Initiatives Program. The latter program includes a stream offering funds for projects to support Black youth.

While federal dollars support the work of many grassroots organizations, Andrew-Amofah said more transparency is needed in order to determine whether program funds is truly meeting the government’s priorities in combating racism.

She said program funding should also not divert attention away from whether broader federal policies are actually improving the livelihoods of Black Canadians and eliminating injustices they face. That includes examining poverty, food insecurity, housing and precarious employment.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has called on Trudeau to introduce legislation to end racial profiling at the RCMP, CSIS and Canada Border Services Agency and move to end over-incarceration of Black and Indigenous people in federal prisons.

Singh also said Ottawa can do more to improve access to affordable housing and education for Black and Indigenous people in Canada.

“Those are just some of the things that the government can do immediately that would go beyond the pretty words of a prime minister that says he cares,” he said in a news conference Wednesday,

While Trudeau has spoken about the need for all Canadians, including himself, to acknowledge and combat anti-Black racism in Canada, his government has yet to signal whether it will introduce new policies to support such an effort.

Andrew-Amofah added that since many issues such as housing, education and labour fall largely to the provinces, Ottawa should also consider adding conditions on federal transfers that can compel greater anti-racism action from premiers.

In the election, the Liberals also promised to slap significant fines on social media companies that are too slow to remove hateful content, as well as to increase funding for “community-led initiatives to promote inclusion and combat racism.”

Source: Liberal election promise to strengthen anti-racism strategy, double funding still unmet

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Heather Scoffield: Justin Trudeau says he wants to tackle racism. Ahmed Hussen has a plan

2020/06/05 Leave a comment

Of note, comments by Minister Hussen. As to all the calls for more, worth recalling that the government did increase programming and funding in its first mandate, not only restoring the previous Conservative government cuts but increasing funding significantly (Budget 2018 invests millions in multiculturalism).

And previous government’s have also invested in various plans to reduce racism with mixed results (the Canada Action Plan Against Racism, which I was familiar with, along with some parts of multiculturalism programming, had limited impact. The best part of CAPAR, fortunately preserved, was the collection of police-reported hate crimes).

Better data and more desegregated data in a whole wide areas of sectors would be beneficial as we are seeing with the absence of systemic health-related data for Coronavirus:

Ahmed Hussen, a Somali immigrant and the only Black member of Justin Trudeau’s cabinet, remains deeply disturbed by developments in the United States. He can’t bring himself to talk to his 10-year-old son about the George Floyd video quite yet, although he knows that day will come.

“The reason is simple — it’s because I’m still processing it,” Hussen said Wednesday in an interview with the Star. “It’s such a hard footage to watch — someone who is dying in slow motion right in front of our eyes at the hands of a police officer.

“I haven’t had the strength to have the conversation.”

He chafes at suggestions that systemic discrimination is an American phenomenon that doesn’t happen here in Canada — partly because he has lived it himself. “It’s as Canadian as anything else.”

In the wake of Trudeau’s strong condemnation of racism and discrimination, the question is, now what?

As the minister for families, children and social development, Hussen is in a unique position to do something, and he has a plan.

The first step, he says, is to declare and define the problem.

“Systemic racism is real in Canada, It’s real for millions of Canadian individuals. It’s real for Indigenous and Black Canadians,” he said. “And the sooner we acknowledge that, the sooner we amplify the voices of those who feel that sting of discrimination of racism as part of their lived reality, the sooner we’ll be able to tackle it and to eradicate it.

“Those in positions of leadership have a particular responsibility to call it out.”

The second step is to empower community groups and people working on the front lines of the problem, he says, and make sure they have the resources to deal with the day-to-day issues that differ from community to community.

At a federal level, he says, having data disaggregated by race is key. That way, for example, when he goes to implement housing policy or homelessness policy, he can know whether to pay special attention to a specific challenge. Statistics Canada is ramping up its ability to analyze data by race, he says, and he wants the provinces to join in the effort.

“It starts with recognition and then it goes into being open to the solutions. The best people to offer those solutions are those who live with this every single day,” he said.

Hussen’s plan could be a lifeline for a government that condemned racism and discrimination but this week offered no actions to combat it.

Public condemnations of racism and discrimination are a critical step but community advocates, academics and politicians say words alone won’t resolve these systemic issues.

