The Daily — Police-reported hate crimes, 2015 (with annual 2008-15 data)

2017/06/14 Leave a comment

The annual Statistics Canada hate crimes report. Three charts to summarize the latest report in comparison with previous years. The first chart shows the total number by category:

The second shows how the percentage of hate crimes against ethnic groups has shifted over time:

Lastly, this chart shows how religiously-motivate hate crimes have shifted, with the increase of hate crimes against Muslims notable:

Hate crimes rose by 5% in Canada in 2015, largely due to an increase in incidents targeting certain religious and ethno-cultural groups, specifically the Muslim population and Arabs or West Asians. For the year, police reported 1,362 criminal incidents that were motivated by hate in Canada, 67 more than the previous year.

These findings are included in the new Juristat article “Police-reported hate crime in Canada, 2015” released today.

Police-reported hate crimes refer to criminal incidents that, upon investigation by police, are found to have been motivated by hatred toward an identifiable group, as defined in subparagraph 718.2(a)(i) of the Criminal Code of Canada. An incident may be against a person or property and may target race, colour, national or ethnic origin, religion, sexual orientation, language, sex, age, mental or physical disability, among other factors. In addition, there are four specific offences listed as hate propaganda offences or hate crimes in the Criminal Code of Canada: advocating genocide, public incitement of hatred, willful promotion of hatred, and mischief motivated by hate in relation to religious property. Police determine whether or not a crime was motivated by hatred based on information gathered during the investigation and common national guidelines for record classification.

Overall, police reported 469 Criminal Code incidents in 2015 that were motivated by hatred of a religion, 40 more incidents than the previous year. These accounted for 35% of hate-motivated crimes reported in 2015.

Police-reported hate crimes targeting the Muslim population increased from 99 incidents in 2014 to 159 incidents in 2015, an increase of 61%. At the same time, the number of police-reported crimes targeting the Jewish population declined from 213 in 2014 to 178 in 2015. Hate crimes targeting the Jewish population accounted for 13% of all hate crimes, followed closely by hate crimes targeting the Muslim population (12%).

Approximately 10% of the population in Canada were part of a non-Christian religion in 2016. According to recent projections by Statistics Canada, the number of people in Canada with a non-Christian religion could almost double by 2036. Within this group, the Muslim, Hindu and Sikh faiths would see the number of their followers grow more quickly, although still representing a small portion of the population overall. In 2015, a number of police services increased outreach to ethnic groups, including Muslim communities. In addition, the National Council of Canadian Muslims made efforts to encourage reporting of hate crimes to police.

Increase in hate crimes against Arab and West Asian populations

From 2014 to 2015, the number of police-reported crimes motivated by hatred of a race or ethnicity increased 5%. Much of this increase was a result of more hate crimes targeting Arab and West Asian populations (+33%). Although down in 2015, crimes targeting Black populations remained the most common type of hate crime related to race or ethnicity (17% of all hate crimes). Overall, 48% of all police-reported hate crimes in 2015 were motivated by hatred of a race or ethnicity.

National increase in hate crimes driven by more incidents being reported by police in Alberta

In all, 8 of 10 provinces reported an increase in the number of police-reported hate crimes from 2014 to 2015. The increase was most pronounced in Alberta, where police reported 193 hate crimes compared with 139 the year before (+39%). This increase was primarily driven by a higher number of police-reported crimes motivated by hatred against the Muslim population (+12 incidents), Arab or West Asian populations (+10), Black populations (+9), and the Jewish population (+8). It should be noted that Alberta also reported an overall increase in their 2015 crime statistics.

In contrast, in Ontario, which historically records close to half the total number of hate crimes in Canada (46%), the number of police-reported hate crimes declined by 5% from 2014. The decrease in Ontario was primarily driven by fewer police-reported hate crimes motivated by hatred against the Jewish religion (-30 incidents) and against the Black population (-19).

From 2014 to 2015, police-reported crime motivated by hatred against the Muslim population increased in all provinces except Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, and Saskatchewan and Manitoba, where the totals remained virtually the same.

Number of hate crime incidents grows in four of Canada’s ten largest census metropolitan areas

Chart 1  Chart 1: Police-reported hate crimes, by census metropolitan area, 2015
Police-reported hate crimes, by census metropolitan area, 2015

Chart 1: Police-reported hate crimes, by census metropolitan area, 2015

More than 80% of police-reported hate crimes in Canada occurred in census metropolitan areas (CMAs). The 10 largest CMAs in Canada, home to over half of Canada’s population, accounted for 71% of hate crimes in 2015. The three most populous CMAs of Toronto, Montréal and Vancouver together accounted for 43% of police-reported incidents in 2015.

