This page is reserved for shameful public statements made by politicians or other stakeholders about im/migrants and communities of colour that demonstrate the face of racism in Canada.
A 1966 Memo of the Assistant Deputy Minister of Immigration bluntly stated, "it should be mentioned here that one of the policy factors was a concern over the long range wisdom of a substantial increase in Negro immigration to Canada. The racial problems of Britain and the United States undoubtedly influenced this concern which of course still exists today..."
Quoted in Verma, Veena. "The Mexican and Caribbean Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program: Regulatory and Policy Framework, Farm Industry Level Employment Practices and the Future of The Program Under Unionization". North South Institute, Power Point Presentation, November 2003, http://www.nsi-ins.ca/ensi/doc/CS_WAP_Regulatory_Veena_V.ppt
M.P. of a rural constituency, HW Danforth claimed
we need this labour…and these people are used to working in the heat. They are used to working in agriculture, and they are satisfied with the pay scale…of Canadians do not want to work this job-many of them do not, and have expressed this feeling in no uncertain terms-then I say that the producers of this nation are entitled to offshore competent labour from wherever it may come ...if these people are willing to work under the conditions prevailing in Canada today and produce crops for Canadian consumers."
Quoted in Nandita Sharma, "The Social Organization of Migrant Workers in Canada," CRSA/RCSA 38.4 (2001): 423.
Question 7: If your country in not yet party to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and members of their families, please indicate:
a) What are the considerations which may have prevented its ratification or its accession to the Convention?
Government of Canada Citizenship and Immigration Canada Canada does not have a class of Migrant workers per se. Any non-Canadian who is authorized to work in Canada is protected by the same employment standards legislation as Canadian workers, and has the same access to government programs and services for workers. As such, we have no immigration policies in this regard that are inconsistent with international human rights instruments and have no discriminatory policies and practices against migrants in our laws for us to remove.
From Canadian Heritage Website: Human Rights Program, Responses to Specific Questions http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/pdp-hrp/docs/questionnaire/question07_e.cfm
Taped conversations among Ontario Provincial Police officers at the Ipperwash standoff in September 1995 reveals overt racism. A day later Dudley George, a native protestor among the many at Ipperwash Provincial Park, was killed by an OPP officer.
"Is there still a lot of press down there?" one officer says.
"No, there's no one down there. Just a great big fat fuck Indian," replies another.
"The camera's rolling, eh?"
"Yeah."
"We had this plan, you know. We thought if we could get five or six cases of Labatt's 50, we could bait them."
"Yeah."
"Then we'd have this big net at a pit."
"Creative thinking."
"Works in the (U.S.) South with watermelon."
Source: Tape reveals racist police comments at Ipperwash standoff, CBC, Wed, 21 Jan 2004
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/01/21/newipperwash040121
Politicians' racism on record:
"It looks like we just get all the garbage (immigrants) from Ottawa" (Joe Li, Toronto Star, Feb. 6, 2002)
"Sir, you can go home now, we've cleaned out your cage." (Harvey Grigg, Vancouver East Conservative Candidate, responding to a question on affairs in the Middle East, when a member of the audience heckled him, June 9, 2004, CTV News)
"B.C. gets no protection from an immigration department that imports literally thousands of criminals into British Columbia who prey upon law abiding citizens "(Darrel Stinson, MP, Hansard, April 27 1998)
"Immigrants are choking welfare systems, contributing to high unemployment, and many cannot read."(Art Hanger, Canadian Press, February 2, 1994)
"Do you notice that in Toronto there has been increased crime from certain groups, like Jamaicans?" (Art Hangar, Toronto Star, March 14, 1994)