The federal government of Canada announced a “Black Justice Strategy” on Wednesday with a press release describing the operation as a countermeasure against “systemic racism” and “anti-black racism.”
The government’s statement says the “Black Justice Strategy” is necessary because of black residents’ “overrepresentation” both as victims of crime and as suspects targeted by police and prosecutors:
Black communities in Canada continue to live with the effects of prejudice, discrimination, and hatred—from unconscious bias to anti-Black hate crimes and violence. These systemic inequalities have resulted in the overrepresentation of Black people in Canada’s criminal justice system, including as victims of crime. To further its work to address these systemic issues, the Government of Canada is working with Black communities to develop Canada’s Black Justice Strategy (the Strategy).”
The governing Liberal Party of Canada credited the Black Lives Matter campaign with raising awareness of “systemic racism.”
At a press conference focused on the “Black Justice Strategy” Tuesday in Ottawa, ON, several cabinet officials in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government described their policies as targeting “racism.”
All of the conference’s speakers framed statistical disparities between racial groups as evidence of “racism” in Canada.
“The murder of George Floyd,” MP Marci Ien, Canada’s minister of for women and gender equality and youth, said, “was a painful awakening to the realities of systemic racism, to the realities of anti-black racism, a reality that black communities across this great country of ours know all too well.”
In October, The Trudeau government stated its commitment to provide $200 million for an endowment fund for “black-focused,” “black-led,” and “black-serving” organizations. It described the project as a “Black-Led Philanthropic Endowment Fund.”
MP Ahmed Hussen, Canada’s minister of housing and diversity and inclusion, said black Canadians endure “disproportionate negative impacts… when they interact with our criminal justice system.”
“Black people face real bias, whether it’s conscious or unconscious,” MP David Lametti, Canada’s minister of justice and attorney general, said. He added, “Racism is real, and it is pervasive.” Appointments of black officials in Canada’s criminal justice system, he determined, amounted to “progress” towards combating “racism.”
Lametti claimed, “Our government has made significant investments in justice for black and racialized people, but we know that we still have a long way to go, We cannot ignore the reality that black people in Canada experience the justice system differently than others.”
Unequal distribution of persons of different racial backgrounds in Canada’s prisons is evidence of “racism,” Lametti held.
“Black Canadians are disproportionately represented in our criminal justice system, both as accused and victims,” he said. “Despite making up roughly four percent of the population, they represent nine percent of the federal prisoner population as of 2020-21, more than twice their portion of the population at large.”
Zilla Jones, a lawyer participating in the federal government’s press conference, said, “Anti-black racism has always been part of the law in Canada.”
Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Toronto who also joined the government’s presentation, stated, “As long as black people have existed here, our legal and our justice institutions have served to oppress them.”
Follow Robert Kraychik on Twitter @rkraychik.
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