Of the 10 largest CMAs in Canada, 4 reported more hate crimes in 2015 compared with the previous year, while 5 reported fewer such crimes. Vancouver reported the same number of incidents in 2015 as in 2014. The largest increases in hate crime incidents were reported in Edmonton (+45 incidents), Montréal (+39) and Kitchener–Waterloo–Cambridge (+23).

The increase in the Edmonton CMA was driven by more reported hate crime incidents against a race or ethnicity (+25) and against a religion (+17), mainly targeting the Muslim (+8) and Jewish (+7) populations. The number of hate crimes in Montréal was attributable to 33 more reported incidents targeting a religion. Of the additional incidents, 20 of these targeted the Muslim population. In the CMA of Kitchener–Waterloo–Cambridge, counts were primarily driven by more incidents targeting different races or ethnicities (+12) and religions (+10).

Increase reported in number of female victims of violent hate crimes

Females were more likely to be victims in incidents targeting a religion, and the presence of female victims in violent crimes motivated by hatred of a religion increased in 2015. That year, 53% of these victims were female, compared with 40% in 2014. The increase in female victims of religious hate crimes is attributed to an increase in female victims for Jewish and Muslim hate crimes from 2014 to 2015.

Victims of hate crimes targeting a sexual orientation are most likely to sustain an injury and know the accused

Police-reported hate crimes targeting sexual orientation declined 9% for the year, down from 155 incidents in 2014 to 141 incidents in 2015. They accounted for 11% of the hate crimes reported in 2015.

Unlike other types of hate crimes, almost 6 in 10 of reported crimes motivated by hatred of a sexual orientation were violent. This compares with 45% of anti-race or ethnicity offences, and 24% of anti-religion hate crimes. Just over 4 in 10 victims of hate crimes targeting a sexual orientation (42%) reported an injury, compared with victims of violent crimes motivated by hatred of a race or ethnicity (29%) and of a religion (12%).

Victims of violent hate crimes targeting sexual orientation were more likely to list the relationship as acquaintance or family member (47%). This compares with victims of violent crimes motivated by hatred of a race or ethnicity (36%) and of a religion (26%).

Violent hate crimes increase in 2015, but still account for less than half of hate crimes

Violent offences accounted for 38% of police-reported hate crimes in 2015. Violent offences included such things as assault, uttering threats, and criminal harassment. Overall, the number of violent hate crimes increased 15% from the previous year, driven by increases in common assault and uttering threats.

From 2014 to 2015, the total number of non-violent hate crime incidents increased by 5%. Mischief, which includes vandalism and graffiti, was the most commonly reported offence among police-reported hate crimes, accounting for 44% of all hate crime incidents in 2015.

Source: The Daily — Police-reported hate crimes, 2015

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Australia: Queen’s honours list awards diversity, multiculturalism and Indigenous service | SBS News

2017/06/13 Leave a comment

Another illustration of the differences between Australia and Canada: this article highlights in a positive sense that 1.6 percent of the Australian honours list (equivalent to the Order of Canada) are from visible minorities or Indigenous peoples (or have made major contributions to these communities).

By way of comparison, in Canada 2013-16 Order recipients were 4.7 percent visible minority, 3.3 percent Indigenous peoples (The Order of Canada and diversity):

The list of almost 900 Australians included a dozen honoured for their contribution to Indigenous Australia and fourteen honoured for their contribution to multiculturalism and diversity.

Source: Queen’s honours list awards diversity, multiculturalism and Indigenous service | SBS News

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‘It is a battle for hearts and minds’: Trudeau’s $35 million gamble to counter radicalization

2017/06/13 Leave a comment

No easy solutions but these approaches are part of the toolkit. Small change compared to security expenditures:

A growing number of experts are advocating for a more holistic approach to countering violent extremism — one that attempts to address community grievances and feelings of social exclusion, he said.

Still, some say the terrorist propaganda and violent narratives on the Internet and social media sites — often infused with glorious references to past and valiant warriors — cannot be ignored and efforts must be made to squarely refute  their often misleading claims.

“It is a battle for hearts and minds,” Shaikh said.

