An inflatable doll is found hanging off the Highway 85 overpass in Waterloo with racist messages. A cyclist approaches a couple walking on the Spur Line Trail in Kitchener shouting xenophobic slurs before brandishing a knife. A driver with her children and mother is followed into a Cambridge parking lot and bawled out by another driver with racist remarks before having her door damaged.

The above is just a small sample of hate-motivated incidents that occurred over an 11-day span last October, around Thanksgiving.

Waterloo Regional Police Chief Bryan Larkin called it disgusting and unacceptable.

“I don’t understand how we land here in 2020,” he told the local media at the time.

In the weeks that followed, there was more of the same.

On Nov. 9, police arrested five youths in Kitchener after two passengers on the LRT allegedly endured racial slurs before being spit on and pelted with stones.

The suspects allegedly brandished a knife and made death threats before setting fire to a garbage container at a plaza on Fairway Road South, then approached another victim at a grocery store. They allegedly spit in his face, threw rocks and hurled racial slurs before robbing him of belongings.

This came amid a rash of racist and hateful graffiti found in various public spots such as local schools.

According to Det. Const. Graham Hawkins with the Waterloo Regional Police Service’s gang and hate crime unit, graffiti incidents were on the rise in 2020, with 55 as of Nov. 26, when he spoke to the Chronicle, compared to 38 the whole year prior.

Not all are hate-motivated, and the increase can be partly attributed to better “front-line reporting” by community organizations and neighbours that now recognize it as something important to document, as opposed to just wiping it away, he says.

Last spring, a family in Waterloo had their property damaged and front door splattered with red paint. A letter left behind included racist insults and a death threat. The Laurelwood community rallied to raise awareness on Facebook and helped the family clean up their home and make necessary repairs.

Whether the pandemic has played a role in fuelling “confused youths” often responsible is difficult to say, but issues in the U.S. have played a role, Hawkins believes.

“Definitely the (George Floyd) situation ignited lot of emotions in a lot of different people,” he said.

While Waterloo Region hosted peaceful protest in 2020, hatred on social media knows no boundaries, according to Dr. Sarah Shafiq, with the Coalition of Muslim Women, who works with organizations such as Community Justice Initiatives to diffuse racial tension and repair rifts created by xenophobia.https://876649dbbfa95685e74ec6ca7a72df13.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.html

Tension driven by the U.S. election — “It definitely impacts us here in Canada,” she said.

“From our side, we’re asking our community to be vigilant. We are expecting this to continue for the short term.”

According to the most up-to-date information released data by Statistics Canada, the number of police reported hate crime in the Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge area dropped to 15 incidents in 2019 — a five-year low compared to 39 in 2018, 53 in 2017, 19 in 2016 and 51 in 2015.

However, Shafiq said those numbers don’t tell the story of what’s happening in the broader community, as only a small percentage of hate crimes are reported to police.

“If a crime or an assault is committed and there’s an element of hate, that is an added factor in the process in the court of law,” Shafiq says. “But if harassment is taking place between neighbours and if there’s an element of race, that element is often disregarded as an aggravating factor.

“There’s a huge gap, and it seems incidents keep happening with burden of proof on victims to record and document and collect evidence.”

Shafiq said there are many incidents people never hear about, like one recently at a local restaurant where owners were distraught dealing with a customer shouting xenophobic comments.

In many cases, the hands of law enforcement are tied and can’t take any meaningful action, Shafiq said.

The resolution rate of most incidents is also low because such crime is usually faceless and happens in the darkness of night, Hawkins said.

Yet issues are being brought to light more now than in the past, he believes.

“We’ve seen definitely a lot better diligence in police services creating that information and awareness for our community,” Hawkins said, adding that the hate unit continues to works with the equity, inclusion and diversity team and community resource officers to improve education and response.

— with files from The Record

The post Hate crime and racism at our doorstep in Waterloo Region appeared first on Blacknews.ca.

Telling your own story through film isn’t easy. Telling it in your first film is even harder. But for Latesha Auger, whose film The Journey of Self-Love was included in a new short film compilation called Being Black in Halifax, it was also a dream come true. 

