Canada's federal party leaders receive many grades of “C”, “D” and “F” in year-end report card by anti-hate group evaluating their record on fighting hate and defending human rights in 2022

By Fareed Khan

 

As 2022 comes to an end Canadians United Against Hate (CUAH) issued its annual year-end “report card” evaluating the leaders of Canada's four major federal political parties on their actions and policies in 2022 to fight hate, racism and xenophobia, and defend human rights.

 

The evaluation (full report below) reviewed the actions and policies of Liberal prime minister Justin Trudeau, Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh, and Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-Francois Blanchet in a number of categories including: their commitment to supporting an aggressive national anti-hate strategy led by the federal government (as repeatedly called for by CUAH); supporting Indigenous rights; addressing systemic racism; fighting white supremacy; their stands on Quebec’s Bill 21 (“secularism” law) and Bill 96 (language law); and their record on defending Canadians’ rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

 

 

Based on the evaluations given all four party leaders should hang their heads in shame after receiving many grades of "C", “D” and “F”, with Tory leader Poilievre and BQ leader Blanchet receiving failing grades in every category on which the evaluations are based.  Also notable is that all four party leaders received failing grades when it came to standing up for the fundamental human rights of Quebec's minority communities with regard to the province's Bill 21 “secularism” law which targets racialized religious minority communities in the province (Muslims, Jews, Sikhs), and its Bill 96 language law which places further restrictions on the language rights of Quebec Anglophones.

 

While public protests against racism have declined since 2020 an overwhelming majority of Canadians continue to believe that fighting racism should be a key government priority.  They also continue to support Indigenous rights and reconciliation, the fight against Islamophobia and anti-Semitism, and defending the fundamental human rights of all Canadians.  However, Canada’s federal party leaders have shown that their commitment to fighting hate and racism is weak or at times non-existent when push comes to shove, and that they will support the Charter rights and civil liberties of Canadians only when it is politically convenient.

 

Federal leaders seem to be playing fast and loose with issues around hate and racism despite the fact that it is now high on the radar of Canadians, as a September 2021poll by IPSOS showed where 60 per cent of respondents said that racism was a major issue that needed to be dealt with, and they wanted politicians to implement meaningful and aggressive policies to fight hate and racism. 

 

Since anti-racism protests exploded across Canada in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis by a white US police officer fighting hate has been a major political issue on the radar of Canadians.  This was reinforced in 2021 when tens of thousands of Canadians participated in Indigenous rights and anti-Islamophobia protests, and the ongoing public dialogue about fighting the growing presence of hate and white supremacy.  But what Canadians seem to be getting from their leaders is reactive policies and political platitudes.  If the fight against hate, racism and white supremacy is to be successful then all federal leaders need to do a lot better and be more aggressive in their approach to tackling hate in our society. 

 

The issue of how Canadian leaders protect the fundamental human rights of Canadians also rose to prominence in 2022 when the premiers of Ontario and Quebec used the Constitution’s Section 33 “notwithstanding” clause to override rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. 

 

Canadians got a glimpse of the weakness of federal leaders’ commitment to defending Charter rights in their responses to Quebec’s racist Bill 21 and Anglophone bashing Bill 96 laws.  The unwillingness of federalist leaders Trudeau, Poilievre and Singh to forcefully stand against these unjust laws should be seen as unacceptable in a nation where human rights are supposed to be paramount.  All three have failed the test of leadership when it comes to challenging Quebec laws which violate the fundamental rights of Quebec’s racialized religious minority communities and the province’s Anglophone minority.  It appears that defence of Charter rights only matters to the three leaders when it involves those rights being violated outside Quebec, where their righteous indignation has been far more vocal and aggressive.

 

By not forcefully opposing the two Quebec laws the three federalist party leaders have shown their hypocrisy about how committed they are to defending Canadians’ Charter rights.  Their response is essentially a capitulation to the xenophobic agenda of the Quebec government, and in the process gives fuel to racists and xenophobes in the province.  In addition, it is a declaration that the human rights of Quebec’s minority communities have to take a back seat to their political agendas, and that the Quebec government has free reign to violate Charter rights whenever it wants. 

 

As Canadians look forward to 2023 the issue of fighting hate and defending the fundamental rights of all Canadians, regardless of the province or territory in which they live, must be a high priority.  At a time when hate and white supremacy is growing, and when people in Quebec, Ontario and other provinces are worried about how committed governments are to defending fundamental rights, it is up to the Canadian government to live up to its legal and moral responsibilities to protect Canadians from hateful elements in society, and to live up to its obligations to protect the Charter rights of Canadians against provincial excesses.   

 

No Canadian should have their fundamental rights violated in Canada, or be subjected to vitriolic and violent hate and racism.  Canada’s federal leaders must do better.  It is their moral obligation to do so, and it is part of fulfilling the oath they take when they are given the privilege of being Members of Parliament and national leaders.