Some of this is already happening in Canada. In 2015, Public Safety Canada threw its support behind a video project, Extreme Dialogue, that highlighted the stories of individuals who had walked away from extreme Islamist groups or far-right groups, as well as family members impacted by extremism.

Last year, Montreal’s Centre for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence created a comic book that used humour to try to address some of the underlying causes of radicalization.

But do these counter-narrative campaigns ring hollow for their intended audiences? And how do you gauge success? By clicks and web visits?

Phil Gurski, a former CSIS strategic analyst, said trying to deconstruct and counter every piece of propaganda ends up being a never-ending game of “whack-a-mole.” He suggested putting more emphasis on alternative narratives, for example, emphasizing Muslim empowerment and success stories.

But that still leaves the question of how to deal with individuals who are more deeply entrenched in their radicalization, such as foreign fighters who have returned to Canada. About 180 Canadians are known to have participated in terrorist activities overseas — mostly in Turkey, Iraq and Syria — and about 60 have returned.

If police fear someone may commit a terrorism offence, but don’t have enough evidence to charge them, they have sometimes gone to court to apply for peace bonds, which temporarily restrict an individual’s movements. But as the case of Aaron Driver showed, these bonds cannot always be relied upon to prevent violence.

Driver had been the subject of a peace bond that restricted access to his computer and cellphone and barred him from possessing firearms or explosives. Yet, last August, the Islamic State sympathizer was able to shoot a martyrdom video and get into a taxi with a homemade bomb before being shot and killed by police in Strathroy, Ont.

For those not quite as far down the path of radicalization, police in Toronto last year announced they had been experimenting with an early intervention model, not dissimilar to the one in Britain. Individuals deemed at-risk for violence are steered to “hubs” of community representatives who assess whether they might benefit from spiritual guidance, family counselling or mental-health support. Calgary police have a similar program in place.

Yet this approach creates other conundrums: Should such voluntary programs be mandatory? And should the goal be “de-radicalization” — the suppression of extreme ideology? Or is it more realistic to settle for “disengagement” — allowing a person to continue to harbour radical ideas so long as they do not resort to or support violence?

“The dangers to democracy are obvious here and not at all easy to reconcile,” Littlewood said. And, “success in one year may be undone two or three years later,” he added.

Whoever takes the helm of Canada’s new counter-radicalization office is in for a “mind-boggling” ride to try to create a coherent national framework for best practices, Gurski said.

“I don’t know if we’ll ever know what works,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it.”

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Les questions de diversité divisent les péquistes

2017/06/13 Leave a comment

The PQ coming to terms with diversity, and its preference for a softer “encouragement” approach than one with more fixed objectives and processes:

Les 400 délégués du Parti québécois ont refusé dimanche d’appuyer les propositions phares destinées à attirer plus de Québécois d’adoption et de jeunes contenues dans le rapport « Faire partie de la solution » de Paul St-Pierre Plamondon.

Après que l’exécutif national eut rejeté les appels de l’ex-candidat à la chefferie du PQ à réserver des postes dans les exécutifs de circonscription à des personnes issues de la diversité, les délégués d’un conseil national spécial ont voté dimanche contre une proposition édulcorée proposant de « favoris [er] la présence d’au moins une personne de la diversité » dans cette instance.

Selon un militant de Saint-Henri–Saint-Anne, le PQ a raté une occasion en or d’« envoyer un bon message d’ouverture », et ce, moins d’un mois après avoir été taxé par des membres de Québec solidaire de « porter en lui » la « bête » du racisme.

Les délégués avaient été convoqués à Drummondville afin d’entériner la feuille de route d’accession vers l’indépendance avalisée par tous les membres des Organisations unies pour l’indépendance (OUI Québec). Mais, entre-temps, Québec solidaire a renié sa signature au bas de l’entente de principe. Le PQ s’adapte à cette « nouvelle conjoncture politique », a souligné le président sortant du PQ, Raymond Archambault.

Dans ce premier Conseil national « post-convergence », la déléguée de l’exécutif péquiste de la circonscription de Vachon, Marie Imatta Pierre-Lys, a appelé ses confrères et consoeurs à battre la proposition de M. St-Pierre Plamondon, puis à déployer toute leur énergie à rédiger un « beau programme qui va inclure tout le monde » en vue des élections générales de 2018. « Avant tout, je me considère comme une Québécoise. Que je sois noire ou femme, mes intérêts sont comme [ceux] de toutes les autres personnes. Si je me présente à un poste de conseillère, [il ne faut]pas que je sois favorisée parce que je suis noire, mais par d’autres qualités que j’ai », a-t-elle déclaré lors du débat.

