OP-ED -- Systemic racism on display in House of Commons

Fareed Khan
Toronto Star Contributor
Tue., June 23, 2020
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2020/06/23/systemic-racism-on-display-in-house-of-commons.html

The latest examples of systemic racism in Canada occurred last week in the heart of Canada’s democracy. It involved the only racialized leader of a federal political party, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, and how he was treated in the House of Commons, as well as how the story was covered by the media.

On June 17, House of Commons Speaker Anthony Rota expelled Singh from the House for refusing to apologize for calling Bloc Québécois MP Alain Therrien racist. The incident occurred after Therrien became the only MP to vote “no” on Singh’s motion calling on the government to investigate the issue of systemic racism within the RCMP, their budget and their training of officers on the use of force. In addition to voting “no” on the motion, thereby denying it unanimous consent and causing it to fail, Therrien used a hand gesture that Singh found to be dismissive of the seriousness of the issue being discussed, which resulted in Singh using the word he did.

This incident, and how media covered it, not only showed Canadians an example of racism played out at the highest level of politics, it also demonstrated that a racialized minority in a position of privilege was not immune to systemic racism. For many people of colour across the country, it was another example of how they are treated when they try and challenge racist behaviour in their own lives.

The image of the only political party leader who is a visible minority being thrown out of Parliament by the white Speaker of the House, for challenging what he considered racist behaviour by a white MP, was a glaring example of systemic racism and white privilege at the highest level of politics. To add insult to injury, the MP who instigated the incident was allowed to remain in the House of Commons, and was defended by the white members of his caucus. It was as though Therrien, the Bloc Québécois caucus, and the Speaker were blind and deaf to the calls of Canadians, particularly Black and Indigenous Canadians, protesting in the streets and calling for an end to systemic racism and police violence.

In addition to Singh’s treatment in the House, another layer of systemic racism was evident in the way that editors and producers at Canada’s major media outlets framed the story.

In a scan of more than 50 different headlines in Canadian media since the story broke, including multiple stories by the CBC, CTV, Global, the National Post and the Globe and Mail, there was only one instance in a Toronto Star headline where Therrien was mentioned by name. While there were details about him contained in the body of the story, to the public the headlines made it seem that the story was purely about Mr. Singh rather than the actions of Therrien that created this controversy.

The headlines and coverage of the incident are part of a pattern that communities of colour have seen often where insufficient media attention is given to the underlying racism that is the catalyst for racist acts. In Singh’s case, the fact that the media largely ignored Therrien, allowed his BQ colleagues to run interference for him, and didn’t dig into why he was the lone BQ MP to vote “no” on Singh’s motion, raises questions about the decision makers in the newsrooms of the nation, and why they and their news teams framed the story as they did.

Why was there singular media focus on Singh rather than Therrien, the man who set off this chain of events? Why didn’t the media ask Therrien about why he opposed Singh’s motion when his entire caucus supported it? Why did the rules of the House of Commons sanction the person of colour who called out the racism, and ignore the person who instigated this furor?

What happened in the House of Commons and how media covered the story brought racism to light in Parliament in a way that has infuriated many Canadians. It showed that even in one of the most privileged places in Canada, a chamber of equals, systemic racism and white privilege go hand in hand, and that comes through in how media covered that privilege as well.

Fareed Khan is founder and chair of the anti-racism activist group Canadians United Against Hate. 

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