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Report Card Evaluation of Federal Party Leaders on Issues of Hate & Human Rights (2022) 

 

The following “report card” is an evaluation of the leaders of Canada’s four major federal political parties on their actions and policies related to hate, racism, xenophobia and human rights in 2022.  The party leaders were evaluated in relation to their actions and policies on the specific issues outlined below.

 

COMMITMENT TO A FEDERALLY LED NATIONAL ANTI-HATE STRATEGY 

Canadians United Against Hate has circulated this recommendation to all major parties for a number of years, with a request that party leaders commit to this if they form government. 

 

ADDRESSING SYSTEMIC RACISM 

Systemic racism and white privilege exist hand in hand in every major federal institution.  They limit the ability of people to fulfill their potential, and they restrict the ability of organizations to effectively achieve their objectives. 

 

SUPPORTING INDIGENOUS RIGHTS 

Indigenous rights are more prominent on the radar of Canadians.  The discovery of the remains of Indigenous children at various former residential school sites in western Canada made clear one aspect of the atrocities suffered by Indigenous children, and made discussion of the Indigenous genocide on Canadians soil acceptable. 

 

FIGHTING WHITE SUPREMACY 

The ideologies of white supremacy and right-wing extremism, and groups which promote them across Canada, have exploded over the last several years.  They have manifested themselves through online hate, hate in social media, in racist verbal and physical assaults against BIPOC and LGBTQ individuals in communities across the country, and against Canadians who are Muslim and Jewish.  Some of this was clearly evident in the three week long convoy occupation of Ottawa in February where white supremacists and racists were very visible among the organizers.

 

BILL 21 (QUEBEC’S SECULARLISM LAW) AND BILL 96 (QUEBEC'S LANGUAGE LAW) 

Quebec’s so-called “secularism” law has been in place for three-and-a-half years, and the provincial government introduced amendments to its French language law placing even more language restrictions on the province's Anglophone minority than exist already.  People from racialized religious communities in Quebec have been forced to leave the province to pursue careers in some cases.  Many Anglophones are also considering moving out of Quebec in order to avoid feeling persecuted because they are not part of the linguistic majority.  The Quebec government still refuses to admit the racism inherent in their secularism law, and they justify their language law by claiming that the French language in the province is under threat.

 

DEFENDING RIGHTS UNDER THE CHARTER OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS  

Defence of Charter rights was very much in the news in 2022, with governments in Quebec and Ontario using the Section 33 "notwistanding" clause to once again shield them from constitutional legal challenges to legislation which violated the human rights and civil liberties of certain groups of individuals and communities in those provinces.  Section 33 was meant to be used by governments only in the most extreme circumstances when there was some sort of civil emergency that threatened social order or government stability.  This has not been the case in any instances where it has been used by provincial and territorial governments since 1982. 

 

 

JUSTIN TRUDEAU / LIBERAL PARTY 

– Overall Grade: D 

 

COMMITMENT TO A FEDERALLY LED NATIONAL ANTI-HATE STRATEGY – Grade: D 

The Liberals have attempted to corner the political agenda on fighting racism but have failed in demonstrating the level of leadership needed to put in place an aggressive and visible national anti-hate strategy coordinated with provincial governments as repeatedly called for by Canadians United Against Hate in a number of submissions to the federal government over the past several years. 

 

Since 2020, in the aftermath of the George Floyd anti-racism protests, the government has made policy announcements to fight racism but these have generally been reactive rather than proactive.  Since the Liberals formed government in 2015 acts of hate, racism and white supremacy have increased significantly.  A new report released by Statistics Canada in August showed that hate crimes reported to police jumped by 72 per cent since 2019, with a majority of crimes targeting religion, sexual orientation, and race/ethnicity.  Attacks against Muslims, Jews, Asians, and members of the LGBTQ2 community have been on the rise and yet the government's actions in response seem to lack urgency. 

 

There has also been a significant rise in online hate since before the pandemic and the government's proposed online harms legislation is still facing much criticism from anti-hate, human rights and civil liberties activists.  In addition, there have been three incidents of hate motivated murders of Muslims that have occurred since the Liberals came to power – in 2017 in Quebec City, in Toronto in September 2020, and in London, Ontario in June 2021.  Only after the third murder did the federal government start taking seriously Canadians' concerns about hate and racism in this country.  And while Justin Trudeau has a minister for diversity and inclusion that minister's responsibilities also includes housing at a time when Canadians are facing an affordable housing crisis, which means that the minister is likely to be focussed on that issue at the expense of diversity and inclusion priorities. 

 

The commitment of $85 million over four years in the 2022 federal budget for a new anti-racism strategy and a "national action plan" on combating hate is a positive initiative by the government and shows that they are listening to what anti-hate organizations are saying.  But this amounts to a fraction of what is needed annually to address the rising tide of hate across the country.  A more effective amount would be $75 million per year with more than half that amount dedicated to a national public education campaign led by the federal government and coordinated with provincial governments. 

 

While the government is moving in the right direction the deficiencies in the actions taken by the federal government is what accounts for the low evaluation given. 

