Canadian voices on racism

September 9, 2020 | Opinion | Volume 24 Issue 19
Virginia A. Hostetler | Executive Editor
A Black Lives Matter protest in Montreal, Que. this past June. (Photo by Ying Ge/Unsplash)

What follows is a companion piece to "White Mennonite static" by American scholar Tobin Miller Shearer.

To read

  • Mennonite Church Canada offers several resources, through its office of Indigenous-Settler Relations, including the “TRC Trilogy”: Wrongs to Right; Yours, Mine and Ours; and The Quest for Respect. Borrow or purchase from commonword.ca.
  • The Skin We’re In. Journalist Desmond Cole documents incidents of systemic racism in Canada, one for each month of 2017. 
  • The Inconvenient Indian. Author and activist Thomas King offers stories and insights on the experience of Indigenous peoples in North America. 
  • Cracking Open White Identity towards Transformation. This eight-session resource for group study was published by the Canadian Council of Churches. Borrow from commonword.ca.

To listen

  • Colour Code. This 11-part podcast series, produced by the Globe and Mail, includes interviews with authors, academics, artists and leaders on various aspects of racism in Canada. 
  • The Secret Life of Canada. This CBC podcast includes perspectives from BIPOC communities.

To watch

  • CBC Gem (gem.cbc.ca) free streaming service includes:
    • A long-running documentary series, Maamuitaau, tells stories, in both Cree and English, of the James Bay Crees;
    • We Need to Talk: Addressing Systemic Racism in Alberta. A virtual town hall on systemic racism in Alberta, through firsthand accounts; and 
    • Unmasking Racism. A virtual town hall about systemic racism in the workplace, the media and in day-to-day interactions in British Columbia. 
  • National Film Board of Canada (nfb.ca) has a list of documentaries on anti-racism, for free streaming, featuring Indigenous, Black and people of mixed ancestry, and people of Asian descent. 

Related story:
White Mennonite static

A Black Lives Matter protest in Montreal, Que. this past June. (Photo by Ying Ge/Unsplash)

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