IDC3O1 Racism in Canada Mr. Porteous Racism in Canada Read

IDC3O1
Racism in Canada
Mr. Porteous
Racism in Canada
Read these two articles about racism in Canada.
http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/out-of-sight-out-of-mind-2/
http://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/columnists/glavin-canadians-have-no-reason-to-be-smug-about-race
1. What is the author of this Maclean’s magazine suggesting when he says, ”Canada’s race
problem? It’s even worse than America’s.”?
2. Why does he make the comparison between Canada’s treatment of aboriginal people and
America’s treatment of African Americans? The author of the Ottawa Citizen piece makes the
same suggestion!
3. What are the main issues?
4. What is their evidence?
5. Which evidence do you find surprising?
6. Which evidence do you find most impactful?
7. According to the authors of these articles, why don’t we see the racism?
8. How do the authors suggest that our laws (the Indian Act, voter laws, Chinese Head Tax, etc.)
have affected the aboriginal population historically and even in the present day?
IDC3O1
Racism in Canada
Mr. Porteous
9. The author of the Maclean’s article has a list of potential people/institutions that we might
blame for the problem.
a. What, off of this list, needs to change?
b. If it did change, how would it change the way aboriginal people are treated by the rest
of us?
10. If our racist treatment of aboriginal people is “out of sight, out of mind!” What about our
treatment of other ethnic minorities? According to the Ottawa Citizen article,
“But Canada harbours its own disgraceful legacy. Down through the decades,
scores of federal and provincial laws isolated, dispossessed and ghettoized one
racial or ethnic minority after another. Asians weren’t allowed to vote in Canada
until the late 1940s; federally-registered Indians had to wait until 1960.”
Pick another ethnic minority in Canada and research their treatment by “white”
mainstream Canadians. How have they been treated when they first came to
Canada? Have any laws been passed that affected these groups? Here are some
other ethnic groups that have settled in Canada:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Ukranians
Italians
Russians
Irish
Mexicans
11. How does our racist treatment of aboriginal people spill into the world of sport?