“The process of telling my story was honestly scary,” Auger says. “There were a lot of things I was hesitant to speak about and didn’t, but what I did include in my documentary was inspirational.”

Auger is one of four emerging filmmakers from Halifax who created short films through the Fabienne Colas Foundation’s Being Black in Canada, a mentorship and creation program entirely dedicated to Black filmmakers. 

It was Auger’s first experience with filmmaking outside of creating her own video projects for YouTube. 

“My experience with this program was life changing,” she says. “It felt good to tell my story and be a part of the lights, camera, and action but it was also something I’ve always wanted to do. Since I was a child, I dreamt of being on the big screens and doing something in the film industry, so in a way that dream came true.” 

Breaking the Cycle of Trauma

Auger’s film explores her own history with intergenerational trauma. Auger grew up with a mother who was suffering from addiction, spent time in nearly a dozen foster homes, and struggled to make her way alone in the world at just 18. Just as she was getting on her feet, Auger found out she was pregnant with a daughter of her own. She feared she wouldn’t be able to break the cycle of trauma. 

Instead, Auger describes bringing her newborn daughter home as “the glue to our puzzle”. 

“Although I wasn’t ready, I knew that it would be the kickstart of what we needed.”

Latesha went on to finish high school and graduate from NSCC. Now she works with Phoenix and with Halifax Housing Help. And her mom has been sober now for seven years. 

“I’ve had to break the cycle of my generational trauma for three people.”

Auger says she hopes the 11-minute film will show viewers the importance of forgiveness, strength, faith, resilience, and perseverance. 

“The quote, “Who you were, who you are, and who you will be are three different people,’ that’s what I hope to share with others,” she says. 

Auger also hopes the film will help shed light on the larger, systematic issues that affect working-class people. 

“A lot of times people are shut out or looked down upon because of a lack of resources and financial struggle,” she says. “I’ve realized that the struggles my mom went through were deep-rooted and complex, but they have been her life experiences to pass on to others in her current work. It’s important to realize that people appreciate life experiences over degrees and certificates.”

The post Latesha Auger Tells Her Story in Being Black in Halifax appeared first on Blacknews.ca.

A class-action lawsuit alleging that Black civil servants have been the victims of systemic discrimination is seeking $900 million in compensation.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court last week, has not been not been certified.

The statement of claim alleges that, while Canada has committed itself to eradicating and preventing racism and inequality as a matter of social policy, there has been “a de facto practice of Black employee exclusion throughout the public service because of the permeation of systemic discrimination through Canada’s institutional structure.”

None of the allegations have been proven in court.

Twelve representative plaintiffs are named in the lawsuit, but it has been filed on behalf of all Black federal public service employees who have been subject to systemic discriminatory barriers in hiring and promotion since 1970.

The lawsuit alleges that legislative action aimed at preventing discrimination has masked the exclusion and marginalization of Black Canadians from equal access to opportunities and benefits.

The Employment Equity Act fails to break down the category of “visible minorities” and ignores the unique invisible and systemic racism faced by Black employees relative to other disadvantaged groups under the act, the lawsuit alleges.

Black Canadians are overwhelmingly underrepresented in the upper echelons of the public service, Toronto lawyer Courtney Betty said in a statement.

“This systemic practice of Black employee exclusion has for decades turned the dreams of many Black employees into a lifetime of pain and suffering.”

Alain Babineau, a 28-year veteran of the RCMP, is one of the representative plaintiffs.

Babineau, who worked for 10 years in narcotics investigations in Toronto and in the security details of three prime ministers, said he first applied to the RCMP in 1981. He was asked by the recruiting officer, “What are you going to do if you are called a (n-word)?”

He was rejected on that occasion and went on to work as a military police officer. When Babineau reapplied to the RCMP in 1984, he said he learned he had been “racially profiled” as a drug dealer in his small Quebec hometown and was rejected again.

