Anti-Black Racism Resources

Tools

Anti-Black Racism Analysis Tool for a Radically Equitable COVID-19 Response

Governments, non-profit agencies, foundations and community groups can use the Anti-Black Racism Analysis Tool for a Radically Equitable COVID-19 Response to develop effective responses to the COVID-19 pandemic that pays attention to the unique and distinct histories, experiences and needs of Black people.

e-Learning

Criminal Record Disclosure E-Learning

A new online tool is available to help those with a police record to better navigate the job-seeking process. Learn how to proactively and transparently disclose a police record to a potential employer.

Call It Out

A 30-minute interactive e-course that offers a foundation for learning about race, racial discrimination and human rights protections under Ontario’s Human Rights Code. The course offers a historical overview of racism and racial discrimination, explains what “race,” “racism” and “racial discrimination” mean, and provides approaches to preventing and addressing racial discrimination. Note: Call It Out is designed for use on desktops, laptops and tablets in landscape orientation.

Campaigns & Initiatives

International Decade for People of African Descent (2015 to 2024)

 

The modern and simple design of the International Decade for People of African Descent logo anchors Afro-descendants in the now and the future and connotes advancement now and in the years to come. It implies the inclusion of all people of African descent into one group, who share a common history and heritage. The abstract form of a spiral coming off and spreading out from Africa (as the ‘origin’) in its center represents simultaneously the past, present and future of people of African descent. The spiral itself symbolizes the globe and represents migration and advancement/progress.

3D TORONTO Sign

In September 2020, a new 3D TORONTO Sign was installed at Nathan Phillips Square and a new vinyl wrap honouring the United Nations International Decade for People of African Descent. The vinyl wrap, which includes artwork titled Patterns of the People, was designed by Toronto artist Danilo Deluxo McCallum.

Black Mental Health Week

The City & TAIBU Community Health Centre came together to highlight the impact of anti-Black racism on the mental health of Black residents in our city, and as a first step, the City officially declared Monday, March 2, 2020, as Toronto’s first Black Mental Health Day . In 2021, the day was expanded to a week to provide greater opportunity to cultivate greater awareness of the impacts of anti-Black racism on Black communities, families and individuals. Visit Black Mental Health Week for for details.

Articles & Reports

 

• The Ontario Human Rights Commission’s (OHRC) Policy and guidelines on racism and racial discrimination contain the OHRC’s position on racism, racial discrimination and racial harassment, at the time of publication. It deals with issues that fall within the OHRC’s jurisdiction. In the policy, discrimination and harassment due to race are analyzed. The policy highlights some of the broader issues of racism to create an appropriate context. The policy is bounded by the provisions of the Ontario Human Rights Code and Canada’s legal framework for analyzing discrimination.
• The Ontario Human Rights Commission’s Under Suspicion: Research and consultation report on racial profiling in Ontario is the result of a year-long consultation and a review of Canadian case law. It provides detailed policy guidance on the different forms of racial profiling occurring in Ontario. The aim of this report is to give specific information to organizations, individuals and communities on how to identify, address and prevent racial profiling.
• Every Woman Matters: A Report on Accessing Primary Health Care for Black Women and Women of Colour in Ontario (April 2011). The report provides highlights from the pilot program, A Collaborative Process to Achieve Access to Primary Health Care for Black Women and Women of Colour (hereafter referred to as the Access Study). The study examined the disparities disproportionately affecting Black Women and Women of Colour who seek access to primary healthcare. The purpose of this report is to assist community members, researchers and health service providers (HSPs) working to remove barriers and increase access to equitable, inclusive, primary healthcare in Ontario that addresses the challenges facing Black Women and Women of Colour.

Ontario-Focused Resources

A brief list of provincial anti-Black racism resources is listed below. Download the more extensive list for additional Ontario-Focused resources.

Intersecting Forms of Discrimination

• Trans PULSE, “Experiences of racism among Trans people in Ontario, e-bulletin,” vol. 3, No. 1 (March 2013).
• Prof. Grace-Edward Galabuzi, Deputation to the OAS Rapporteur on People of African Descent and Against Racial Discrimination, September 8, 2014
• Carla Gillis, Michelle Da Silva, Tabassum Siddiqui, Vish Khanna, “Real talk about racism in the T.O. music scene.” Now Magazine, January 28- February 3, 2016, Issue 1773, Vol. 35, No. 20, at pages 36-42.