L’émissaire de l’exécutif de Berthier, Patrick Gaétan Parent, a aussi voté contre la proposition de l’exécutif national, estimant que le concept de « diversité » prête à différentes interprétations : il n’est pas seulement ethnoculturel. « La diversité, c’est beaucoup plus que ça. C’est pas juste d’être noir. Ça, ça se voit vite quand on est noir », a-t-il illustré, suscitant des rires amusés… et des rires gênés.

Le résultat du vote, à main levée, était flou. « Proposition rejetée », a pourtant lancé le président d’assemblée sous le regard ébahi de M. St-Pierre Plamondon. « Je pensais qu’il [le vote] avait passé », a-t-il dit dans un impromptu de presse dimanche soir. Il a attribué le rejet de sa proposition principalement à l’intervention de Mme Pierre-Lys. « Ç’a beaucoup influencé le débat. C’est une bonne nouvelle dans la mesure où quelqu’un issu de la diversité au sein du PQ nous dit : il n’y a aucun problème au Parti québécois sur le plan de la diversité », a-t-il affirmé à moins de 15 mois des prochaines élections générales.

Il ne se satisfait pas pour autant du refus opposé à cette proposition centrale de son rapport « Faire partie de la solution » par les délégués. D’ailleurs, l’avocat promet de revenir à la charge avec une proposition similaire au congrès national du PQ en septembre prochain. « Malgré les succès individuels que certains ont pu avoir […], on a de l’ambition, on veut plus de diversité. Donc, je continue à penser qu’il faut mettre des mesures pour favoriser des places à des Québécois d’adoption ou des Québécois issus de la diversité. »

Quotas ou pas, la volonté du PQ de recruter en grand nombre des Québécois issus de la diversité culturelle (16 % de la population québécoise) qui partagent à la fois ses « valeurs », ses « propositions » et son « objectif indépendantiste » est réelle, a fait valoir le chef du parti, Jean-François Lisée. Il s’est fixé dimanche l’« objectif » de présenter au moins 20 candidats issus des communautés culturelles (sur 125) aux prochaines élections générales. « Je ne dirais pas qu’il y aura un quota, a-t-il précisé. C’est un souhait. C’est un objectif. » Mais, chose certaine, ces candidats ne seront pas tous dépêchés dans des circonscriptions imprenables, a promis le chef péquiste.

Source: Les questions de diversité divisent les péquistes | Le Devoir

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Too many Canadians don’t recognize the Islamophobia in their country

2017/06/13 Leave a comment

Melayna Williams on Islamophobia:

Indeed, plenty of work has already been done to capture, contextualize and fully understand what Islamophobia means. A paper published in 2011 by the Ontario Human Rights Commission highlights the “negative stereotyping and discrimination as a result of pre-existing perceptions of Muslims as ‘different’ from the rest of Canadian society, along with negative associations of their communities with violence and terrorism” in the decade following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City.

These problems even occur in institutions that pledge tolerance and inclusion, like Canadian universities. Following the Quebec City mosque attack, Muslim students publicly recounted incidents that are part of their daily reality: the defacing of posters for a conference on Islam at Durham College and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology; and the distributing of anti-Muslim flyers and insults on student election materials at McGill University, the University of Calgary and the University of Ottawa. A student at Simon Fraser University was told to remove her hijab, and horrifyingly, last year, a woman had her hijab pulled, was punched and spat on in a grocery store in London, Ont.

We don’t need more evidence—yet there’s still denial by many white Canadians. Exercising privilege in this way has clear detrimental effects, argues Tim Wise, an anti-racism writer and activist. “That white Americans don’t by and large see what people of colour see doesn’t mean that white folks are horrible people, of course,” he writes in an essay called “White Denial.” “What it does suggest is a degree of isolation and provincialism that should lead us to think twice before pontificating about a subject that we simply don’t have to know nearly as well as those who are the targets of it.”

This is why “recognition of Muslims as part of the fabric of this country is so critical,” argues Shirazi. Many Canadians have the luxury of not acknowledging racism, and they’ve done so to the extent that white denial has become its own narrative. Any attempt to ignore the problem—or treat its victims as “other”—undercuts any effort toward inclusion in the next 150 years.