“He put that in my file because he could,” Babineau said in an interview on Saturday. “He characterized me as something I was not.”

Babineau obtained character references and filed a complaint with the Canadian Human  Rights Commission. He was hired by the Ontario Provincial Police in 1988 and was later hired by the RCMP, two years after he filed his complaint.

But the barriers did not stop there, he said.

“We get to the academy and it’s automatically assumed that the only reason we’re here is because we’re Black. And it follows you throughout your career,” Babineau said.

“Is it still going on? One hundred per cent it is, but it’s more insidious.”

Babineau retired in 2016 and has since been awarded two law degrees from McGill University.

The RCMP declined to comment as the matter is before the courts.

Among other measures, the lawsuit calls for the federal government to adopt a policy whereby the number of Black employees would reflect, at a minimum, the percentage of Black people in the general population and would include representation at all levels.

The lawsuit also asks for a compensation fund to address the psychological, pain and suffering and financial losses of past and present Black employees.

In a statement, the Treasury Board Secretariat acknowledged that systemic racism and discrimination was a painful lived reality for Black Canadians, racialized Canadians and Indigenous people.

“The government has taken steps to address anti-Black racism, systemic discrimination and injustice across the country. Most recently, the Fall Economic Statement committed $12 million over three years towards a dedicated Centre on Diversity and Inclusion in the Federal Public Service. This will accelerate the government’s commitment to achieving a representative and inclusive public service.”

The September Speech from the Throne announced an action plan to increase representation and leadership development within the public service, the statement added.

“Early in its mandate, the government also reflected its commitment in mandate letters, in the establishment of an Anti-Racism Strategy and Secretariat, in the appointment of a Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth, and in the creation of the Office for Public Service Accessibility.”

Treasury Board Secretariat declined to comment on the lawsuit because it is before the courts.

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When Tisha Samuels walked into her local pharmacy — a Uniprix in LaSalle — she was shocked to discover that the section containing hair care products for Black women was closed off.

From Dec. 25 to Jan. 11 all non-essential stores must be closed and stores that are allowed to stay open can sell only essential products.

Samuels said she was upset to see that hair care products like shampoo and conditioner that aren’t designed specifically for Black hair were available for purchase. Only products aimed at Black consumers were restricted.

The next day, on Dec. 30, she returned to the store with her two friends, Crystal Brooks and Kelsey Walker, to confront the store owner about why the section was blocked off.

Walker took to social media to complain that the store was excluding the needs of Black customers and filmed the interaction with the owner on Instagram live.

“It wasn’t all shampoo and all conditioner and that’s really the issue,” said Walker. 

“It gave us the feeling that we weren’t essential, we as a people weren’t essential. That’s the message that it gave because right across from that section that was blocked off, was all the other shampoos and conditioners.”

The video has since garnered more than 360,000 views. 

In the video, Walker convinces the owner to take down the sign restricting the section of products.

The trio of friends also visited several other Uniprix stores, none of which had these products blocked off.

When he introduced the measures earlier this month, Premier François Legault said limiting the sale of non-essential items would ensure big box stores would not benefit from smaller businesses being closed for two weeks.

But without a detailed list of what is considered an essential good, what is available for sale varies from one business to another.

Uniprix apologizes

In a statement to CBC News, Uniprix spokesperson Darius Kuras said that this incident was the product of an “isolated mistake.”

“Uniprix is committed to offering a safe and inclusive environment to all of its customers. The incident at the Uniprix Dollard Ave location in LaSalle, Quebec was an isolated mistake and has been corrected. We want to sincerely apologize to all of our customers who may have been adversely impacted by this,” he said.

Walker said she feels it’s important to call attention to this incident, which she’s not satisfied writing off as a mistake.

“It comes down to who made that decision. And everyone seems to be deflecting,” said Walker. “Putting up green tape, printing a sign to attach, that’s not a mistake.”

Most of all, with salons closed, Walker said these products are essential, just like any other hygiene product.

“If we don’t use this product our hair won’t thrive the way that it should, it won’t be healthy and it will literally just start to break.”

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