jazibkg said:
Please see this video by Globe and Mail on just one form of rampant discrimination in this society http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/news-video/video-rich-country-poor-nations-11-startling-statistics-about-the-disparity-between-indigenous-people-and-the-rest-of-canada/article22852873/
Also read this article on police behavior in Canada, the first thing you will read is about "The Saskatoon Freezing Deaths" where the police takes a first nations person and leaves them to freeze to death due to hypothermia on the edge of town or beside a highway; another is the #1 shooting of a Syrian man (by the police) on a Toronto streetcar. http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-stories-that-prove-police-are-just-as-terrifying-in-canada/
To know more about the saskatoon freezing deaths, take out the time to watch this award-winning documentary http://www.nfb.ca/film/two_worlds_colliding/
And of course, the syrian knifeman incident is well documented if you go on looking on the internet.
However, "all is alive and well" in Canada according to the people of this forum. In reality, it is taboo here. And its good that you are taking the time out to speak out about it. It is time we discontinue being a nation of apologists.
I have seen the videos. I am shocked and appalled to say the least; and I was not aware of the existence of these videos until now. Since I immigrated to Canada five years ago, and these incidents happened much before that, they did not come to my attention. So thank you, for posting these. Picking up drunken or misbehaving aboriginals from their homes or elsewhere (who are not dressed warm), and leaving them on the outskirts of the city to die in the dead of night due to hypothermia, during peak winter - this is a violation of basic human rights and amounts to extra-judicial killing. Unfortunately, incidents like these do not seem to provoke us anymore and there is absolutely no accountability in the system. In the rare event of a trial being held, a predominantly white jury, drawn from within the community tends to sympathize with the white police officers and exonerates them. It appears, justice in this country is meant only for white people, not for visible minorities and aboriginals. In the United States as well, one can observe this pattern being repeated wherever there are police atrocities on minorities and the jury is drawn from within a predominantly white community. We have become indifferent to these atrocities and take the prevalence of discrimination in Canada, as we take for granted, the presence of air and water. Visible minorities and aboriginals are disproportionately targeted by the police in Canada. Toronto Police has a controversial practice called carding, wherein they stop and question people, and record their personal information on a card (and hence the name carding). That personal information goes into a police database. It has been found that people who have been stopped and questioned in this manner, then somehow figure in further investigations. This is an invasion of privacy and breach of a person's human rights. Visible minorities in Toronto are disproportionately being targeted for carding. The sad part is, we, the visible minorities and aboriginals have little recourse. I suspect, as many as 90% of atrocities and incidents of discrimination don't even get reported due to fear of retaliation, or absence of trust/faith in the judiciary/legal system to offer appropriate remedies. I know that from personal experience, because when I am discriminated at work by white colleagues, I often tend to ignore and not complain, lest I be branded as a "trouble-maker", "race-baiter" or lacking in ""cultural-fit"; phrases that white managers often use to castigate and disparage inconvenient visible minority employees. I once complained about a white employee in the operations department at BMO who would repeatedly shout on me in front of others and talk in a rude, insulting and disparaging manner. This white employee was then verbally reprimanded in private by her manager. This white BMO employee then, went on my back and influenced key white stakeholders against me, who suddenly turned hostile to me without any provocation from my end. I was totally taken aback at their change in behaviour and they gave bad feedback about me to my manager. My white manager then used that feedback as an excuse to spoil my performance rating. Later, I was conveniently "laid off" due to "lack of work"(not terminated) as part of a re-org. From an employee who received 14 awards and a solid performance rating in BMO, I suddenly became a bad employee and was let go. This is an example of what will happen if a visible minority or aboriginal ever dares to complain against a white employee.