 

ADDRESSING SYSTEMIC RACISM – Grade: D 

The Liberals have made promises to address this issue in a number of throne speeches and in their campaign documents in 2019 and 2021.  But to date significant actions to move on this issue have been extremely slow in being implemented.  This slow approach to addressing systemic racism takes place even as Black members of the federal public service pursue a class action suit against the federal government accusing it of systemic racism, discrimination and employee exclusion, alleging that since the 1970s roughly 30,000 Black civil services employees have lost out on "opportunities and benefits afforded to others based on their race."  One would expect quicker action by the government to demonstrate that they are listening to their Black employees and to Canadians at large, but instead the government filed a court motion to dismiss the lawsuit, claiming that the court doesn't have jurisdiction over the case and that the claim should instead be pursued through a labour grievances process. 

 

It also appears that the issue of systemic racism in the RCMP has been moved to the back burner, with little to indicate that the government has taken action to move this issue forward quickly.  Incidents of anti-Indigenous racism and police brutality against Indigenous people by the RCMP over the past several years have grabbed media headlines and elicited political reactions that things need to change, but visible progress on this file has been sadly lacking. 

 

One other area where quick action has been lacking, and presents a danger to Canada's security, is racism within the Canadian military.   A scathing report released in April on racism in the Canadian Armed Forces says the military is not doing enough to detect and prevent white supremacists and other extremists from infiltrating its ranks.  The report also takes the military to task for not acting on dozens of previous studies and reviews on racism in the ranks over the past two decades. 

 

The lawsuit, the lack of meaningful action to address racism in the RCMP, and years of failure in taking action to tackle racists in Canada's military, shows that things are moving too slowly to effectively address racism within Canada's federal institutions.  The government would get a failing grade were it not being forced into taking action to address these issues. 

 

SUPPORTING INDIGENOUS RIGHTS – Grade: C 

While Justin Trudeau has said that no relationship is more important to him than his government’s relationship with Indigenous people the government’s actions seem to say otherwise.  The Liberals say they are committed to reconciliation, but the government's long-running fight against Indigenous organizations connected to a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruling on Indigenous child welfare compensation upheld in a federal court, indicates otherwise.  While an agreement was reached in that lawsuit in 2022 the fate of the $40 billion settlement agreement is up in the air after the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal questioned whether the terms of the deal meet the conditions of its pivotal discrimination ruling.

 

 In addition, the Liberal promise made in 2016 to remove boiled water advisories from all affected first nations reserves by 2021 has still not been met.  As of December there are still 31 Indigenous communities where advisories are in effect and where bottled water has to be shipped in.  While the current number of advisories is a far cry from the more than 160 that were in place during the Liberal's first year office it is unacceptable that the issue was not addressed within the five year time frame that the government promised. 

 

The government's hypocrisy on the first issue and the failure on the second does not instill confidence on their ability to swiftly and adequately address other Indigenous rights issues in a timely manner.  In addition, the Trudeau government has still not implemented all the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission or all the calls to action contained in the report of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Inquiry.  They are moving forward on all these issues but at a pace that is far too slow given how long Indigenous people have been waiting to see justice done on all the issues on this file.  The government now has three more years in which to complete the work already promised and it has the guaranteed support of the NDP which included some major Indigenous rights issues in the agreement it signed with the Liberals earlier this year to keep them in power. 

 

FIGHTING WHITE SUPREMACY – Grade: D  

Despite the designation of the Proud Boys, Atomwaffen and a number of other white supremacist groups as terrorist organizations these sorts of groups continue to proliferate with little action by the federal government to dismantle the ecosystem of white supremacy in this country.  This has resulted in verbal and physical assaults against people from BIPOC communities by those connected to the white supremacist community, Muslims who have been murdered by white supremacists on three separate occasions, threats against Canadian Jews who have a public profile by white supremacists and neo-Nazis, the proliferation of hate and white supremacy online, and the very visible display of white supremacy and neo-Nazism during the convoy occupation of Ottawa. 

 

Government sponsored summits on anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in 2021 shows some initiative on the part of the government, but action on recommendations coming out of those forums have been slow in being implemented.  The creation of the post of special representative to combat anti-Semitism prior to the anti-Semitism summit but after Muslims had been murdered demonstrated that the federal government does not seem to consider racist attacks against Muslims to be equal to racist attacks against Jews.  This was further demonstrated when the government announced the anti-Semitism "summit" after a Muslim family was murdered in London, Ontario in a hate-motivated attack in June 2021 (the third such incident targeting Muslims in four years).  But it was only after there was an outcry from Canadian Muslims accusing the government of insensitivity to the threats against the Muslim community that an Islamophobia summit was announced.  In response to issues raised by leaders in the Muslim community government eventually declared January 29th as an official day to combat Islamophobia (after a three year long Muslim community campaign), and in the spring of 2022 it announced the creation of the position of special representative to combat Islamophobia.  But as of the end of December 2022 the position still remains vacant, which is an indication of the seeming lack of urgency by the federal government to tackle the rising tide of white supremacy, and hate targeting the Muslim community. 