Source: Too many Canadians don’t recognize the Islamophobia in their country – Macleans.ca

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Graduation season sparks pride — and hope — for Black community [private school bursaries]: James

2017/06/12 Leave a comment

Good initiative to improve the opportunities for Black Canadian kids and improve the diversity of private schools, even if numbers are small. Of particular note are the efforts made to prepare them for the private school [elite] experience, :

It’s that time of year when graduates leave a lump in our throats and hope in our hearts.

The awkward child who found purpose and now clutches a diploma. The son who struggled mightily just to stay in school, before connecting with a teacher who cared beyond duty and made all the difference. The brilliance and awesome wonder of youth on a mission.

It could be found in the hundreds walking from Westview and C.W. Jefferys to York University in the annual statement that education is the path out of the social housing traps.

Or the 40 or so who will graduate from Crawford Adventist Academy, an independent church school where 38 of them will go on to tertiary education. Not just once. Every year.

To prepare for the annual season of uplift, I attended an unusual recruitment drive at North York Civic Centre last week. Hundreds of parents and students of African and Caribbean descent were kicking the tires on a schooling opportunity that’s as rare and unlikely as, well, as a Black kid at Upper Canada College (UCC).

Oh, that’s not so rare? Not anymore? So I discovered.

Since 2007, 120 Afro-Caribbean students have received scholarships to attend the elite private schools known to churn out prime ministers and business moguls. Most of the 120 have been to UCC. But the tables displaying recruitment literature last week boasted about the rarefied life at Branksome Hall, Havergal College, St. Clement’s, Crescent School, Sterling Hall, Royal St. George’s College, Appleby College and others, 20 in all.

These elite private schools brag about low teacher-student ratio, high academic standards and expectations, deep and worldwide alumni network, a balanced and varied school life and the making of solid men and women out of unsteady boys and girls.

And here they were reaching out to Black students — the very students we fret about every time we peruse reports on dropout rates and lagging academic achievement in our province’s public schools.

The parents and their children in tow are a mix of wonder, anticipation, anxiety and resolve. These are families willing to take a path less travelled, one that begins far from their familiar neighbourhood and class and friends and promises to land the voyager in unimaginable places.

The pioneers file reports of launching out into a world where few look like them, sound like them, have their experiences. “I told him he’ll likely be the poorest kid in the school, but to hold your head up,” one parent tells the gathered mass looking for tips on what life is like at the schools of the privileged, where a $30,000 tuition tab is not unusual.

They go in timid and tentative. By November their chests are out. They are leaders, articulate, sure-footed, integrated and part of the UCC brotherhood or the sisterhood at Havergal.

“A new world has opened to them. They can shine,” says Anne White, who helps prepare the students for the unexpected world of Canada’s elite private schools.

Just after the Year of the Gun (2005) the Ontario government funded the African-Canadian Christian Network (ACCN) to administer grants to various church-based organizations committed to community “ministry.”

I know about this because then-premier Dalton McGuinty announced the funding at my church, where Amon Beckles was shot and killed on the front steps while attending a funeral of his slain friend. The idea was that churches might be able to reach “at risk” youths that government institutions were unable to contact.

One funding success is the creation of outreach to African and Caribbean families to prepare them for entrance exams and the steps to apply for scholarships to attend elite schools.

“We got an invitation from (former) principal Jim Powers of UCC,” recalls Cheryl Lewis, executive director of ACCN. “He’d looked around and saw the tapestry of his school did not reflect the city. So, he offered two boardings (residential places) for boys.”

The ACCN was a fledgling organization. The government funding allowed it the capacity to reach out to several churches and establish the educational initiative. Word got out. Parents and students took up the offer to prepare the applicants for life at the elite schools.

Just outside the council chamber at North York city hall I’m surrounded by male and female Black students, in crested uniform, waxing about their experiences. The head spins.

Source: Graduation season sparks pride — and hope — for Black community: James | Toronto Star

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How Prejudice Can Harm Your Health – The New York Times

2017/06/10 Leave a comment

Good and revealing article by Khullar:

Long before the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King declared health inequity the most shocking and inhumane form of injustice, W.E.B. Du Bois wrote that “the Negro death rate and sickness are largely matters of condition and not due to racial traits and tendencies.” Before Du Bois made his case, James McCune Smith — the nation’s first black doctor — carefully detailed the health consequences of freedom and oppression.

