Honourable senators, I rise today to speak to Senator Plett’s inquiry. I would like to begin by thanking Senator Plett for initiating this much-needed inquiry into the presence of racism and discrimination within Canadian institutions.

Indeed, examples of continued bias against Black, Indigenous, Muslim, Jewish and other racialized people across our country are unfortunately endless. To believe that the Canadian Multiculturalism Act is sufficient in binding us together is proof of our institutional leaders’ privilege.

This is especially true in regard to the lack of consensus on a definition of systemic racism in Canada. Might I add that this is certainly not from a lack of scientific research on the topic but rather an unwillingness to see inequality. For example, Carol Tator and Dr. Frances Henry, who are among Canada’s leading experts in the study of racism, defined systemic racism over a decade ago as the:

. . . laws, rules and norms woven into the social system that result in an unequal distribution of economic, political, and social resources and rewards among various racial groups.

The continued rise of Islamophobia in Canada is a perfect example of commonplace racism and the dangers associated with the absence of specific legislation. A downtown Toronto mosque was recently closed after receiving multiple violent and offensive threats by email. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case, following repeated acts of vandalism, public harassment and the stabbing of a volunteer mosque caretaker.

This rise in religious intolerance isn’t a new phenomenon. The software company Cision documented a 600% rise in hate speech using hashtags such as #banmuslims and #siegheil on social media in 2016. More recently, social media platforms have been used to spread Islamophobic disinformation, exacerbated by the pandemic, suggesting that Muslims are spreaders of COVID-19.

Acts of anti-Semitism are also on the rise, with violent attacks against the Jewish community increasing by 27% across Canada in the last year, and 62.8% in Ontario alone. Condemning hate groups is important, but it needs to be followed with serious action. As Canadians, we should be able to visit our places of worship without any fear.

Chinese-Canadians have also been subjected to a sharp increase in hate, with 600 incidents of anti-Asian racism being reported since the emergence of COVID-19. An Angus Reid poll found that half of the Chinese-Canadians surveyed had been victims of hate speech as a result of COVID-19, and 43% reported being threatened and intimidated.

These hate crimes do not happen in a vacuum. They are the result of unchecked prejudices, acts of bias and discrimination. It is the responsibility of all Canadians to stop hate around them. If we’re intervening only when there are actual threats and acts of violence, it’s already too late.

Honourable senators, it is our duty to protect all Canadians with clear and precise legislation; legislation that must be implemented. Otherwise it’s just a piece of paper. As experience shows, any lack of clarity may be interpreted as a licence for violence. Thank you.

Honourable senators, I rise today to speak on Senator Plett’s inquiry. Senator Plett and every one of you are all allies in this ongoing fight against systemic racism in all of its cyclical forms.

Senator Plett, thank you for this inquiry. I appreciate you introducing it and also thank you for your leadership.

In the wake of countless deaths of Black men, women and children in America, around the world protesters have provoked unprecedented levels of global unification. At last, men, women and children of all races are standing together. They are unified by their collective vision for a better future for all of our children and grandchildren. It is a future in which no daughter has to ask her mother, “Why did they say I am not Canadian?” after she returns home distraught and crying because yet another person questioned and promptly ridiculed her Canadian identity.

Throughout my lifelong work on this issue, I have seen that one of the greatest barriers to real and tangible action is actually understanding the problem of systemic racism. I strongly believe that one of the ways this change can be realized is through education, through teaching and relearning, as well as unlearning, our ingrained racist behaviours and beliefs.

During the COVID period, you may have seen my blogs and podcast series on systemic racism. I, along with my amazing staff of Gavin Jeffray, Seema Rampersad, Rana Allam and Madison Pate-Green, have been creating a booklet and an animation project called “The Invisible Visible Minority: A Parliamentary Study of the cyclical nature of Systemic Racism across institutions in Canada.”

Senators, you will have today received an animation prepared by my office. May I please ask that you look at that animation at your leisure. You will shortly be receiving a booklet from my office in which I outline the cyclical nature of systemic racism and the experiences endured by racialized Canadians, namely Black, Indigenous, First Nation, Inuit and Métis people across the country.

I have split my analysis and its impacts on this issue into six sections. First, I define systemic racism. Then I highlight the areas in which systemic racism is most profoundly manifest, which are employment, housing, education, institutionalization and political representation.

Colleagues, when engaging with this material, it is important to recognize that this cyclical experience of racism does not necessarily begin in one racist institution. Rather, all of these highlighted areas have arisen in the systemic discrimination of all racialized Canadians. For instance, inadequate and low-quality employment fundamentally limits racialized people and their families’ adequate housing options. Simultaneously, where someone lives determines their access to life-saving social services such as education, health care and mental health care.