 

BILL 21 (QUEBEC’S "SECULARLISM" LAW) AND BILL 96 (QUEBEC'S LANGUAGE LAW) – Grade: F 

While claiming to be against Quebec’s Bill 21 law Justin Trudeau's Liberals have done nothing as a government to challenge it in the courts or to support private groups that have mounted Constitutional challenges to the law, despite the fact that people’s lives are being torn apart by it.  The federal government's lack of action on this is not the action of those who claim to be defenders of human rights, or committed to fighting racism and bigotry.  The government could expedite the legal proceedings by referring the legal challenges slowly making their way through the Quebec courts directly to the Supreme Court.  This has not been done due to political considerations, which is an admission that politics trumps human rights when it comes to issues in Quebec. 

 

The same can be said about the federal government's response to Quebec's Bill 96 language law, which is an attack on the linguistic rights of the Anglophone minority in that province.  The pre-emptive use by Quebec of the Constitutions’ "notwithstanding" clause to protect the legislation against Constitutional challenges is a glaring admission that the law violates the Charter rights and civil liberties of Quebec Anglophones, and it is a public declaration that the Quebec government cares little about the human rights of Quebec's minority communities.  And by failing to challenge the Quebec government on this law the federal Liberals are also saying that the rights of Quebec’s Anglophone minority don’t deserve to be protected from the excesses of the Quebec government. 

 

The federal government has power under the Constitution to disallow provincial laws but it has chosen not to do so even in the case where basic human rights that are supposed to be protected are repeatedly violated, and so this too is an admission that the federal government is willing to sacrifice human rights on the altar of political expediency. 

 

DEFENDING RIGHTS UNDER THE CHARTER OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS – Grade: F 

The violation of rights guaranteed under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms were a very prominent issue during 2022.  The government of Quebec continued to violate Charter rights under its racist Bill 21 “secularism” law as Constitutional challenges to it worked their way through the courts, and added to their record of rights violations with their Anglophone bashing Bill 96 French language law. 

 

In Ontario the Doug Ford Conservatives became the first government in that province to use the notwithstanding clause to violate fundamental rights not once but three times since it was first elected in 2018.  The latest incident was the use of the clause in legislation to impose a work contract on educational workers (a law that was subsequently rescinded due to a massive public backlash). 

 

While the federal government cried foul over the use of Section 33 both in Quebec and Ontario, expressing outrage and indignation at the actions of provincial governments, it did not even consider using powers allowed the federal government under the Constitution to prevent the provincial governments from implementing the laws.  As such it is fair to conclude that the federal government did the absolute least it could do and failed to protect the fundamental rights of Canadians in the two provinces. 

 

PIERRE POILIEVRE / CONSERVATIVE PARTY 

– Overall Grade: F 

 

COMMITMENT TO A FEDERALLY LED NATIONAL ANTI-HATE STRATEGY – Grade: F 

Since the days of Stephen Harper the Conservatives have struggled to deal with hate and bigotry within their ranks, particularly after they targeted Muslims with what were seen as racist and Islamophobic policies in the dying days of the Harper government. 

 

When Andrew Scheer replaced Harper he appointed to his inner circle a co-founder of the website “Rebel Media” (considered a hate site by anti-hate groups) – hardly an endorsement of his anti-racism credentials. 

 

When Erin O’Toole was chosen as Conservative leader he said the right things about fighting hate and racism but his failure to even include the word “racism” or refer to “systemic racism” in the Conservative Party’s 2021 election campaign policy document shows the unwillingness of his party to properly address the issue, as was his unwillingness to commit to actions that would remove racist and white supremacist elements from the ranks of the Conservative Party. 

 

The election of Pierre Poilievre as Conservative Party leader is a step backwards for the party on issues of hate.  His support, and that of many Tory MPs who supported his leadership bid, of the leaders of the convoy protest and occupation, who were known promoters of racism, hate and white supremacy, showed that the party is happy and willing to work with such elements as long as it is politically expeditious.  Such political moves have enabled racist and hateful elements in society because they see the Poilievre led Conservatives as an ally that is willing to engage with them and give them legitimacy. 

 

Furthermore, there has been no statement made by Poilievre or any of his caucus about committing to a national anti-hate strategy, or fully supporting the anti-racism efforts that have been implemented by the federal government.  Where statements about hate and racism have been mentioned by Poilievre it has been performative, and has been more about scoring political points against Justin Trudeau and his government rather than legitimately addressing the pandemic of hate in Canadian society in any meaningful way. 

 

In addition, the presence of MPs and elements within the party who are against the expansion of rights to the LGBTQ2 community, as well as Poilievre’s own voting record against any measures to extend rights to this community (including when he voted against same-sex marriage), is a sign that while he may have elevated to leadership positions the two openly gay members of his caucus, his party’s actual commitment to advancing LGBTQ2 rights is weak given that he needs to appease the social conservative voters that were critical to his leadership victory. 

