Racial Profiling And Human Rights In Canada

"This book is designed to address some of the contemporary trends in the public discourse on racial profiling and to stimulate a broad-based and holistic understanding of the complexities of racial profiling in the Canadian context."--

Informed by a wealth of research and theoretical approaches from a wide range of disciplines, Racial Profiling in Canada makes a major contribution to the literature and debates on a topic of growing concern.

Examines minority rights issues central to the concerns of Canada's three major ethnic constituencies: self-determination of aboriginal peoples; anti-racism strategies and multiculturalism; and the national sovereignty of the Quebecois. Analyses and evaluates the comparative strength of legal protection for the human rights of ethnic groups. Includes texts of the following documents: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the Declaration of the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities; the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Constitution Act, 1982, Part I); and the Rights of the Aboriginal Peoples of Canada (Constitution Act, 1982, Part II).

Historically Canadians have considered themselves to be more or less free of racial prejudice. Although this conception has been challenged in recent years, it has not been completely dispelled. In Colour-Coded, Constance Backhouse illustrates the tenacious hold that white supremacy had on our legal system in the first half of this century, and underscores the damaging legacy of inequality that continues today. Backhouse presents detailed narratives of six court cases, each giving evidence of blatant racism created and enforced through law. The cases focus on Aboriginal, Inuit, Chinese-Canadian, and African-Canadian individuals, taking us from the criminal prosecution of traditional Aboriginal dance to the trial of members of the 'Ku Klux Klan of Kanada.' From thousands of possibilities, Backhouse has selected studies that constitute central moments in the legal history of race in Canada. Her selection also considers a wide range of legal forums, including administrative rulings by municipal councils, criminal trials before police magistrates, and criminal and civil cases heard by the highest courts in the provinces and by the Supreme Court of Canada. The extensive and detailed documentation presented here leaves no doubt that the Canadian legal system played a dominant role in creating and preserving racial discrimination. A central message of this book is that racism is deeply embedded in Canadian history despite Canada's reputation as a raceless society. Winner of the Joseph Brant Award, presented by the Ontario Historical Society

Discrimination Stories: Exclusion, Law, and Everyday Life explores diverse legal cases brought before courts and human rights tribunals to help us understand the development of anti-discrimination law in Canada. The cases take us into -- and teach us about -- the concrete realities of inequality in everyday life.

Delving behind Canada’s veneer of multiculturalism and tolerance, Policing Black Lives traces the violent realities of anti-blackness from the slave ships to prisons, classrooms and beyond. Robyn Maynard provides readers with the first comprehensive account of nearly four hundred years of state-sanctioned surveillance, criminalization and punishment of Black lives in Canada. While highlighting the ubiquity of Black resistance, Policing Black Lives traces the still-living legacy of slavery across multiple institutions, shedding light on the state’s role in perpetuating contemporary Black poverty and unemployment, racial profiling, law enforcement violence, incarceration, immigration detention, deportation, exploitative migrant labour practices, disproportionate child removal and low graduation rates. Emerging from a critical race feminist framework that insists that all Black lives matter, Maynard’s intersectional approach to anti-Black racism addresses the unique and understudied impacts of state violence as it is experienced by Black women, Black people with disabilities, as well as queer, trans, and undocumented Black communities. A call-to-action, Policing Black Lives urges readers to work toward dismantling structures of racial domination and re-imagining a more just society.

Many police and security officials make judgments based on race, ethnicity, and religion. This book is the first in-depth look at racial profiling in Canada, using social science evidence, judicial decisions, media reports, and government and police documents. The work aims to foster understanding and reform by addressing why police profile, what damage it causes, and whether it is ever reasonable.