QuakeLab Analysis: Government of Canada Anti-Racism Strategy 2024 - 2028
By Susan Ong
The Government of Canada has released the next iteration of its Anti-Racism Strategy and the QuakeLab team did a speed read so you didn’t have to.
The strategy released this week, 11 June 2024, actually marks the next iteration of the government’s anti-racism strategy. The 2019 strategy, “Building a Foundation for Change” outlined a series of initiatives in terms of engaging people, empowering communities, a whole of government approach. Most powerfully though, it set out to build the foundation by heavily emphasizing the need for disaggregated data and committed 6.2 million dollars towards that effort.
In our analysis, the previous strategy has actually set up that foundation for Change. The iteration released this week, “Changing Systems, Transforming Lives” has taken the 2019 strategy and arrived, armed with a lot of evidence. The policy rationale is packed full of data that demonstrates that racism is, well, real. While that might not seem like a big deal, for many of us in this line of work, this information is invaluable. For a long time, you’ve heard us harp on about the lack of disaggregated race-based data in Canada. Our friends at StatsCan have kicked things into high gear and in the last few years, many if not all of the releases are now taking a more intersectional view. It’s heartening to see what can happen in 5 years.
What is not heartening though, are the statistics. Here is a double edged sword. On the one hand it is powerful to see data and statistics, gathered by the government, that doesn't rely on anecdotal evidence or one off pieces of information - it is concrete proof in numbers that racism is a systemic issue that pervades Canadian society. On the other hand, well, it’s proof that there's an issue with systemic racism.
One of the most striking figures in the document was the following piece of information:
“Using Canada’s Official Poverty Line for comparison, the study found that out of 11 racialized groups analyzed, 10 had higher poverty rates than the White population, with this gap not significantly diminishing across successive generations.”
For a long time, the narrative has been that Canadian multiculturalism is unlike that of our American cousins - we’re not a melting pot, we’re a tapestry. It’s fed the narrative of a halcyon Canadian ideal; that Canada is an egalitarian place, where you don’t have to give up who you are to ‘make it’. The statistics presented by the Government’s own statisticians demonstrates, clearly, that even after three generations since immigration to Canada, Black and other racialised people continue to be disadvantaged long after when we would expect the ‘immigrant penalty’ to have disappeared.
For a company that has always been more interested in the systems that uphold racism, rather than the performative, these facts clearly demonstrate that the system is maintaining the status quo. It is not an accident that Black people are consistently overqualified and underemployed. It is not an accident that the earnings gap is actually bigger for Canadian-origin Black men. And it is not an accident that poverty does not actually get better over generations. When compounded with other elements of intersectionality such as sexuality or gender orientation, the statistics only get worse. What this data confirms is that the pursuit of equity cannot be framed as a moral obligation or a “nice to have”. All the diversity in the world is not going be the solve for the problems that Canadian society faces.
So where does that leave us?
The new strategy, Changing Systems, Transforming Lives, aims to introduce new initiatives and outlines a more comprehensive way to eliminate systemic racism and discrimination. It is more action oriented than the previous strategy, and outlines steps for all levels of government to work together to eliminate barriers and the legacy of white supremacy and colonialism in federal institutions. In crafting this, the federal government conducted comprehensive public engagement, with guiding principles that came from the community. It also recognises the need to ensure that other Government plans such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions 94 Calls to Action, Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Women and Girls, and others feed into this strategy because systems of oppression are interlocked and intertwined. We are heartened to see a number of concrete actions being proposed, such as ensuring that grants are being used directly within communities, and that the application process reduces systemic barriers. There are over 70 federal initiatives proposed within the strategy including measures to reduce the numbers of racialised people in the justice system, measures taken to address systemic barriers in infrastructure and housing and within the immigration system to name a few.
This strategy is accompanied by $110.4 million dollars to implement these measures, which is also critical to actual implementation, and not just a strategy that gathers dust on a shelf. If the new Strategy can continue to build upon the foundation laid in 2019 and deliver upon the measures outlined within, there are plenty of reasons to be cautiously optimistic about the future.
In the coming weeks, QuakeLab will be sharing more in depth analysis of every aspect of the strategy, what we expect, and how it may affect you personally and professionally. Subscribe to the monthly QuakeLab newsletter and follow us on Instagram and LinkedIn to make sure you don’t miss it. We’re also excited to work with you and your team to ensure you’re well positioned for a more equitable future and Canada.
TLDR; Key items in the strategy
Below are some important highlights of the strategy and how it’s implementation will be approached
Priority Areas and Actions
The Strategy prioritizes action in the following four priority areas:
Promoting economic, social, and cultural empowerment
Advancing racial equity in immigration, health, and housing systems
Driving justice, law enforcement, intelligence, and public safety systems reform
Using international engagement to inform advancement on racial equity and inclusion at home
To deliver results across these four priority areas, the government will:
Establish systems and explore legislation to boost accountability and make systems more inclusive
Prioritize and support communities as experts in combatting racism by placing their voices at the centre of decision-making and providing necessary resources
Strengthen relationships between orders of government, with national and international partners, to drive progress and create positive change in Canada
Strategy guiding principles
Nothing About Us Without Us: Ensure that communities most affected by racism are active collaborators in implementing the Strategy.
Trauma and Violence-Informed: Establish safety, empathy, and compassion when supporting communities with lived experience of racism.
Anti-Racist, Anti-Oppression, and Intersectionality: Address how people’s lives are shaped by intersecting identities and multiple forms of oppressions.
Flexibility: Maintain the capacity to offer rapid responses to the evolving self-defined needs of communities.
Integrated, Holistic Approach: Center the work on understanding and addressing how interlocking systems perpetuate racism.
Evidence-Based and Data-Driven: Ensure that all action is informed by community voices, disaggregated data, and the academic research.
Honouring Unique Histories and Intergenerational Harms: Recognize the experiences of racism as well as the historic achievements of populations targeted by racism.