Education

• Abigail Tsionne Salole; Zakaria Abdulle, “Quick to Punish: An Examination of the School to Prison Pipeline for Marginalized Youth.” Canadian Review of Social Policy, Vol. 72 Issue 73 (Jan. 2015).
• Khenti, A. A. (2013). Homicide among young black men in Toronto: An unrecognized public health crisis? Canadian journal of public health, 104(1), 12-14.
• Black Lives Matter Toronto. (2015). “Black Lives Matter-Toronto denounces anti-Black racism against children in the TDSB.”

Unemployment & Housing

• Micheal Orntein, Ethno-Racial Groups in Toronto, 1971-2001: A Demographic and Socio-Economic Profile (Toronto: Institute for Social Research, 2006).
• Kothari, M. (2007). Report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living. UN.
• Prof. Grace-Edward Galabuzi, Deputation to the OAS Rapporteur on People of African Descent and Against Racial Discrimination, September 8, 2014 [Deputations on Poverty, Unemployment and Housing, Deputations on Migrant Workers].

Child and Family Health and Welfare

• Baines, D. (2002). Storyline in racialized times: racism and anti-racism in Toronto’s social services. British Journal of Social Work, 32, 185–199.
• Children’s Aid Society of Toronto, (2015). “Addressing disproportionality, disparity and discrimination in child welfare: Data on services provided to Black African Caribbean Canadian families and children.”
• Tilbury, C., & Thoburn, J. (2009). Using racial disproportionality and disparity indicators to measure child welfare outcomes. Children and Youth Services Review, 31(10), 1101-1106.

Policing & Justice

• André Marin, “Street Checks and Balances – Submission in response to the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services’ consultation on proposed Ontario regulation for street checks” (August 31, 2015): Ombudsman Ontario.
• Book: Cashmore, E., & McLaughlin, E. (2013). Out of Order? (Routledge Revivals): Policing Black People. Routledge.
• Ontario Human Rights Commission. Paying the price: the human cost of racial profiling: inquiry report. The Commission, 2003.

Canada-Wide & International Resources

A brief list of national and international anti-Black racism resources is listed below. Download the more extensive list for additional Canada-Wide & International resources.

Canada’s African Canadian Population: Historical & Current Overview

• A.J.B. Johnston, “Mathieu Da Costa and Early Canada: Possibilities and Probabilities”, (Government of Canada – Parks Canada: 2001).
• Canadian Museum for Human Rights: The Story of Africville
• Book: Cooper, A. (2007). The hanging of Angelique: The untold story of Canadian slavery and the burning of Old Montreal. University of Georgia Press.

Policing & Justice

• African Canadian Legal Clinic, “The Hidden Side of Paradise: Violations of the Economic and Social Rights of African Canadians” (March 5, 2003)
• Nangwaya, A. (2013). Fact sheet on police violence against the African community in Canada. Tor. Media Co-Op, 25.
• Alison Crawford, “Prison watchdog probes spike in number of black inmates,” CBC News Online.

Understanding Racism – General Resources

• Behind the Numbers, “Black Women in Canada.”
• Book: Abigail, B. B., and Dua, E. (Eds.). (2015). Theorizing anti-racism: linkages in Marxism and critical race theories. Vol. 76. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.
• Giroux, H. (1992). Resisting difference: cultural studies and the discourse of critical pedagogy.
• Giroux, H. A. (1997). Racial politics and the pedagogy of whiteness.

Child and Family Health and Welfare

• African Canadian Legal Clinic, Policy paper on poverty.
• Committee on the Rights of the Child: Canada, “Concluding observations on the initial periodic report of Canada, adopted by the Committee at its sixty-first session” (17 September-5 October 2012).
• National Council of Welfare, “A Snapshot of Racialized Poverty in Canada,” (January 2012).

Education

• Birrell, J. R. (1995). “Learning how the game is played”: An ethnically encapsulated beginning teacher’s struggle to prepare black youth for a white world.” Teaching and Teacher Education, 11(2), 137-147.
• BLAC Report on “Education: Redressing Inequity-Empowering Black Learners,” Black Learners Advisory Committee, 1994.
• Brathwaite, O. (2010). The role of the school curriculum to obliterate anti-Black racism. Our School, Our Selves, 19(3), 305.

Court Decisions

• Christie v. York Corporation, [1940] S.C.R. 139.
• R. v. Desmond, (1947) 20 M.P.R. 297 (N.S.S.C.); Hill v. Camden and Zone, 11 U.C.B.Q. 573 (Ont. Q.B.)
• Supreme Court Decision: R. v. Le, 2019 SCC 34
  Read about the case or learn more about the media coverage, and its connection to the action plan.