“Our government officials continue to speak about the existence of racism and discrimination in our country but they do nothing to celebrate, highlight and champion Black communities. What we get is lip service,” said Cheryl Thompson, an assistant professor at Ryerson University’s School of Creative Industries.

“There are many Black people in our government today, and yet, I do not see any outreach, collaboration, or even asking them to lead on any kind of initiative that addresses anti-Black racism head on. Instead, there are ceremonial statements and websites but no action,” she said in an email.

Thompson said one of the best solutions to combating racism is education.

“It’s time to put one’s support where one’s rhetoric is to create a culture where Black people are seen and heard — not only in times of Black death and crisis, but all the time.,” Thompson said.

Grace-Edward Galabuzi, an associate professor in the department of politics and public administration at Ryerson University, said there needs to be a better focus on employment equity with improved job opportunities for racialized, Indigenous, immigrant, women, disabled and youth populations.

“Equitable access to employment should be standardized and become the norm in recruitment, hiring, retention and mobility within organizations and businesses,” Galabuzi said in an email.

And now, as the government looks to nurture job creation in the wake of the COVID-19 shock, Galabuzi said the focus should be on sectors where racialized populations and women are disproportionately represented, such as social services, retail and hospitality.

Ask Kathy Hogarth, an assistant professor at the University of Waterloo, about the solution and she talks passionately not about targeted measures but rather a sweeping effort to change discriminatory attitudes that have taken root over centuries.

“All of our structures in society need to be addressed. This cannot be a singular focus on a singular system,” Hogarth said in a telephone interview Wednesday.

“Canada is based on this framework of racism. Once we’ve made that acknowledgment, then we must rightly ask the question about how we undo that,” said Hogarth, who has done research on issues of immigration, ethnicity and diversity.

That effort extends to elements like the education system and curriculum to teach students about racism, to the justice system and the overrepresentation of Black and Indigenous men, and a health system that “treats racialized bodies so much differently.

Hogarth said the belief that Canada is somehow different than the U.S. only undermines the imperative for change.

“Our national identify is really based on Canada the good and that works against us in the fight for justice,” she said. “We have a huge task before us.”

Source: Heather Scoffield: Justin Trudeau says he wants to tackle racism. Ahmed Hussen has a plan

Filed under Multiculturalism

Sheema Khan: What Muslim Canadians can teach Asian communities about the discrimination that sadly lies ahead

2020/06/04 1 Comment

I suspect the teaching can go both ways, given the historical experience of Asian Canadians with racism (e.g., Chinese head tax and immigration restrictions, Komagatu Maru being sent back to India etc):

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, I remember making a frantic call to Dudley Herschbach, a former chemistry professor at Harvard, to make sure no one was on the Boston-based flight that crashed into the World Trade Center. The next day, he called me back to reassure me that everyone was safe. The relief of his words, however, was punctuated by his worry: that hate was about to be unleashed against Muslims, Arabs and people who looked Middle Eastern. I didn’t quite appreciate the gravity of his words – that is, until they were borne out.

The onset of the coronavirus pandemic is unfortunately reminiscent of 9/11 – except that it is now Asian-Canadians (and in particular, Chinese-Canadians) who have become prime targets of xenophobia. There has already been an uptick in the number of hate crimes. Many in the Asian-Canadian community feel the spectre of racism while out in public.

I have spent almost two decades fighting xenophobia directed against Muslim communities in Canada, from hate crimes to discriminatory employment practices to state-sanctioned rendition policies. I was the chair of a grassroots advocacy group that worked with civil institutions – such as the media, human-rights commissions, school boards and the courts – to advocate that Canadian Muslims be treated fairly in accordance with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. What I’ve learned might be useful for Asian-Canadian advocacy organizations needing to push back on current and future discrimination.

Such organizations should document incidents, no matter how small, because such data is vital for public policy initiatives. As such, there should be ample publicity in community publications about what constitutes an incident, and where individuals can report this information. Currently, the Chinese Canadian National Council has an online reporting form, and there should be open lines of communication with police forces to ensure that any incidents are promptly investigated.

These advocacy organizations should also educate community members about their basic rights as provided by the Charter. For example, no one should face discrimination in housing, education or employment simply due to their cultural heritage or ethnicity. Individuals have the right to be treated fairly at border crossings. Our organization developed a popular pocket “Know Your Rights” guide that is still highly useful today.

