Anti-Racism Directorate is working on a plan to tackle
racism
By Neil Armstrong
Michael Coteau, Minister Responsible for Anti-Racism who
oversees the province’s Anti-Racism Directorate (ARD) says there’s “a whole
army of people out there who wants to fight racism.”
Having listened to three to four thousand people
face-to-face at ten public community meetings organized by ARD across the
province last year, he says in early 2017, the ARD will be coming up with a strategic
plan for combatting racism in Ontario.
This will include how they will collect data, what their
educational campaign will look like, and how to apply a race-based lens to what
the government does in policy and decision-making.
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| Michael Coteau, Ontario's Minister of Children and Youth Services/Minister Responsible for Anti-Racism speaking at the podium at an event in 2015. Tony Ince, Nova Scotia's Minister of Communities, Culture and Heritage and African Nova Scotian Affairs listens nearby. |
This happened during the time that Black Lives Matter
Toronto (BLMTO) urged the government to address issues of anti-black racism
manifested in police street checks, also known as carding, and other sectors of
society.
Among its demands, BLMTO called for end to carding and
protested against the police shooting deaths of Jermaine Carby and Andrew Loku.
It also wanted to see an overhaul of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU)
Apart from the ten community meetings, Minister Coteau also
attended smaller meetings with different groups – something he will continue to
do -- and plans to talk about race throughout the year.
“There are lots of people out there, regardless of what
colour they are, or religion or where they live, they want to figure out how
they can work towards equity in the province.”
The minister says there was not one person who spoke at the
meetings that was critical of what the government is trying to do.
“That was one of the first kind of learning points. The
second thing was that people are enthusiastic to help but people are
uncomfortable talking about race in general.”
He says of the ten cities the ARD went to, there were only a
couple mayors, chiefs of police, and politicians outside of the provincial
government who showed up.
“To me, it even said to me that politicians, elected
officials, people in power are uncomfortable talking about these types of
issues.”
Coteau says it’s an uncomfortable conversation but there is
no question in his mind that now more than ever these types of conversation are
important.
“I feel as though what we’re seeing happening across the
province and the country, what we’re seeing happening across the States,
there’s a shift that’s taking place and I think Ontario needs to really
position itself as a place that doesn’t tolerate any form of discrimination or
racism.”
He says Ontario is seen as a province that is constantly
looking for ways to knock down those barriers that exist that hold people back
based on their race or culture.
The minister says one of the things that he found was
important and it occurred to him while in Thunder Bay is that it can’t just be
the province with a strategy, municipalities have to have their own strategies.
“And we’ve got, I believe it’s 444 municipalities across the
province of Ontario, and as far as I know there’s only a couple that have an
anti-racism plan in place.”
He says it is important to recognize the work that’s taking
place in those jurisdictions, learn from what they’ve done and share that with
other communities.
“You have to penetrate deep into municipalities to the daily
lives of people in order to say, wait a minute, racism is occurring, it’s real
and it’s unacceptable. And I think a lot of what we will bring forward will
speak to some of those challenges.”
THE ISSUE OF THE SIZE OF THE BUDGET
Regarding the concern raised by the labour movement about
the small budget vis-à-vis the mandate of the ARD at the meetings, Coteau says
his answer was “we don’t have a plan in place, we don’t know exactly what the
makeup of the organization will look like.”
He says the only thing he knew was that he had a budget of
$5M to support twenty-two full time positions and he had a year to put a plan
in place.
“I thought it was completely appropriate for us to put a $5M
budget together. Going forward, I told people that two things will come out of
it in regard to expenditures. One, we go back to Treasury Board and we align
the new budget based on the realities of that strategy. And the second thing I
thought that was important was to have people realize that you can set a budget
of $5M, $10M, of $20m, $30M, $50M, the real difference is going to come not
through the budget but how you leverage other ministries to make decisions
based on that race-based lens.”
For example, he says, if one is talking about the collection
of data, “we’re talking about the tens of millions of dollars just for the
proper collection of data, maybe in a couple of ministries. If you took
education alone it would be a very expensive endeavor. Why limit the
Anti-Racism Directorate through setting a budget when you can actually set
policy and work with ministries to set direction and then from there have the
ministries take on those responsibilities?”