 

ADDRESSING SYSTEMIC RACISM – Grade: F 

The Conservatives made no mention of “systemic racism” in their 2021 election campaign document (unlike the Liberals and the NDP), which calls into question any statements they have made about acknowledging its existence or committing to actions to see it dismantled.  Also, there have been no changes to the official positions of the Conservative Party on the issue of systemic racism since Erin O'Toole was deposed as leader of the party, and there are no indications that a change is forthcoming. 

 

Until and unless a clear policy statement is made by Poilievre about how his party will tackle systemic racism in federal institutions and across Canadian society he and the Conservatives have little credibility on this issue, and Canadians would be foolish to trust them given the alliances they have made with convoy occupation organizers and the white supremacist elements that support them. 

 

SUPPORTING INDIGENOUS RIGHTS – Grade: F 

The Conservatives have a very troubling history in their actions and policies on Indigenous issues.  Their relationship with Indigenous people under the Harper government can be deemed to be a failure, beginning with the cancellation of the Kelowna Accord, an agreement announced by Prime Minister Paul Martin in November 2005 that was the result of an 18-month consultative process involving the federal government, provincial and territorial governments, and five national Indigenous organizations.  When Harper formed the government in 2006 he cancelled the agreement over strong objections by Indigenous organizations. 

 

In opposition the Conservatives have said the right things about improving the Canadian government’s relations with Indigenous people if they came to power but words are meaningless without actions, and the party’s record from when they were the government doesn’t instill confidence.  This view was reinforced when Conservative MPs voted against a bill in 2018 that called for the laws of Canada to be in harmony with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.  It was seen as a slap in the face to Indigenous people across the country and is an indication of the deep-seated ambivalence in the Conservative Party to the issue of reconciliation. 

 

While Erin O’Toole tried to shift the direction of the Conservative Party on Indigenous issues there have been no significant policy changes on this file under Pierre Poilievre's leadership.   As such there is no evidence to date that there has been a significant change in the Conservative approach to Indigenous issues or the matter of reconciliation to demonstrate that the party under Poilievre’s leadership has turned a corner on this issue. 

 

FIGHTING WHITE SUPREMACY – Grade: F 

The Conservative Party has a history of playing “footsies” with white supremacist elements in this country.  This happened again when the convoy protest occupied Ottawa in February and disrupted Canada-US border traffic near Windsor, Ontario and southern Alberta.  The leaders of the protest, who were ultimately charged criminally by police, were known propagators of racism, white supremacy, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.  And yet interim Conservative leader Candice Bergen and future leader Pierre Poilievre supported the convoy protest (as did quite a few Conservative MPs). 

 

The Conservative Party's history of standing with racists and white supremacists, and not expelling those elements from within their party is deeply disturbing given the rise in hate and white supremacy across the country, the substantial increase in police reported hate crimes over the past few years, and the detrimental impact it is having on racialized and minority religious communities, and on the LGBTQ2 community.  The support that Poilievre and many in his caucus gave to convoy protesters calls into question his credibility on fighting white supremacy and racism, despite what he might say in public statements about the party being a home to people of all ethnic backgrounds. 

 

BILL 21 (QUEBEC’S "SECULARLISM" LAW) AND BILL 96 (QUEBEC'S LANGUAGE LAW) – Grade: F 

Under previous leaders, as well as under Pierre Poilievre, the Conservatives have made it clear that Bill 21 is a matter of provincial jurisdiction in Quebec and it is up to Quebec voters to resolve the Charter rights and civil liberties issues around it.  

 

The same is now the case with Quebec’s Bill 96 language law which further strips the province’s Anglophone community of its minority language rights.  In taking this position the Conservatives ignore the fact that it is the moral and legal responsibility of the Canadian government to defend the human rights of all Canadians regardless of where they live.  In essence the Conservatives are willing to sacrifice the rights of racialized religious minorities in Quebec, as well as that of Quebec Anglophones, on the altar of political expediency.  This demonstrates a severe lack of leadership for a party led by a man that sees itself as a government in waiting. 

 

DEFENDING RIGHTS UNDER THE CHARTER OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS – Grade: F 

The Conservatives demonstrated their weak commitment to defending the rights of Canadians when they chose to side with convoy protesters who, through their actions, violated the rights of the residents of Ottawa and of Canadians in border communities around Winsor, Ontario and southern Alberta. 

 

In addition, by supporting the leaders of the convoy protest and those who occupied the Parliamentary precinct of downtown Ottawa Poilievre and the Conservatives sided with people who wanted to overthrow the duly elected government of Canada, and in the process supported violating the rights of Canadians who had voted in the 2021 election.  Furthermore, by supporting the insurrectionists it can be fairly argued that these Conservative MPs were in breach of their oath of office, one in which they swore loyalty to Canada’s head of state (Queen Elizabeth II at the time) and her government, to act as the Crown’s “loyal Opposition”. And it can also be argued that they were in violation of Sections 51 and 59 of the Criminal Code, which address the crime of sedition. 

