Further Thoughts on Systemic Racism

Canada is not a racist country. This should be so obvious that it feels wrong to have to say it. Are we mad?

Yet that is suddenly a common charge. That is the charge when we hear of “systemic racism.”

Of course, there is and has been racism in Canada. We humans are herd animals. Just as we instinctively favour members of our own family over strangers, we instinctively favour people who look like us. This tendency is unworthy of us as Christians, objectively unjust, and we must fight it daily. As St. Paul tells us, there is no Jew nor Greek in Christ. We are all children of the one Father, and so are all brothers.

Claiming racism is systemic in Canada is different. Envy and lust are also instinctive. It does not follow that they are encouraged by “the system.” Rather, the system, our social norms, is designed to restrict them.

Most of the world’s nations are based on race. This is a simple truth. This is considered normative. Black’s Law Dictionary gives its first definition of “nation” as: “A large group of people having a common origin, language, and tradition and usually constituting a political entity.” Common origin is usually assumed. Yet Canadians have no common origin.

The first article of the United Nations Charter, repeating a principle of international law, reads: “All peoples have the right to self-determination.” “A people” generally means an ethnic group; Europe’s borders were redrawn after WWI on this premise.

Unlike other nations, Canada is not, and never has been, based on race or ethnicity. In part, no doubt, this has been a lucky accident of our history. But at a uniquely early stage, before, say, Britain, France, or the US, all were accepted as civil equals, despite race, creed, or place of origin. If you are born in Canada, you are Canadian. If you were not, Canada has pursued for the most part unusually open immigration policies.

The Canadian system of government and Canadian society more generally has developed in a variety of ways to ensure human equality and prevent racial discrimination. One has the right to a fair public trial following established laws and procedures; one has the right to present one's case; one has the right to be judged by a jury of one's peers. Our constitution formally prohibits any laws that discriminate due to race. Our federal system allows minorities to be largely self-governing in order to protect their distinct cultures or regional interests against the majority.

It has been charged that Canada is systemically racist because a disproportionate number of black Canadians—and aboriginal Canadians—are in prison. However, an equivalently disproportionate number of black and aboriginal Canadians report being the victims of crime, with the perpetrators being black or aboriginal. There is, accordingly, no way of saying whether the judicial system, if it is discriminating on the basis of race, is discriminating against, or in favour of, these minorities.

It has been charged that Canada is systemically racist because of the different legal treatment accorded our aboriginal citizens. The charge of different legal treatment is indeed fair here—but this is imposed by treaty, and cannot unilaterally be changed. The Canadian government has long wanted to retire the Indian Act, and cannot without Indian consent.

It has been charged that Canada once allowed slavery. This is technically true; but all nations have allowed slavery at some point. Canada probably had the fewest slaves, for the briefest of times. Most of the documented history of slavery in Canada is the one decade or so between the arrival of the UE Loyalists and the first court cases brought over the matter, which declared slavery illegal. Upper Canada, Ontario, was one of the first jurisdictions anywhere to formally outlaw the practice. 

It has been charged recently that Canada is systemically racist because some ice cream trucks perhaps operating in Canada play the tune “Turkey in the Straw” as their jingle. If there could be something racist about a tune, this would still not constitute systemic racism. It would only be unintentional racism. An interesting debate might then be held on whether unintentional racism is possible: whether we can think thoughts without thinking them. That such a thing is raised as an example of Canada's “systemic racism” is a measure of how hard it is to find racism in modern Canada.

We have no right, no doubt, to be proud of any of this. We are not responsible for the actions of our ancestors, either good or bad. That itself is racist thinking.

But it is no trivial thing to declare this Canadian system, this Canadian society of peace, order, and good government, carefully constructed over these many years by this remarkably diverse population to prevent racism and unequal treatment, itself racist. Perhaps it can be improved in detail; perhaps in some cases it fails to operate as intended. That is not what the term “systemic racism” means. It implies scrapping the system; tearing down all the statues, everything, and starting over. Given that all other systems known to man are more racist than this one, this demand to overturn the system is hardly likely to improve things. It seems rather intended to allow racist instincts free rein.

Given our ethnically and racially diverse population, it almost amounts to a demand for race-based riot in the streets. 

No, strike “almost.”