Racism In Canada

Although Satzewich & Liodakis (2007) focus on various racial, ethnic, or cultural groups (e.g. Aboriginal or Quebecois peoples), one message seems to resonate throughout the text – those in power craft policy and legislation to maintain their power and control by marginalizing the minority. For example, as Satzewich & Liodakis (2007) point out, legislation was put in place in attempts to “satisfy the French Canadian elite of landlords and Catholic church representatives” (p. 32) and not simply out of respect for diversity; it served as a means to an end (p.32). Similarly, the relative tolerance of Europeans with First Nations and Aboriginal peoples during the fur trade appear to have been motivated economically; when there was less need for

Lastly, immigration procedures and policy in general, as Satzewich & Liodakis (2007) poignantly state, have an “inherent tension...between seeing and using immigrants as a convenient means of solving short term labour market problems and seeing them as [those]...who will contribute to the reproduction of wider social and political relations” (p.44). In reflecting on this quotation, I wonder how far Canada has actually come from our historical racialized treatment of minority groups, or whether our racism is simply less overt. Although not all government relations with minority populations necessarily involved this same dynamic, the seeming prevalence of this trend across the numerous different groups at various times (as described) seems to suggest a more concerning and pervasive problem. I found this article particularly compelling as it linked complex historical events together within a framework of racial tensions and power dynamics. That being said, I would like to have seen some comment as to where we can go from here; as necessary as it is to acknowledge what has happened, this knowledge must be used to alter how we currently approach similar

6 & 9). The seeming frequency with which mistakes are made in CIC’s application processing seems almost inconceivable, with an internal review finding “human error issues in 617 request letters sent to applicants” (Keung, 2015a, para. 12) out of “996 files processed” (Keung, 2015a, para. 12). However, the article does not expand on the effects of the errors in the review; perhaps the “fail[ure]…to use correct form letters” (Keung, 2015a para. 13) did not substantially alter the content of the letter. That being said, if a majority of these errors in communication between CIC and applicants are having grave consequences for the applicant (such as in the case of Damaris Carzon), then this seems unacceptable for the only immigration-processing agency in Canada (Keung, 2015a, para. 16). As well, I think that part of the difficulty surrounding cases where CIC made an error in the application may be that applicants may not have the financial ability to challenge decisions made because of this error (e.g. deportation); the economic marginalization of many immigrant individuals may limit their ability to secure legal counsel to assist them in appealing any decisions made by