These men grasped an insight that modern researchers and policy makers often fail to make explicit: Discrimination, especially when chronic, harms the body and the mind. How we treat one another, and how our institutions treat us, affects how long and how well we live.

We tend to think of discrimination as a moral or legal issue, and perhaps, in the case of immigration, an economic one. But it’s also a medical issue with important public health consequences. A growing body of evidence suggests that racial and sexual discrimination is toxic to the cells, organs and minds of those who experience it.

Research suggests that discrimination is internalized over a lifetime, and linked to a variety of poor health markers and outcomes: more inflammation and worse sleep; smaller babies and higher infant death rates; a greater risk of cancer, depression and substance use. The cumulative burden of discrimination is linked to higher rates of hypertension and more severe narrowing of important arteries in the heart and neck. Even the telomeres at the end of our chromosomes, which act as a sort of timer for aging cells, can shorten.

Discrimination, of course, is only part of the health equation. Individuals are not doomed to disease because of their circumstances. Health and illness are the result of a complex interplay between genetics, behavior and environmental conditions. But experiencing persistent bias can tip the scale.

In one study, researchers asked black women to complete questionnaires on how often they experienced minor “everyday” discrimination, as well as major instances of unfair treatment in housing, employment or with the police. They then followed the women for six years, and found that those who had reported more frequent discrimination were more likely to develop breast cancer. The more pervasive the reported discrimination, the higher their risk.

This remained true even after adjusting for more than a dozen other factors like family history, education level, physical activity and use of hormonal supplements or oral contraceptives. Similar work has found that discrimination is a strong predictor of lower back pain in black patients — but not in white patients, who were less likely to report discrimination and for whom discrimination was unrelated to pain.

Those who endure chronic discrimination not only experience more stress, but may also process it differently. To test this theory, researchers used surveys to assess the extent of lifetime discrimination that black and white patients had experienced. They then injected patients with phenylephrine (a chemical similar to adrenaline) and found that black patients had a larger temporary increase in blood pressure than white patients. Those who had experienced more discrimination had the largest rise of all.

These effects start early. By fifth grade, black and Hispanic children are already more than twice as likely as white students to say they’ve experienced discrimination at school. (About 7 percent of white children also reported discrimination, and online bullying is a growing problem for students of all backgrounds.)

Children who experience discrimination have higher rates of depression, A.D.H.D. and other behavioral problems. And teenagers who endure more discrimination — racial slurs, physical threats, disrespectful behavior, false accusations — are more likely to have disrupted cortisol levels, elevated blood pressure and higher body mass index years later.

Most studies have focused on the health effects of what researchers call interpersonal discrimination, including harassment, “micro-aggressions” or even just the anticipation of prejudice. But an emerging literature is also exploring the role of structural discrimination — the social and economic policies that systematically put certain groups at a disadvantage.

Researchers have tried to calculate structural bias by using racial differences in four domains — political participation, educational achievement, employment and incarceration. Blacks, for example, are 12 times more likely to be imprisoned than whites in Wisconsin, but only twice as likely in Hawaii. In Arkansas, the unemployment rate for blacks is 3.6 times higher than for whites; in Delaware, they’re employed at similar rates.

These unequal social conditions foster unequal health outcomes. Blacks in states high in structural discrimination are more likely to have heart attacks than blacks in low-discrimination states, and black women are more likely to give birth to babies too small for their gestational age. (Data is mixed on whether whites in these states do better or worse.)

In a revealing study of historical data, researchers found that before the abolition of Jim Crow laws, the black infant death rate was nearly 20 percent higher in Jim Crow states versus non-Jim Crow states. This disparity declined sharply after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, such that the gap had essentially closed a decade later. Still, the caustic effects of segregation persist: Blacks in segregated neighborhoods remain at higher risk for hypertension, chronic disease, violence and exposure to environmental pollutants.

Research is also identifying harmful inequities for white Americans along geographic and socioeconomic lines. Whites living in rural areas, compared with those in metropolitan centers, now contend with many of the same structural challenges that worsen health: less education, lower incomes, higher unemployment rates and poorer access to medical care. They increasingly feel that they, too, face significant discrimination. In some counties in the Midwest and South, the death rate for white women in their 40s has doubled since 2000.

Other work has found that gays and bisexuals living in states that institute policies restricting their rights — like same-sex marriage bans or lack of workplace protections — are more likely to develop depression, anxiety and substance use disorders. And a recent studysuggests that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, conferred large mental health benefits to eligible Hispanic adults, who were nearly 50 percent less likely to report symptoms of major depression compared with noneligible people at risk of being deported.

