Growing up Black in Canada

As thousands of people take to the streets across the world in solidarity – and to express their frustration over the grim reality that anti-Black racism still exists, we asked our own Maggie John’s brother, Mark McCalla to share his experiences growing up as a young Black man in Canada.

“We all watch in horror and consternation what’s going on in the United States. It is a time to pull people together but it is a time to listen is the time to learn what injustices continue despite progress over years and decades. But it is a time for us as Canadians to recognize that we too have our challenges that black Canadians and racialize Canadians face discrimination as a lived reality every single day.”– Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

BACKGROUND IN CANADA OF SOME RECENT EVENTS THAT HAVE SPURRED THE PEACEFUL PROTESTS:

Protests here in Canada were initially sparked by the killing of 46-year-old Minneapolis resident, George Floyd at the hands of police – but soon grew exponentially because of the death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet who fell 24 floors to her death in a downtown Toronto apartment after police were called.

Then, the death of a 26-year-old Chantel Moore, an Indigenous woman born in Tofino, B.C. was fatally shot by a police officer during a ‘wellness check’ in northwestern New Brunswick.

And the death of D’Andre Campbell who called police himself for help but ended up being shot and killed by police who entered his home in April.

In at 2008 report, The Ontario Human Rights Commission said racial profiling and racial discrimination of Black persons by Toronto Police Services found that,“Between 2013 and 2017, a Black person in Toronto is 20 times more likely than a White person to be involved in a fatal shooting by the Toronto Police Service (TPS).”

In Toronto, Black people are 20 times more likely to be killed by police than those of other races, Green said, quoting a finding from Ontario’s Human Rights Commission report in 2018.