 

These actions on the part of the Poilievre Conservatives demonstrates that they are willing to break the law as long as it can advance their political goals, and that they are unwilling to stand up for the rights of all Canadians against those who would wilfully violate the rights of Canadians. 

 

JAGMEET SINGH / NEW DEMOCRATIC PARTY

– Overall Grade: C- 

 

COMMITMENT TO A FEDERALLY LED NATIONAL ANTI-HATE STRATEGY – Grade: C+ 

The NDP seems to be the party that would be the obvious champion to fight racism and defend human rights based on their track record of being a party committed to social justice.  Their campaign document in the 2021 election dedicated sections to upholding Indigenous rights, addressing the harms of residential schools, upholding LGBTQ2+ rights, and confronting racism.  In addition, under Jagmeet Singh the NDP has been very vocal about addressing white supremacy and hate, including sponsoring a Parliamentary resolution to declare the white supremacist group the “Proud Boys” as a terrorist organization, and has repeatedly called on the federal government to do more to dismantle white supremacy in Canada. 

 

They are currently propping up the Liberal minority government through a signed agreement that will keep the Liberals in power until 2025 if they follow through on promises made to the NDP.  However, among the key promises in the Liberal-NDP agreement, committing greater resources to fighting hate or a federally led hate strategy is not among them.  Based on their political stand and public statements on issue related to hate, racism and xenophobia the NDP holds the greatest potential of being an anti-hate champion.  But this will only happen if they manage to form government, which is a long shot under the best of circumstances. 

 

Consequently, while Jagmeet Singh’s NDP receives the best evaluation among the three major parties it still falls short of receiving a higher evaluation given the missed opportunity of including major anti-hate initiatives as part of their agreement with the Liberals. 

 

ADDRESSING SYSTEMIC RACISM – Grade: C+ 

Over the last several decades the NDP has consistently been on the forefront of addressing issues of racism, whether it is in policing, government institutions or society at large.  Since they are the key to keeping the governing Liberals in power since the 2021 election it would be logical that they would make addressing this issue a factor in their support of the government.  And while it is expected that this issue would be a key priority were they to form government their current role as the fourth party in the House of Commons does not allow them the leverage to implement their agenda on this issue. 

 

In addition, it is surprising that they did not include issues around fighting hate and racism as part of the agreement they made with the Liberals.  But despite this anti-hate activists are hopeful that the NDP will take a stronger stand to pressure the government to adopt more aggressive action on systemic racism.  But until there is a more concerted effort by Singh and the NDP to pressure the government to make this a higher priority Canadians will have to wait and see if they will live up to their potential. 

 

SUPPORTING INDIGENOUS RIGHTS – Grade: B+ 

Of all the parties the NDP has been consistent when it comes to Indigenous rights and the relationship that Canada must have with Indigenous people.  Jagmeet Singh made this a priority in the NDP’s 2021 election document touching on issues of reconciliation, Indigenous rights, self-determination, adequate housing, education, the long-term impact of residential schools, Indigenous child welfare, clean water, and a host of other issues that Indigenous people have been advocating on for decades.  Their approach with respect to Indigenous rights can be encapsulated in the following statement from their 2021campaign document, “New Democrats are committed to undertaking the important work of reconciliation in good faith, and in true and equal partnership with Indigenous communities across the country. We believe that the Crown’s relationship to Indigenous peoples must be based on an acknowledgement of our country’s colonial history of genocide and stolen lands – and include legally binding commitments to fair and equitable redress going forward.” 

 

The fact that one of the major sections of the NDP agreement to keep the Liberal in power includes commitments to boost spending on Indigenous housing, giving the power to First Nations, Inuit, and Metis communities to decide how investments are designed and delivered, accelerate implementation of the Federal Pathway to Address Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People, and support for communities wishing to continue searching for children’s remains at sites of former residential schools, demonstrates their willingness to commit political capital to Indigenous rights and reconciliation, and therefore accounts for the high marks they receive.  But future evaluations in this area will be determined by whether they can make the Liberal keep the promises made in the Liberal-NDP agreement. 

 

FIGHTING WHITE SUPREMACY – Grade: B- 

Under Jagmeet Singh’s leadership the NDP has taken a very public and vocal stand on fighting white supremacy, including sponsoring motions in the House of Commons, and NDP MPs making numerous statements on this issue in the House and in the media. 

 

Anti-racism activists would like to see them use their balance of power position to put greater pressure on the Liberal to take decisive action on this issue.  The fact that this was not included as part of the Liberal-NDP agreement is very disappointing, especially after the visible displays of racism, white supremacy, neo-Nazism, and transphobia that Canadians witnessed during the convoy protest in Ottawa.  The fact that issues around fighting hate and racism were not included in the agreement, which was signed weeks after the protests ended, is a lost opportunity and a failure on the part of Jagmeet Singh to leverage NDP support to pressure the Liberals to be more aggressive around the anti-hate / anti-racism file. 