Further, due to the inadequacies of care, children and young people are relegated to attend underfunded and underserved schools, thus rendering their options for higher education abysmal. Due to the pattern of lack of opportunities to succeed, it becomes near to impossible for people to break the visions of the cycle of poverty into which they are born. Consequently, far too often, individuals are left with little options to provide their children with better opportunities than they or even their parents had.

Finally, as our colleague Senator Pate has worked tirelessly to highlight, there is the issue of the disproportionate numbers of Black, Indigenous and Muslim people who are in our jails and prisons. This commonly begins with routine encounters with state authorities, which often results in a person being institutionalized or having their rights and freedoms removed simply by virtue of their unchangeable identity.

My hope is that through reading and learning about the real experiences of racialized people in Canada, all Canadians will have a more holistic and meaningful understanding of the ways racism manifests in many forms and in virtually all aspects of our collective society.

My fellow colleagues, the Senate, the Parliamentary Black Caucus, and Senators Ravalia, Moodie, Mégie and Bernard have never failed to remind me of the value of working together for our collective visions. They have been staunch allies as we recognize there are goals and ideas that abound in the ultimate vision of a Canada in which racism has been eradicated, a Canada in which the members of the Parliamentary Black Caucus never need to worry about the safety of our grandchildren, a Canada in which all of us truly believe that regardless of identity, all children and grandchildren and those whom we love can enjoy true freedom and can achieve any goal they set their minds to.

Further, with reference to Senator Cormier, Senator McPhedran and many of our other colleagues’ profound and moving speeches in which they implore the need for race-based data and analysis to be applied to all police interventions and society as a whole, I completely agree.

Race-based analysis would help to ensure the employment of a government-wide approach to having critical analysis of parliamentary processes in our country. I recognize that the plus of the existing gender-based analysis is intended to represent additional interests such as race, ethnicity, religion, age, mental and physical disability. While this recognition is commendable, I believe that an explicitly race-centric policy oversight is necessary to ensure that targeting racial injustice at the legislative level does not become just another secondary consideration.

Honourable senators, I stand before you because many people removed barriers for me. As a refugee, I came to Canada, and the Law Society of British Columbia would not even give me a form to process my application. For many months I knocked on their door, but they refused to give me their application. In fact, they started becoming very rude.

I started working as a girl Friday in The Honourable Thomas Dohm’s office, a well-known lawyer in British Columbia. He walked down to the Law Society and got me the form that enabled me to become a lawyer in British Columbia. He moved a barrier for me.

In courts, the judges would often challenge me that I was not a lawyer. As the first South Asian lawyer in Canada, I had many challenges. I would be called an interpreter. Many times, the judges would tell me that the accused does not speak in Canadian courts; let the lawyer speak. The accused would be a notorious criminal, and they would think he was the lawyer. Mr. Dohm had to come into the courtroom many times and just sit with me. He removed a barrier for me.

I joined the Liberal Party and was a member for a long time. When I ran for vice-president, I had many challenges. Senator Ross Fitzpatrick and his wife Linda helped me. They removed a barrier for me.

My son and I were the first racialized people on the national executive of the Liberal Party. There were many challenges. Our colleague Senator Mercer took my son and I under his wing. To this day, we say that we have my son together. If it wasn’t for Senator Mercer, I do not — he knows. To this day, I can tell you that my son and I would not have remained members of the Liberal Party if Senator Mercer had not removed barriers for us.

When I arrived in the Senate, if you can imagine, it was a week after 9/11. As the first Muslim senator, it was Senator Carstairs and our Speaker Furey who removed barriers for me.

Every day you all support me and help me remove barriers. I feel very much loved in this place. I know that if there is any barrier, you will help me remove it.

To end systemic racism, we do not create legislation that will create barriers with a lens on how we can remove barriers. Today, I ask you to help us implement race-based analysis to lift barriers for all racialized Canadians.

Our role as senators is to create harmony in society. What does harmony mean? When I was young, my mother wanted me to be a pianist and my father wanted me to be a politician, and you can see who won. My mother would ask me to practice on the piano, and to annoy her, sometimes I would just practice on the black keys. I can ask you to practice on just the black keys; it does not create harmony. Sometimes to annoy her, I would just practice on the white keys. That also does not create harmony.

Later on in life, what my mother taught me has stayed with me. To have real harmony in a country, you have to have both Black and White people participating.

Honourable senators, I stand in front of you because many people removed barriers for me. Over the years, I have had a lot of help. Sadly, many racialized people are not as lucky as I am. So I stand in front of you and say that we as legislators should look at ways in which legislation is supportive of all people in Canada, and does not raise further barriers. Thank you very much.