As important as specific policies may be, the general social and political climate probably has broader and longer-lasting effects. Even if they haven’t experienced bias themselves, members of minority groups may develop a hyperawareness for cues of mistreatment, and this sustained vigilance can lead to chronic stress, mood problems and poorer health outcomes. For example, amid a sharp rise in anti-Arab sentiment after the Sept. 11 attacks, women with Arabic names — but not other women — had an increased risk of preterm birth and low-birth weight babies.

If Dr. King’s moral arc does in fact bend toward justice, it still has a long way to go. When people are marginalized, even unintentionally, it inflicts a toll. Discrimination raises many moral concerns — but also, it seems, many medical ones.

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Alt-right vs. Antifa: How a political clash is turning the Internet into battleground

2017/06/10 Leave a comment

Disturbing trend towards vigilantism:

The four men charged after a self-styled “Canadian patriot” and far right provocateur was allegedly beaten and robbed in Ottawa on Saturday will appear in court later this month, but that’s not enough for Kevin J. Johnston.

“We need a name. We need an address. We need a phone number,” Johnston urges his followers after posting video on his Freedom Report website that shows a photo of a man Johnston claimed instigated the attack.

The call for online action is a nasty tactic of the increasingly volatile conflict between the far right and the far left that’s playing out in Canadian cities. Opponents on the left (the ‘Antifa’ for anti-Fascist movement) say they’ve received death threats and been the victims of “doxxing” — having personal information published online — as retribution from the far right or “alt-right.”

One man Johnston targeted is Kevin Metcalf, a member of Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, who says he was at the Hill protest as an observer, shooting pictures and video of people at what was billed the “Million Canadian March.”

Johnston posted a video Tuesday showing Metcalf’s picture and called him “a coward, domestic terrorist and stalker of women.”

“If you see this man, you have to assume he is armed,” Johnston told his followers. “We have to get this guy behind bars, people. Get him behind bars now.”

Metcalf says he was on Parliament Hill conducting interviews around 11:30 a.m., the time it’s alleged Johnston was assaulted in Confederation Park. He says he’s considering legal action against Johnston over the online video.

“It’s concerning. I’m certainly taking precautions,” Metcalf said Wednesday. “I’ve received death threats before but since he published the video it’s increased exponentially.”

As an advocate for free expression, Metcalf has attended a number of rallies like Saturday’s march on Parliament Hill, which drew an eclectic mix of about 300 to 400 people, including groups such as the far right Soldiers of Odin and Jewish Defence League of Canada. Though billed as a pro-Trump rally by the American alt-right website Breitbart, the Ottawa demonstrators’ wrath was aimed at the Canadian government’s anti-islamophobia motion, M-103, as well as issues such as carbon taxes and Liberal spending.

Does freedom of expression cover someone such as Johnston, who rejects being labelled as “far right” but wants the Qur’an banned in Canada and has called Liberal MP Iqra Khalid an “islamic terrorist”?

“It’s a tough landscape to negotiate,” said Metcalf, who describes himself as being left-leaning personally. “There’s a protective right in Canada for free expression. At the same time, we recognize the important role that counter speech plays in fostering public discourse. So when people show up and say ‘Hey, you’re a bunch of racists. We don’t want you in our community, that’s also free expression. That needs to be supported and protected.”

Like the Million Canadian March demonstrators, Saturday’s counter-protest drew a mix of social justice advocates, including black-clad, balaclava-wearing members of a group calling itself Anti-Fascist Action. Metcalf said many of the counter demonstrators are “college-age, white and of relative social privilege” who track right-wing groups’ activities. They’ve taken to wearing masks to protect themselves from “doxxing” and online attacks, he said.

Source: Alt-right vs. Antifa: How a political clash is turning the Internet into battleground | Ottawa Citizen

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Mixed race isn’t black and white: Paradkar

2017/06/09 Leave a comment

Paradkar on mixed race/unions:

Mixed-race couples account for only 4.6 per cent of all unions in Canada, according to a Statistics Canada report last updated in 2013.

The offspring of such a couple are often described as being “exotic” or “post-racial.” These positive stereotypes often apply to those who look closer to white or have elitism on their side. Think Keanu Reeves, think Drake.