With the possibility of a “Cold War” with China, Canadian security agencies might begin interviewing Chinese-Canadians. These interviews can be traumatic, inducing fear. Community members should be educated about their rights prior to such interviews, along with their duty to speak truthfully. Recourse to legal assistance will be necessary. In addition, there should be lines of communication open between advocacy organizations and CSIS.

An important component is the education system. Efforts should be under way to contact school boards to ensure that once students return to the classroom, there will be heightened vigilance of anti-Asian discrimination. In the long-term, Asian Heritage Month in May can be used to educate students about the rich contribution of Asian-Canadians to Canadian society.

All of the above requires human resources and money. As such, members of the business and legal communities need to step up and offer funds and their time. Members of the law profession can provide assistance pro bono, to help community members navigate through the legal system. Many disputes involving discrimination are resolved through human-rights commissions, rather than through the courts. Community members will require assistance to proceed with their complaints.

Chinese-Canadian advocacy organizations should network with anti-discrimination organizations that have a wealth of expertise. Examples of national organizations include the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, the National Council of Canadian Muslims and the Canadian Anti-Hate Network. A common goal should be the declaration of Jan. 29, the day of the Quebec City mosque massacre, as a National Day of Action against Hate.

However, not all of the burden should be placed on the Asian-Canadian community. Every one of us has a role to play to ensure that ours is a safe, inclusive society. Civic leaders have an added responsibility to speak forcefully in favour of inclusion, and any politicians who scapegoat Asian-Canadians for political gain must be denounced unequivocally.

Finally, the coming period will be another crucible for the continuing project of forging our Canadian identity. Post-9/11, Canadian Muslims asked themselves what it meant to be Muslim and Canadian. Without hesitation, we denounced terrorism repeatedly, along with the ghastly practice of “honour killing.” We became more involved in the fabric of Canadian society. We shared our personal stories with the wider public. We developed resilience along the way and gained strength from the loving support of wider society. Our journey is not over, but we extend a hand to our fellow Canadians who are of Asian heritage: we are with you, on yours.

Source: What Muslim Canadians can teach Asian communities about the discrimination that sadly lies ahead: Sheema Khan

Filed under Multiculturalism, Racism Tagged with , ,

The Somali atheist activists who get death threats

2020/06/04 Leave a comment

Of interest:

Somali atheists in the diaspora are running a Facebook group to challenge their community’s Islamic beliefs, but they often receive death threats, writes journalist Layla Mahmood.

“I am going to kill you. I am going to find you. I am going to cut your head off,” was one of the threats that Ayaanle, a Canada-based Somali atheist, received.

“[But] that’s kind of normal,” the founder of the True Somali Freedom Page (TSFP) says sardonically as he talks about the death threats that clog his inbox.

The popular Facebook group, which has more than 80,000 members, is predominantly led by atheists, or “ex-Muslims”, as they refer to themselves.

It was initially inspired to create a safe space for religious discussion and now promotes all forms of freedom for Somalis who feel marginalised by mainstream Somali culture.

Ayaanle did not want to give his full name. He told me how the movement began.

Ejected from group

Around 2016, he stumbled across a Somali Facebook group that purported to be a space for free speech and debate.

“I got into a discussion about religion and everybody just erupted. They went ballistic. They made me feel like I killed someone.”

He was swiftly removed from the group, a common experience for those who express contrary views in this kind of Somali forum.

‘A space to be free’

Ayaanle then felt the only way forward was to create a new platform, with new rules.

“I wanted [the TSFP] to be a place where… people could be free to say whatever they liked.”

A driving force for Ayaanle stemmed from his belief that contemporary Somali discussions about religion had become increasingly restrictive in the aftermath of Somalia’s decades-long civil war.

“Islam is untouchable. You cannot criticise or say anything about Islam.

“Right now the young people are changing, they are a little more tolerant to debates and criticism.

“[But] many of those who grew up in Somalia and came to the West during and after the civil war accept the idea that if someone criticises Islam they should be killed. They really think it’s something valid.”

Hence the death threats that he has received.

“That’s one of the things I want to put out there and what I have the page for – to show that Islam is not untouchable. It can be criticised, it can be debated and it can be talked about openly.”