Now, you may question...why did I not sue BMO (ie file a lawsuit alleging discrimination). Well, you see, employers in Canada have a strangle-hold on your career. There are only five banks in Canada. If you sue a bank, its unlikely it will ever hire you back, as you will be deemed as an enemy or someone inimical to their interests. Also, lawsuits are public records, and therefore, they will show up in any background checks which are invariably conducted. So its like washing your dirty laundry in public, which is not going to do any good to your career. In addition, if a prospective employer finds out that you sued a former employer upon being let go, that prospective employer will think twice before hiring you, given the precedent. He might very well think, "if I ever let this person go, then he might sue me as well". Therefore, if a minority or an aboriginal files a lawsuit, it will act as a deterrent in being hired for any job. It is my observation that white people tend to easily believe other white people, even if they are strangers. So if your former manager decides to bad-mouth you, your career in this little country with a small economy is pretty much over. In addition to all this, employers need to issue a Record of Employment (ROE) to the employee after separation. That ROE states the reason for separation - dismissal, lack of work etc. There is a remarks column as well where an employer could write pretty much anything they want to. After issuing a "without cause" dismissal ROE, once an employee files a lawsuit, out of vindictiveness, an employer could very well, issue a "for cause" ROE. That's a career killer for any minority or aboriginal. As it is, there is no lack of reasons for prospective employers to reject us and we are already being discriminated on various grounds during the recruitment process. We don't want to give them another big reason to reject us in our job search. If you are wondering how a "not for cause" dismissal ROE which has already been issued, could be converted to a "for cause" dismissal, read this remarkable story:
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/03/28/canadas-richest-woman-battles-former-ceo-in-court.html
In this particular case, a dispute arose between the former white male CEO of a company and its majority shareholder/owner, who happens to be the richest woman of Canada (white, ofcourse). After the white male CEO rendered 8 years of service to her company, he was dismissed "without cause". But after he filed a lawsuit, the company suddenly found reasons to turn his "without cause" dismissal to a "with cause" dismissal. As a white male CEO with lot of social connections, he might get away with this to some extent. But no doubt, it will tarnish his reputation and while we may never know, I suspect, some good employment opportunities won't come his way due to the prospective risk that potential employers are likely to perceive with his alleged behaviour. In addition, this white CEO being a lawyer, a for-cause termination might trigger a review of his membership to the law society to which he might belong. Having a "good moral character" is usually one of the requirements to be a member of any law society. It might also cost him future awards such as Order of Canada, membership of any provincial awards (such as O.Ont, OBC etc). A for-cause termination does have a ripple effect in terms of subsequent costs and a blemish attached to it. Now, if so much can potentially happen to a white male CEO who belongs to the privileged class of Canada, just think, what is likely to happen to a visible minority or an aboriginal who has been dismissed for cause? We will be mercilessly smothered and will become a pariah, no employer will ever want to touch us even with a barge-pole. So its not always wise for a minority or aboriginal to file a law-suit against an employer, even though the temptation might be huge. The balance of power is heavily loaded in favour of employers (who are usually white). Also remember, you (visible minority or aboriginal) will be fighting a lawsuit with your own hard-earned money which would have begun to dwindle due to lack of job, while your white manager will be fighting the case with the corporation's vast financial and legal resources. Moreover, when companies like BMO terminate their employees, they dangle a severance which is contingent on the former employee waiving off their legal rights to file a lawsuit. This is how big companies bribe terminated employees and protect themselves. Even if a terminated employee does not sign such a waiver, its a David versus Goliath type of fight. Who do you think will win? So minorities and aboriginals face a double whammy at work - first they face discrimination, then they are terminated, and then, they have little legal recourse, due to all the aforementioned barriers. So most of the visible minorities and aboriginals tend not to enter into a legal confrontation and white managers continue to get away with murder in Canadian corporations. White Managers in Canadian corporations are aware of the significant barriers that visible minorities and aboriginals have in terms of legal recourse, lack of employment prospects and their inability to get others to believe in their version. Therefore, White Managers seek to exploit that situation to their advantage. That in turn, reinforces the common perception amongst aboriginals/minorities, of patent unfairness, unjust behaviour, blatant disregard for law/corporate policies/human rights and further encourages white managers to abuse their discretion. I have also observed that even if a visible minority/aboriginal employee complains to Human Resources (who are invariably white), they always tend to side with white managers. From my personal experience, I can assert with 100% confidence, that the entire system in Canadian corporations is rigged and loaded against visible minorities and aboriginals. Many visible minorities and aboriginals who work in Canadian corporations in particular, and those who live in Canada in general, tend to either reconcile to their fate and make peace; or enter into confrontation, then lose invariably and consequently become bitter with frustration at the sheer unfairness that they have had to experience.
If you are a visible minority in another country and you are well educated, speak good English, have a stable job that pays a decent salary or a business that is doing well, have a family there that loves you, and the political situation in your country is stable (ie no civil war that endangers your life) - then I can assure you that the grass in Canada is certainly not greener than that in your country. So think twice before immigrating to Canada. You could meet the same fate as many of us here who are probably regretting our decision now. Here is one more story from Huffington Post titled, "Racism Is Canada's Problem Too - Let's Talk About it"
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/craig-and-marc-kielburger/canada-racism_b_5845284.html
No less than the Conservative federal minister for multi-culturalism. Tim Uppal was the object of racist remarks. You can very well imagine what lesser mortals have to go through in Canada. In an article titled, "The persistence of racial inequality in Canada", Toronto Star highlights the prevalence of racial discrimination across Canada.
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/2012/03/20/the_persistence_of_racial_inequality_in_canada.html
. I also come from a hardened country, so naturally I only see this as a mere kids bullying each other incident which needs no further seriousness added to it. Those kids were probably juvenile anyway, and there is little the law in Canada can do about anything, let alone such minor cases of assault. There are murderers and sexual assailants roaming free in Canada because the law's hands are practically tied in this matter, and violent criminals are let free after a few years or so of 'rehabilitation', then when the next few wave of crimes happen, they get re-arrested. 