As the children born of mixed heritages get further from whiteness, problems of racism or colourism crop up, even from within families. White parents who deny their own privilege can also be blind to the racializing experiences of their children, Chang found after interviewing 68 families for her book Raising Mixed Race.

The idea that “by their birth they bridge the divide between races is a myth,” Chang says. “Birthing mixed kids does not fix racial issues.”

Zainab Amadahy, 62, knows this only too well. She is mixed race of African-American, Cherokee, Seminole, Portuguese and Amish descent. Her mother was white, her father Black and in the Jim Crow era that normalized segregation, her mother’s parents disowned her. Internalized racism meant it wasn’t smooth sailing on the racial front on her father’s side, either.

“My father’s people were very shade-ist,” she told the conference audience. “Upward mobility meant being lighter, marrying into light skin.”

Amadahy identified as Black and as an activist, was easily accepted as one. “In those days, to talk about being mixed race was to claim light-skin privilege,” she says.

One of her earliest memories involves waking up to New York City cops rousing her father out of bed one night in the ’60s and then punching and kicking him down the stairs. He came back beaten and bruised the next day. There were no charges against him. Turned out the police had mistaken him for someone else. No apologies either. “That was my introduction to the idea that cops were not safe.”

School? As the only Black in school with her siblings, she remembers being assaulted, beaten up. “It was my white mother, of all people, who taught me how to defend myself, sent us all to karate school.

“She was a follower of MLK and didn’t believe in violence, but I guess that was theoretical when it came to her own kids being beaten up.”

In the days when “mixed” in America meant white mixed with black, her Indigenous roots stayed in the background. It was only when she came to Toronto as a 19-year-old that she got involved with the pan-Indigenous community and felt freer to explore that side of her heritage.

Indigeneity is anything but in the background for Dani Kwan-Lafond, who is Chinese, Indigenous and French-Canadian. She and her partner, who is Jewish, have a little girl.

Mixedness comes with challenges for a parent, not the least of which is, “Do I put her in native school in Toronto? Or do I put into a French school?”

“Certainly, she sees a lot of Asian faces, both Chinese and Filipino,” Kwan-Lafond said.

“But being Indigenous is something different. We have these mixed identities . . . and one of those identities is a really politicized one in Canada . . . we do a lot more in our house around Indigeneity than we do around Asianness.”

Kwan-Lafond wonders: “As a parent, how do I bring her up in a good way with a community of elders and listen to my teachings? How do I also acknowledge those other parts of identity?”

So, they end up celebrating a number of traditions. “We do Chinese New Year, Passover. We do Pow Wows.

“It’s a complicated situation, but it’s our normal.”

Intermingling may not have the inherent ability to solve racial inequalities, but with considered parenting, it can offer a genuine shot at moving past tribalism.

Amadahy considers her background a blessing. “It has allowed me to move in and out of communities, have passion for many, many stories and to question our socially constructed ideas of identity.”

Source: Mixed race isn’t black and white: Paradkar | Toronto Star

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France and Britain should stop the blame game over integration: Yakabuski

2017/06/09 Leave a comment

In other words, praise for the Canadian model of civic integration, based on reasonably coherent immigration, settlement, citizenship and multiculturalism policies and programs:

The truth is that neither the French nor British model of integration has been a success. But neither model in itself is to blame for the radicalization of young Muslim men, and some women, that has occurred within each country’s borders. Ethnic minorities face systemic racism in both France and Britain. These young men often become radicalized not because they are Muslims, then, but in reaction to the racism of which they, their friends and their families are victims. I’m not suggesting this is universally the case. There are radical imams in both countries who actively seek out vulnerable young minds to warp.

British writer Kenan Malik, the author of Multiculturalism and Its Discontents, argued in The Guardian in the wake of the November, 2015, terrorist attack in Paris that killed 130 that an ideal integration policy would “marry the beneficial aspects of [the French and British] approaches – celebrating diversity while treating everyone as citizens, rather than as simply belonging to particular communities. In practice, though, Britain and France have both institutionalized the more damaging features – Britain placing minorities into ethnic and cultural boxes, France attempting to create a common identity by treating those of North African origin as the Other.”

France and Britain have both experienced repeated attacks since, with each country focusing far more in the aftermath on strengthening security measures and identifying potential terrorists than on addressing the alienation of young minorities in their midst. Instead of criticizing the other’s model of integration, France and Britain would each be better off fixing the flaws in their own.

Source: France and Britain should stop the blame game over integration – The Globe and Mail

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