THUNDER BAY – Eighty-three per cent of respondents to a recent survey say they feel racism and discrimination is a serious issue in Thunder Bay.
Only seven per cent disagree.
The numbers aren’t shocking, said Sandra Albertson, director of community impact with the United Way of Thunder Bay, whose organization undertook the survey as a way to provide baseline numbers to a problem few people deny exists in the Northern Ontario city.
And to no one’s surprise, Thunder Bay’s Indigenous population is overwhelmingly seen as the likeliest target of racism and discrimination, with 71 per cent of the 1,641 respondents who took part in the telephone and online survey agreeing.
Seven per cent listed the LGBT community, while five per cent said immigrants and a further three per cent said Caucasians.
Discrimination or unfair treatment toward Indigenous people is more likely to occur in a store, restaurant or bank than anywhere else, with 28 per cent making it their top pick. A further 22 per cent said it happens most on the street.
Sixty-six per cent of non-minorities indicated the question did not apply to their lives.
A couple of things stood out most, said Albertson, adding they went into the exercise with the full knowledge that racism is a major issue in the city.
The fact that so many acknowledge it’s a problem is a great place to start, she said. But the survey also showed there’s still plenty of work to be done.
“It was a very large number,” Albertson said. “Over eighty or ninety per cent said yes, it’s a serious issue.
“But when asked are you comfortable confronting it or speaking out against it, only 66 per cent of the respondents said yes. So we can see there’s an area where people need to be comfortable and empowered to be able to speak up against racism and discrimination in our community.”
The other area of surprise was a little more promising.
Asked if they would trust having a doctor, teacher or other professional of a different race or sexual orientation, the vast majority said it wouldn’t bother them in the least.
“Ninety-six per cent of the people said yes, they are comfortable. I think there’s a serious divide of the people who understand there is racism and discrimination in our community and feel they would like to see it change,” Albertson said.
“But there’s also that small minority of people who are loud in our community and are probably the people causing more of the distress in our community around racism.”
Moving forward, the United Way is helping to start the Diversity Counts project to take a deeper look at who is doing what with racism and discrimination issues and helping to forge community conversations around the subject, while also looking at new ways to combat the problem.
Sage Laliberte, a youth Indigenous intern at the United Way, will help co-ordinate the audit. She said her initial work has shown a lot of work has been going on.
“But a lot of it’s in silos,” she said. “So what we’re trying to do is get people together to collaborate, build new partnerships and work together. We’re hearing there’s a need for more youth involvement. That’s what everyone seems to be focused on.”
The full report can be found here.
