Addressing issues with regards to racism and discrimination in a systemic level requires changing of policies and legislations, keeping each sector in check of bias and disproportion, and constructing an empowered and conscious community. Building a foundation for change by removing systemic and microscopic barriers and by promoting inclusivity in each societal locales starts with acknowledgment of gaps, mistakes, and challenges — from the past, present, and in the foreseeable future.
White supremacy in the country affected laws and policies that aimed to discriminate “undesirables” in their community, in workforce, in suffrage, and in education — as examples. In the past, the Canada’s response to minority communities is centred in the values of White supremacy.
In the present, there are still bits and pieces of this supremacy that occurs in certain parts of the country in response to global decolonization with containment of overt racism. This has evolved into the dominance in power of other majority — Christians, cisgenders, Anglo/Francophones, and abled beings. Public education has been slowly adapting core values and strategies that helps advocate for each human rights, highlight equity and inclusivity, and eradicate discrimination against minorities.
To utilize the power of education is essential in molding future generations in creating a society that appropriately responds to global and domestic issues, from policy- and legislation-making, departmental strategies, socio-judiciary responses, and community programs and services.
Re-building the Canadian identity starts with the acknowledgement of wrongdoing in the past, and continues with the propagation of values centred in human rights, equity, and inclusivity.
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