 

BILL 21 (QUEBEC’S "SECULARLISM" LAW) AND BILL 96 (QUEBEC'S LANGUAGE LAW) – Grade: F 

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has stated that he is against Bill 21 and that it is an unjust law.  However, the position of the NDP under his leadership on this issue has been disappointing.  From his statements during the 2019 election that he wouldn’t intervene until legal challenges on the law reached the Supreme Court, to his acceptance of the claim following the 2021 election English debate that a question on Bill 21 by the debate moderator was an attack on Quebec, to his willingness to sacrifice the human rights of racialized religious minorities for the sake of votes in Quebec, shows the line he will not cross to defend rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. 

 

The same can be said for the NDPs support of Quebec’s Bill 96 language law where Singh endorsed the use of the controversial “notwithstanding” clause that will shield the legislation from Constitutional challenges.  By taking a position which strips the linguistic rights of non-Francophones in the province Singh and the NDP show that they are hypocrites when it comes to the rights of Quebec Anglophones. 

 

On both these Quebec laws the NDP under Singh have squandered the their moral high ground on being defenders of the Charter rights of Canadians, and in the process they have shown that they are just as politically opportunistic when it comes to votes in Quebec as are the other party leaders. 

 

DEFENDING RIGHTS UNDER THE CHARTER OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS – Grade: F 

Under Jagmeet Singh the NDP has a hit and miss record when it comes to defending Charter rights.  Its Achilles Heel is the stand it has taken on Quebec’s Bill 21 and Bill 96 laws.  In other parts of the country when provincial governments violate Charter rights or when the federal government does so the NDP has been very vocal about the need to defend the rights of Canadians.  But like with the other party leaders Singh has failed the moral test when it comes to vigorously defending the rights and civil liberties of Quebec’s racialized religious minorities and its Anglophone linguistic minority.  This is a dark stain on the NDP and is contrary to the history of a party which was founded on principles of social justice and equality of citizenship. 

 

 

YVES-FRANCOIS BLANCHET / BLOC QUEBECOIS 

– Overall Grade: F 

 

COMMITMENT TO A FEDERALLY LED NATIONAL ANTI-HATE STRATEGY – Grade: F 

A party that cannot admit the existence of systemic racism in the province where they have seats is a party that has little credibility on issues of fighting racism.  The BQ continues to demonstrate this in their unjustifiable position around the protection of minority rights in Quebec.  Even if the BQ did support a call to implement a nationally led anti-hate strategy, their dogmatic position on minority rights in Quebec in support of ethno-nationalism would likely mean caveats and exemptions that would make such a strategy ineffective in that province. 

 

Consequently, they fail the test of having a moral compass on this issue. 

 

ADDRESSING SYSTEMIC RACISM – Grade: F

Refusing to acknowledge systemic racism in the society that your MPs represent makes the BQ leader an ineffective voice to talk about this issue.  Until Yves-Francois Blanchet and his caucus can admit that Quebec is a province where systemic and societal racism is very common, where the provincial government implements policies that target racialized and linguistic minority communities, and willfully violates their basic rights, the BQ should be seen as a party that engages in racism and xenophobia.  

 

SUPPORTING INDIGENOUS RIGHTS – Grade: F 

The issue of Indigenous rights in Quebec has come into conflict with Quebec’s Bill 96 French language legislation.  The Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL) said in a statement during the 2021 election, “The role of spokesperson for the Legault government and its retrogressive position towards First Nations that the Bloc Québécois is giving itself has no place in a federal election campaign which must instead be geared towards reconciliation. The Legault government’s Bill 96 is a formal attack on the constitutional language rights of First Nations . . . If the Bloc Québécois is opposed to respecting the most fundamental rights of First Nations, which is what it is doing by supporting Bill 96, I ask that they admit to it frankly,” said Ghislain Picard, Chief of the AFNQL. 

 

It seems it doesn’t matter whether it’s the rights of Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, Anglophones or Indigenous people, Yves-Francois Blanchet and the BQ are willing to violate the rights of these communities in the name of a toxic ethno-nationalism and French language supremacy in Quebec. 

 

FIGHTING WHITE SUPREMACY – Grade: F 

White supremacy is firmly rooted in Quebec with groups like Atalante Québec and La Meute leading the charge, and it is fed by an ideology of Francophone ethno-nationalism that has been adopted by the provincial government as a guiding principle, and supported by Yves-Francois Blanchet’s Bloc Quebecois.  Unless and until the BQ can address the issue of white nationalism within Quebec’s Francophone majority, and the lack of action by the province to address the growth of white supremacy, the party cannot be a credible voice on this issue, and anything it does say demonstrates extreme hypocrisy, which is a currency that is common among federal party leaders. 

 

BILL 21 (QUEBEC’S SECULARLISM LAW) AND BILL 96 (QUEBEC'S LANGUAGE LAW) – Grade: F 

The BQ’s unequivocal support of Bill 21 and Bill 96 demonstrates supreme hypocrisy when Yves-Francois Blanchet or his MPs speak on issues of defending human rights, whether at home or abroad.  If they cannot defend the rights of people in the province where their MPs are elected, then they have no business speaking on issues of human rights.  Their actions demonstrate that human rights are negotiable in Quebec and that the rights and political views of white Francophones supersede those of racialized minority communities and the Anglophone minority. 

