Tag Archives: racism

Canada, Events

Socialist Action Marches in Solidarity Against Police Brutality

Mitchell Shore

On May 30, 2020 Socialist Action members marched in solidarity with thousands to protest the death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet. The demonstration, organized by Not Another Black Life, was held in response to the suspicious death of Regis, a 29-year-old Black woman who fell to her death from her 24th floor west-end Toronto apartment while several police were in her home on the evening of Wednesday, May 27.

Earlier that evening, family members called police for help, telling them that Regis was having a mental health crisis. When the police arrived at her home, the family met them in the hallway. Regis’ mother says she urged them to take her daughter to Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) for support. 

While it is not entirely clear what happened next, soon after the police arrived, Regis asked to go to the washroom inside her apartment.  Evidently, several officers followed. Her family, however, was not allowed into the apartment. Soon after, her family heard Regis call out “mom help, mom help, mom help”. At some point later, an officer came out and and told the family that her daughter had fallen to the ground where she died. 

Continue reading Socialist Action Marches in Solidarity Against Police Brutality →

Analysis, Canada

Defeat Legault’s Racist Bill 21

The Quebec government of Francois Legault is bringing forward a bill that would outlaw the wearing of “religious symbols” by public employees. Legault’s Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) holds a majority of seats in Quebec’s National Assembly. Bill 21 would target judges, police and prison guards, as well as teachers.

Premier Legault argues the law is needed to defend “laicité”, the separation of church and state, claiming even-handedness, since the crucifix which was installed 85 years ago in the chamber of deputies during the Duplessis era will be removed from the National Assembly.

In reality, the law is primarily aimed at Quebec’s Muslim community and will overtly discriminate against women with a hijab (head covering) or the smaller number of women wearing the burka (veil). When asked to justify excluding hijab clad women who want to become teachers, Legault replied arrogantly “they will just have to find other jobs.” Removing a face covering would be required to receive public services, even something as simple as riding public transit.

If the law is ultimately declared unconstitutional, Legault will likely invoke the notwithstanding clause. This was famously used to protect Bill 101, Quebec’s language law, a measure that enjoys much greater public support than the victimization of minority women enshrined in Bill 21. Banning head coverings and veils has more support in rural and small-town Quebec. Antipathy to these repressive measures is strongest in Montreal, where most cultural and religious minorities are concentrated.  

Quebec society has been roiled by Islamophobia for over ten years. First cultivated by the right wing populist predecessors of the CAQ, it was then taken up by the Parti Quebecois which tried to foist a “Charte des Valeurs” on the province in 2013. In 2017, a young man immersed in the white racist milieu opened fire at a Quebec City mosque, killing 6 and wounding 19 defenseless worshipers. 

As prospects for Quebec independence have dimmed, there has been a rise of identarian white nationalism giving an opening to right wing populist parties like the CAQ and in turn feeding more extreme manifestations of xenophobia.

Quebec Solidaire has not been untouched by Islamophobia, but in a welcome move it came out against Bill 21 at its recent National Council meeting.

An anti-racist campaign in defense of the rights of Muslim women is gathering steam. Defeating this racist and anti-woman bill will strengthen struggles against cuts in public services, attacks on wages and working conditions, and the ongoing environmental degradation and corporate plunder of Quebec’s natural wealth which is the hidden agenda of Legault’s pro-business administration.

Robbie Mahood, reporting from Montréal  

Analysis, Canada

Of Senators and Eskimos

Some professional sports teams have racist nicknames. Have you heard of the Edmonton Eskimos, the Atlanta Braves, the Washington Redskins, the Cleveland Indians and the New York Jews? O.K., I made up the last one.

Then there is the hockey team known as the Ottawa Senators. It did pretty well in the Stanley Cup playoffs, being eliminated only in the seventh game, in double overtime, in the semi-final round against the Pittsburgh Penguins. So, what’s wrong with the “Senators”? Wait a minute. Are you serious? Do you really have to ask?

What team would want to be named for an institution made up of corrupt, non-elected, party fund-raisers, elitist influence peddlers, and re-cycled Canadian bourgeois politicians?

But think about it.  The political Senators could field a memorable hockey team.

Let’s start with Don Meredith, a 52-year-old preacher and Stephen Harper appointee who plays right wing.  He really knows how to score on 16-year-old young women.  Meredith just “retired” with a big pension after “playing” only six seasons.

Then there are current Senators Patrick Brazeau, Mike Duffy, Mac Harb and Pamela Wallin.  Aren’t they terrific penalty killers?  They claimed travel and living allowances for which they were not eligible.  But they played such good defence that they avoided criminal charges.  In fact, of the thirty Senators investigated by the RCMP, only a few re-paid monies they purloined.

Despite everything that’s happened, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wants to keep the Senate as a home team on Parliament Hill.  I guess it’s because he has season’s tickets. Personally, I think the Senators’ moniker should be replaced by something more truthful.

How about the “Ottawa Thieves?”