“It baffles me why people saying it should be $50M or $10M
when no one knows what the actual strategy is and no one really understands how
much we can leverage other existing ministries in order to apply any
anti-racism policies through their ministries. I think it’s important for us to
recognize that there is more to gain by leveraging ministries than there is by
setting a budget at any amount through the ARD.”
A RECENT MERGER OF THE ANTI-RACISM DIRECTORATE AND THE NEW
INCLUSION, DIVERSITY AND ANTI-RACISM DIVISION IN CABINET
Coteau says the recent merger of the ARD and the new
Inclusion, Diversity and Anti-Racism Division in Cabinet means the government
is looking for ways to build a more inclusive Ontario public service.
He says this will happen through making sure that “any of
those barriers that exist, when it comes to the hiring of smart young talented
people who may not traditionally be getting those opportunities, that they are
provided with those opportunities.”
It also allows for looking internally for ways to better
position government when it comes to working with groups that haven’t
traditionally been able to work with them, he says.
“And a perfect example of that is our procurement process in
the province and how groups who may not traditionally work within that
environment, how to bring them into the mix. It could mean honours and awards,
how to get those honours/awards more into the communities.”
He says the government has some opportunities to open up
some doors and work with community groups to get people into appointed
positions, the procurement process and working to be hired within government.
“These are the things that we should be doing as a
government and I am convinced 100% before this government can go out and tell
the world what it should be doing to remove systemic racism that exists, it
needs to ensure that its house is in order. So, I think that that entity
itself, social inclusion, diversity, that entire internal operation with the
ARD, under the charge of Sam Erry who’s responsible, the associate deputy
minister, I think this is a huge game changer for Ontario.”
Minister Coteau says this is a big shift in the thinking of
government in the way it operates and that Mitizie Hunter, Minister of
Education, will move forward with data collection and he will do a similar
thing in children’s aid societies.
“The acknowledgement of systemic racism in child welfare – that’s
a massive shift in thinking, it’s a massive shift in tone. We’ve got some more
things we’re working on internally and I think people will be very happy in the
future as we come forward with more of these types of initiatives. But, for us,
it’s about diversity, inclusion, building a workforce, and providing
opportunities that reflect people who make up this province.”
DID ANYTHING FROM THE COMMUNITY MEETINGS PLAY A ROLE IN THE
NEW LEGISLATION, ‘THE CHILD, YOUTH AND FAMILY SERVICES ACT’? [The Ministry of
Children and Youth Services has made a commitment to implement the
recommendations of the One Vision One Voice report.]
Coteau, who is also the Minister of Children and Youth
Services, says people have been working on the legislation for a long time
within the ministry.
“We paid for that One Vision One Voice, in partnership with
the eighteen union leaders in the Ontario Children’s Aid Societies Association.
We worked collectively as a group to make sure that that project could move
forward.”
He says he’s happy that they “all landed in a place where I
can stand and say that we’ll be embracing and incorporating those
recommendations into our long-term strategy.”
“We think it’s a good document. I still think there is more
work to be done. It doesn’t speak to how we as a community can play a role in
strengthening child welfare, from our individual families and as individuals.
But I think it’s a massive step in the right direction.”
Minister Coteau says the proposed child welfare legislation
says systemic racism is real and it has played a role in the Black community.
“The fact that 40%-plus of the kids in children’s aid are
black in Toronto is unacceptable to me and it’s a shame. I want to work with
community-based organizations or children’s aid societies but I also want to
work with families in Ontario to ask them what can we do to make a difference.
What can we do as a Black community to make a difference? And I think the
health of a community can always be judged on how its children are being cared
for.”
The minister said when he went to northern Ontario, the
Indigenous communities said the same thing to him – that they want more say in
what happens to their children.
“And I say the same thing in the Black community; we need to
have more say, that means participating on boards, it means working with
organizations that understand the cultural aspects of what it means to be on
African descent, and as individuals looking for ways to strengthen our ability
to help these children that need our help.”
The One Vision One Voice report was released last year.
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