In Somalia and the breakaway state of Somaliland, blasphemy is a jailable offence, and the TSFP has set out to challenge this.

It campaigned and raised money for the academic Mahmoud Jama Ahmed-Hamdi. He was a university lecturer who was arrested for writing a Facebook post that questioned the validity of praying to God as a means of relieving the drought in 2019.

He served 10 months in prison before receiving a presidential pardon, but is still at risk from vigilante attacks. One prominent imam called for his execution.

The case demonstrates the complexity of how power operates in Somalia and Somaliland, with the line between religious leaders and government being significantly blurred.

Fear of exposure

Somalis have not only been using the group as a platform to debate, but, in some cases, as a means of survival.

Some of the most at-risk groups in Somalia who have put messages on the TSFP are Christians, atheists and LGBT individuals.

These are people who grapple with the constant fear of being exposed and are subjected to attacks and imprisonment.

One way that the TSFP helps is through raising money and the cash has bought plane tickets and helped with living expenses.

This was the case when a Somali Christian woman in Kenya used her publicly accessible identity to leave a comment on the TSFP.

Her identity was quickly discovered and a video of her being dragged out of a taxi in Kenya was widely shared on Somali internet channels. The attackers threatened to expose her because of her criticisms of the Prophet Muhammad on the page.

The TSFP arranged for her to be moved to a different country, where she has now found safety in a Christian community.

Careful investigation

But it is not just non-Muslims, ex-Muslims or LGBT individuals who reach out to the group.

A Somali man living in Sudan contacted the TSFP after being physically attacked on the street by a group of men who he believed ascribed to Wahhabism – a form of Islam that is often associated with a more rigorous and extreme interpretation of the Koran and teachings of the Prophet Muhammad.

He was discovered, following criticisms on Facebook that he made about some Hadith, statements attributed to the Prophet Muhammad. The TSFP arranged for him to be relocated from Sudan to a safer place.

The volume of requests that the group’s administrators get means that those who want help have to be carefully vetted.

“We research and investigate,” Kahaa Dhinn, a Norway-based women’s advocate who has become a leading figure on the page, says.

“We ask their tribe name and their family names. We then look at their Facebook profile and talk to people in the group to see if anyone knows them. If they don’t tell us who their tribe is, we know they’re lying.”

Kahaa collaborates with the TSFP but has a separate Facebook and YouTube account, which she uses as a platform to talk about issues affecting the Somali community.

‘I know where you live’

Her main focus is to empower Somali women, but like Ayaanle, she is also an outspoken atheist, which has made her a target.

“They threatened to kill me with knives and said ‘the Muslims will kill you and you will die in their hands’.

But the threats appear not to dampen her conviction: “I’m not afraid of them. They want to silence me through fear.”

Norwegian arrest

Her fearlessness is emboldened by the knowledge that she lives in a country where threats have consequences.

In Somalia, killings and attacks rarely get investigated but in Norway she has got the police involved.

“Two of the guys who threatened me were using their real profiles and the police were able to arrest them,” she says.

Ayaanle echoes this sentiment but knows that there are some who are not so lucky.

“A lot of Somalis who are on the page don’t show their faces – the ones who say they are non-believers – because they’re scared for their lives,” he says.

‘I feel relieved’

The fact that Ayaanle and Kahaa have distanced themselves from Islam has not meant that they have distanced themselves from being Somali, despite the two being intertwined.

“I actually feel more Somali, like I have my real identity back,” says Kahaa.

But Ayaanle stresses that the group’s intended aim is not to convert Somali Muslims into atheists, or into any other non-conformist identity, but to create an environment that promotes freedom of expression and speech. Something he believes Somalis need now more than ever.

“So, it’s small steps. But we are winning some hearts. We really believe that people should believe what they want to believe and be who they want to be.”

Source: The Somali atheist activists who get death threats

Filed under Multiculturalism, Religion Tagged with , ,

NDP calls for race-based data collection to combat racism, spur change

2020/06/03 Leave a comment

Valid call. Will see whether the government’s Centre for Gender, Diversity and Inclusion Statistics within Statistics Canada starts to generate results and in which areas:

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says the federal government must start collecting race-based data in order to make policy changes that will start to turn the tide on what the United Nations has called the “deplorable” treatment of African Canadians.