 

DEFENDING RIGHTS UNDER THE CHARTER OF RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS – Grade: F 

Under current and previous leaders the Bloc Quebecois has repeatedly demonstrated that it does not believe in Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms because Quebec didn’t get its way when the Charter was ratified by all legislatures across Canada except Quebec.   It also shows its disdain for the Charter when it repeatedly supports Quebec each time it uses the Charter’s Section 33 “notwithstanding” clause to shield its legislation from Constitutional challenges.  Since 1982 Quebec has used the clause 17 times, the most of any province or territory.  The last time it was used was for the Bill 96 French language law. 

 

 

SPECIAL MENTIONS 

 

PREMIER FRANCOIS LEGAULT (QUEBEC) – Grade: F 

The premier of Quebec won a massive majority in the 2022 Quebec provincial election winning 90 out of 125 seats.  This victory has cemented his hold on power for the next four years despite the fact that his government’s violation of minority religious rights under the Bill 21 “secularism” law received much negative media coverage.  With his decision to take a hard line on the language rights of the Anglophone minority and further restrict those rights he has shown that for him human rights don’t matter.  In addition, his public comments that there is no systemic racism in Quebec (despite enormous evidence to the contrary) shows that he lives in a world of white privilege and white blindness, and that his main concern is catering to the interests of the white Francophone majority. 

 

PREMIER DOUG FORD (ONTARIO) – Grade: F 

The Ontario premier won his second straight majority, increasing the Progressive Conservative Party’s seat total from the previous election, despite the fact that he violated the fundamental Charter rights of Ontarians on two occasions since he was first elected In 2018.  By doing so he became the first Ontario premier to ever use the Section 33 “notwithstanding” clause to override Charter rights.  In 2022 he used it a third time in legislation intended to force education workers back to work (a law that was later rescinded after massive a public backlash).  

 

In using Section 33 Ford has shown that he is willing to violate the fundamental rights of those Ontarians who get in the way of his political agenda.  A section of the Constitution that was only meant to be used in the most extreme circumstances is a “political tool” according to Ford, and it would not be surprising if he resorts to using Section 33 again if it is to his political advantage. 

 

Ford is also a premier who, after his party formed government in Ontario in 2018, cut funding to the province’s anti-racism directorate at a time when racism and hate crimes were on the rise.  Despite his populist, “friend of the average citizen”, rhetoric Ford has shown through his actions that his no friend to persecuted minority communities, or those who stand up for their fundamental rights.  With another three and a half years left in his mandate we foresee a government that will not take broad action on issues of hate, racism and xenophobia, and could again attack the fundamental rights of Ontarians. 

 

PREMIER DANIELLE SMITH (ALBERTA) – Grade: F 

Following her election as leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP) Alberta premier Danielle Smith made the claim in a media conference that unvaccinated people were the “most discriminated against group” that she has seen in her lifetime.  The outcry from anti-racism groups and Indigenous leaders was immediate, with many calling her ignorant and oblivious to Canada’s ugly history of racism and white supremacy.  Smith failed to apologize for the comment. 

 

She put her foot in her mouth again when she said in early December that Alberta's relationship with Ottawa was that same as that of First Nations under the Indian Act – a racist act that has been widely criticized as enabling racist and genocidal policies against Indigenous people.  Indigenous leaders demanded an apology, in addition to demanding that she withdraw the sovereignty act which was something that was part of her platform running for the UCP leadership.  In addition, past social media posts have come to light showing that Smith engaged in genocide denial with regard to Indigenous people. 

 

How can someone who is the leader of a province with such a diverse population have made such comments and posted such lies and disinformation about Indigenous people?  The premier’s past and recent comments shows that she is out of touch with reality, and ignorant of the ugly, racist history of Canada, is someone who has flirted with domestic extremists to win the leadership of the UCP, and is a political leader who has laid out the welcome mat for white supremacists. 

 

BRITISH COLUMBIA NDP – Grade: F 

When British Columbia premier John Horgan announced his resignation earlier this year, thereby initiating a race for the leadership of the province’s New Democratic Party, little did anyone expect that it would end in controversy with the party disqualifying Anjali Appadurai, a racialized women, and only one of the two candidates in the race. 

 

Many NDP supporters claimed that the decision smacked of racism and misogyny, and was the latest example of how the party had strayed from its social democratic roots.  The party that prided itself on standing for progressive values, promoting diversity, equity and inclusivity, fighting racism, and supporting women did exactly the opposite with the disqualification.  It sent the message to young, racialized women in British Columbia that they are welcome in the NDP as long as they are prepared to be a prop, and they had better not get uppity, or embarrass those who control the party (i.e. white men).  At its heart, the decision to terminate Appadurai’s candidacy spoke directly to the issues faced by all racialized Canadians in politics, especially racialized women.  

 

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