We have much to be proud of in Canada, but we ought to be careful about patting ourselves on the back too much.
Many politicians and academics like to point out how, in contrast to many other countries, Canada does not suffer from violent clashes between ethnic groups.
This is true, for the most part, and is surely something to be happy about, but it isn’t necessarily because Canada has a more tolerant culture and government. In fact, one major reason behind Canada’s lack of violent ethnic strife is the fact that the European settlers so successfully pushed its original inhabitants to the margins very early on in its history. There are no clashes today, not because there are no grievances, but because one group dealt the other a blow early on from which it has not yet been able to recover.
The belief that there is no overt racism in Canada is also naïve. People still regularly shout “nigger” at black people in this country, even if it is not a frequent occurrence in downtown Toronto. Other ethnic groups are not immune to this sort of treatment, either. It doesn’t make headlines, but this sort of daily injustice that takes a heavy toll over time.
So while we should be happy that we are free from the terrible clashes that have plagued countries like Rwanda and Serbia, we should not be so quick to look down our noses at them, at least so long as racial injustices like these persist in Canada.