Protests against the police-killing of George Floyd in the U.S. spilled into Canada last weekend and Toronto was seized by the death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet, who fell from a 24th-floor Toronto apartment while police were in the home. Her death is under investigation by the province’s police watchdog.

On Monday, Canada’s political leaders tried to address the growing outrage. Mr. Singh proposed firm steps to address anti-black racism in Canada, while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised his government would do more but didn’t outline specific steps or a timeline to act. Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer proposed no new policies but said all levels of government have “much more to do.”

In contrast to protests south of the border, violence at Canadian demonstrations was limited to Montreal, where 11 people were arrested after dozens of businesses were damaged at the tail end of the formal march, which took place without incident.

Mr. Trudeau promised to “keep taking meaningful action to fight racism and discrimination in every form.” That progress in Canada has been too slow though, according to a 2017 United Nations Human Rights Council report on anti-black racism.

Across Canada, the report found disproportionately high unemployment rates for African Canadians, leading to more precarious and low-paid work, and worse health outcomes, where people in black communities are less likely to access health care services and more likely to suffer from chronic health conditions. In Nova Scotia, it found “deplorable” socioeconomic conditions and no change in educational inequities, 30 years after schools were integrated.

While federal leaders acknowledged the persistence of racism and systemic discrimination in Canada, Quebec Premier François Legault denied that it stems from structural problems.

“All humans are equal, are all the same, regardless of the colour of their skin,” Mr. Legault said. The UN report found African Canadians in Montreal have the highest poverty rates among visible minorities in the city.

The UN report recommended a mandatory nationwide policy on the collection of data disaggregated by race, colour, ethnic background, national origin and other identities “to determine if and where racial disparities exist for African Canadians so as to address them accordingly.”

That hasn’t yet happened and without it Canada is missing critical information that countries like the United States have readily available, said Arjumand Siddiqi, Canada Research Chair in population health equity. For example, Canada does not have information about how employment statistics break down along racial lines, making it difficult to know if some groups are being excluded from the suite of financial aid the Liberals have rolled out in the wake of the economic shutdown sparked by COVID-19.

While race-based data is collected in the census every five years, there is no routine collection of data, and on top of that, the data that is collected is not readily available, said Prof. Siddiqi, who is also an associate professor at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health.

The difference between the data available in the U.S. and Canada is “night and day,” she said. Without that data, evidence-based policy changes are stymied and it’s harder to hold governments to account.

The failure to collect the valuable data comes even as the impact of having the information is clear, Mr. Singh said, noting that changes to police carding were only made when numbers laid bare that the practice disproportionately targeted black and Indigenous people.

He said the data collection would help spur systemic changes in policing, the justice system and to inequities in health care, education, housing and employment, which “perpetuates the undervaluing of black life, of racialized people’s lives.”

The Liberals funded a new Centre for Gender, Diversity and Inclusion Statistics within Statistics Canada in 2018. A spokesperson for Innovation, Science and Industry Minister Navdeep Bains did not explain why a separate centre was created rather than integrating it with all of the work done by the federal agency.

Evidence from other countries and small pockets of information in Canada show that poorer people and people of colour are being hit harder by the novel coronavirus. But the Prime Minister acknowledged that collecting that information widely in Canada is an uphill battle, given that at the moment the government doesn’t even have the age data for a “large portion” of the people diagnosed with COVID-19.

Mr. Singh also said he supported the use of body cameras for police officers to ensure accountability and said police need more training in how to de-escalate incidents.

The UN report released a long list of recommendations to the federal government, which included apologizing for Canada’s history of slavery and other historical injustices, as well as considering paying reparations. The federal government on Monday did not say whether it was going to accept either of those recommendations.

Source:    NDP calls for race-based data collection to combat racism, spur change NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh echoed the call made in a 2017 UN Human Rights Council report on anti-black racism in Canada <img src=”https://www.theglobeandmail.com/resizer/06BMxG3XANkkpiQPUyh4FRZLZTY=/0x0:3600×2400/740×0/filters:quality(80)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tgam/OV42UZ73E5JO7BMPP6YND6GQ3I.jpg” alt=””>     

Filed under Multiculturalism, Racism Tagged with , ,

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