What is wrong with Canada? Spurious claims of racism.
Leaders who allege system racism in one of the least racist countries on Earth
I have heard Justin Trudeau and Jagmeet Singh, among others, allege Canada is riddled with “systemic racism” yet, in my opinion, Canada may be the least “racist” country on Earth. Why do our political leaders foment this divisive narrative? Is it only about obtaining and keeping power or do they actually believe Canada is a racist country.
The case for “systemic” racism in Canada is weak except for out country’s deplorable treatment of First Nations since long before Confederation was formed. Unlike many countries, Canada has a formal constitution, a charter of rights and privileges, a human rights code and tribunal and high penalties for hate crimes. What part of that system is “systemically racist”?
Evidence of systemic racism should manifest itself in macroeconomic data and not just in anecdotes of racist treatment of individuals by other individuals from time to time. Sure there are racists in Canada but their existence, even their prevalence, does not make Canada “systemically racist”. But many people allege systemic racism either defining themselves as victims or worse, claiming others they don’t know are victims of racism at the hands of other people they don’t know and generalizing (the fallacy of composition) from a handful of racist events publicly decried in our news media.
Why would our news media even decry a racist event if our country was “systemically racist”. Our news networks are part of our system.
The real questions Canadians should ask themselves when confronted by the shrill speeches of left wing leaders claiming we are a racist nation are simple:
Relative to what other country?
What is the evidence?
I wrote an earlier article setting out the case that allegations of “white privilege” are a left wing charade driven by a desire to further divide rather than unify Canada. I ask myself - this white privilege, how does it manifest itself in China, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, or Afghanistan for example? Do white people enjoy some special privilege when abroad? Or is it simply the case that in any society the majority of the population enjoy a culture and system of government they have established over long periods which newcomers from other cultures may find foreign or offensive? I am sure I would enjoy no particular “white privilege” if I traveled to Yemen or Nigeria and in Islamic nations I might find the culture established over centuries of Islamic society offensive in its treatment of women, adoption of Sharia Law, or attitude towards homosexuals.
Turning to Canada, I often see reports claiming there is evidence of racism in the income difference between Black Canadians and Canadians as a whole, which those articles claim evidences racism in that the average income of a Canadian black person is lower than that of an average Canadian. Hard to argue? Hardly.
The largest determinates of an individual’s income are education and experience, which manifest themselves demographically in age. Younger people suffer lower incomes than their elders. On average, every decade of age is correlated with growth of about $5,000 of annual income, based on data from Statistics Canada CANSIM files.
The median age of black Canadians is 29.6 years while the average age of Canadians in total is 41.1 years. Given the growth of income over one’s career and smoothing that growth for simplicity, you would expect a 30 year old to earn $6,350 per year less than a 41 year old, regardless of race or color.
Another key determinant of household income is whether it is a two parent or single parent household. Households with one parent have lower incomes than those with both present. Two incomes tend to be greater than one. Sadly about 30% of black families in Canada are single parent while only 10% of non-black families are single parent, according to Canadian census data.
Household income for a single parent family aged 25-34 is on average $35,559 and for a single parent household aged 45-54 is $57,840, a difference of about $22,000 per year.
The median income for black Canadians is reported as $35,310 per person and for non-black Canadians is $47,487, a difference of about $12,000. Adjust the median incomes for black versus non-black Canadians and the “income gap” virtually disappears.
There are other areas where “systemic racism” directed against visible minorities should manifest itself, but doesn’t. In the house of commons, 15.1 percent of the current crop of parliamentarians are visible minorities. While that is less than the 22.9% visible minorities comprise of the Canadian population, adjust the total to eliminate the 26% of Canadians who are children and the percentage of visible minorities falls into line with the ethnic mix.
Canada has 105 senators, 23 of whom are from visible minorities or 22%. People over 75 are ineligible for Senate seats and when you adjust the numbers to remove children and people over 75, the percentage of visible minorities in the Senate is about double the percentage in the population as a whole. Again, no evidence of “system racism” in Canada’s choice of Senators and, if anything, visible minorities enjoy a preference.
The Ontario legislature is another example where 29 of 124 seats are occupied by visible minorities, or about 21% of the seats versus about 16.9% of the population who would be eligible to run for election to the Ontario legislature. Again, no “systemic racism” is evident.
So ask yourself, why does Justin Trudeau or Jagmeet Singh loudly proclaim that Canada is “systemically racist” and that you need to elect them to “fight for social justice”? It seems transparent to me - by creating a class of “victims” of “racism” and setting themselves up as the leaders to remedy this injustice, they believe their chances of election are improved. Why else would they do it?
Canada is not a racist country and in my opinion is the antithesis of a racist country and those prospective leaders who seek to politicize “racism” for personal advantage should be voted out of office at the earliest opportunity. We need leaders who unify, not divide, and Trudeau and Singh just don’t qualify. Neither does Annamie Paul, but her chances for any meaningful leadership are so small she can safely be ignored.