Hypocrisy of opposition leaders on Justin Trudeau’s “brownface” and “blackface” photos needs to be called out, media need to have a real debate about racism and hate during election campaign

By Fareed Khan

 
It has been a week since the uproar in the media about the Justin Trudeau “brownface” and “blackface” photos. However, at the height of the media frenzy attention was mostly focused on his "apology tour" and ignored the hypocrisy of some of the opposition party leaders in the present to racism within their own parties, and the larger issues surrounding hate, racism and white supremacy in Canada.

The discussion surrounding racism triggered by the Trudeau photos now needs to go beyond what the prime minister did a generation ago, and look at all the political parties, their leaders, and what are their policy responses to racism, bigotry and hate in Canada today.

The media can help with this by pushing the party leaders to present their policy ideas for how they will respond decisively to the growing tide of hate and white supremacy in Canada – ideologies that resulted in the murder 6 Muslim men and the wounding of 17 others by a white supremacist shooter in a Quebec City mosque in January 2017.

Despite his righteous indignation about the Trudeau photos, Andrew Scheer has no credibility on issues of racism to most minority communities and people of colour, and should not to the majority of Canadians. 

In case people have forgotten, Scheer appointed as his campaign chair Hamish Marshall, a man who was the co-founder of the white supremacist friendly website Rebel Media, and was involved in organizing an anti-Muslim hate group when the M-103 Islamophobia motion was being debated in 2017.  At that time Scheer was running for the leadership of the Conservative Party and did not hesitate to employ Islamophobic narratives in his campaign.  Neither Marshall nor Sheer have ever been held accountable by the media or in the court of public opinion for their outright bigotry.

Scheer's hypocrisy around the Trudeau photos is even more egregious when one recalls that in a June speech he said bigots, extremists and racists aren’t welcome in his party.  This happened the same day that Conservative MP Michael Cooper launched a racist tirade against a Muslim witness at a Justice Committee hearing, by reading into the record portions of the white supremacy laced manifesto of the Christchurch mosque shooter, where 51 people were murdered.  Despite this, Sheer only gave Cooper a slap on the wrist and allowed him to remain as a Conservative MP.

Elizabeth May also needs to clean her own house, and explain her hypocrisy about a brownface incident with one of her candidates.  She has accepted as a Green Party candidate comedic actor Greg Malone, who admitted in an interview with CBC that he has indulged in brownface for some of his performances.  In spite of this history, and contrary to her reaction about the Trudeau photos, May said she is “proud” to have Malone as a Green Party candidate.

May also needs to answer for the nomination of Green candidates in Quebec who may support the provincial government's racist Bill 21 “secularism” law.

This issue was raised during a Muslim community town hall event with May in Toronto on September 6th.  When asked whether she would tell Quebec Green Party candidates to oppose the law her response was that she "does not dictate what issues candidates support or how they have to vote on issues."  Mustafa Farooq, Executive Director of National Council of Canadian Muslims, believes it is “unacceptable” for any political party to have candidates who support the Quebec law, which legal experts say is legalized bigotry against racialized religious minorities. 

Maxime Bernier, leader of the new People’s Party of Canada, is the most transparent when it comes to issues around racism, diversity, and immigration. He seems comfortable wearing his racism and prejudice like a comfortable sweater. At least Canadians know where he stands on these issues unlike Scheer and May, whose reactions to the Trudeau photos would have you believe that there is no racism in their parties.

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh is the only party leader that comes away from this unsullied. As the first person of colour to lead a national political party in Canada he is the only one who knows intimately what it feels like to be a victim of racism.

Canadian media executives have the power to change the channel from the Trudeau photos, and have a real debate around issues of hate, bigotry and racism in Canada. Only then can Canadians hold each of the party leaders accountable for their actions and policies on matters that have the potential to create social instability and rip apart the fabric of society.

As we get closer to election day, to ignore the broader issues surrounding racism and hate that affects so many would be irresponsible, given the potential of these ideologies to encourage additional violence against communities already feeling fearful and unsafe in the current climate where racism and white supremacy are on the rise. 

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