The job on fed and made millions with no redress what chinas tightening grip on hong kong will do so its Financial Hub status virtual jobs are a stopgap for the real deal. Counting the cost on aljazeera. I am for me ok youre watching the screen protests about Police Brutality race inequality and play just getting back to the people of color in canada the anti racism protasis United States a spot in National Conversation about race in canada he was Donovan Bailey hes a former canadian olympian talking about racism canadian style. Now in canada this is a little different and you know i guess the Word Association that we always talk about in janet is that its racism with a smile where you know. We definitely the biggest melting pot worland and we are encouraged you know to to participate and were invited certainly into it into the into the boardroom or into applying for jobs and so forth but we know for sure that in many cases this is already been made and so this is just protocol for the moon we are going to be unpacking of racism in canada this show is not long enough what were going to start if you have a foot if you have takes can share them with us for cheap or jumping into the chat and you can be part of this conversation. I dont guess they rubbing tell everybody here you are welcome to the story i think so much for having me my name is robin menard im an activist and the author of the book policing black lives to violence in canada from slavery to the present gets happy and i sicily what do we need to know about you for this conversation tell everybody who you are hi my name cicely belgrade and im a consultant and cofounder of black lives that ivanka. Great great to have you and i desmond welcome to the straight i femi hello everyone and good morning thanks for this mornings doesnt call i am an activist journalist and the author of the new book the skin more in a year of black resistance and power we welcome everybody gets have you so desmond you amount to in the last couple of days youre out there on the streets why. A march that happened in toronto not this past weekend but the one before which drew thousands and thousands of was actually an honor of a 29 year old black and indigenous woman who lived in toronto named regis questions keep pocket and misfortunes keep at. Died after interacting with the police in her 24 story apartment in a neighborhood called high park in toronto we dont know exactly what happened but it appears that the police several of them were alone in this one apartment after being caught there and that she somehow fell to her death after interacting leitz and so that outrage that we heard about this story 2000 streets here i went to cover that demonstration and this is part of a cycle of violence and names that your viewers may not know names like the Andre Campbell a 26 year old man in brampton ontario who was shot and killed by the police in april hudson a 16 year old indigenous girl killed by when you take police in april in the same week. There are so many stories like we hear in other parts of the world including the United States happening here in canada and thats the reason why people are in the streets to i. Guess i want to show you this this graphic here how Race Relations in town of the canada compared to the u s pretty low bar have to say comparing to us but even sadder 67 percent of canadians think that risk relations are jenny better in canada than in the u. S. Then weve got 9 percent generally worse 1000 percent about the same and fight the same dont have a clue sicily im going to then click over to some of the youve become quite well known for ive seen this you even realize youre going to be on stream is in 2nd i did wifely 10 habits as someone who doesnt know that theyre on t. V. Black did you write that the canadians. I so did i had i had my my city in mind when writing that you know d i think canadians are so. You know and you blackness specifically here in canada is incredibly invisible ised incredibly pushed under the rug and as with many major issues of injustice and i really want to folks to take a moment to reflect and recognize how anti black behaviors are in our every day that you are in every day habits and in our every day behavior because i think especially canadians i just do not have the language to address that and are therefore complicit in upholding White Supremacy and complicit in. Continuing antiblack narratives. I dont have a baby described it as racism with a smile can you give us a couple of examples of what you mean by racism in canada what have you experienced what have you seen. I think. You know its very systemic so of course were looking at you know similar to what were looking at in the us extremely high rates of Police ViolencePolice Brutality here in vancouver the black population is less than one percent yet were seeing 5 percent of the people who are stopped and searched and racially profiled by the bank of the Police D Department of black so even though the numbers are smaller were seeing incredibly disproportionate rates of black folks being targeted by police but that of course we see those might her aggressions as well how people are treated on an everyday basis a couple of things i touched on in that piece was how just the general interaction with black folks and how black folks are made to feel other that excluded its we have paradox especially in vancouver and smallest cities where the black population this small is we have paradox of being both invisible eyes but also type of visible at the same time. All right i still havent had an example yet but i know exactly what you mean because i am a person of color all right so you dont want to go there but if you dont have this conversation when are we going to have it when are we going to give those examples and we get to you this is cool equal foot a coup is Say Something give these to you rob and is anyone looking at the Education System and changes we can make to include canadas history of racism based on my School History it is not covered well robyn you know all about this education and racism in canada where are we at right now. Absolutely so there are in some really incredible you know black eye historians and black scholars that have been working for decades to get history into the curriculum in canada we need to understand that most People Living in canada are not actually even being taught in school that there was a hidden there is a history of slavery in canada being well educated of course of that legacy in the United States but having no idea based on the education that that we receive in our Public Schools that slavery was legal in canada for 200 years that segregated schooling existed in canada you know that the last secured School Closed in nova scotia in 1983 black president s and particularly the vitamins towards black communities is completely disavowed within the educational system at this time and at the same time a system in a state of violence for black youth where we see that black youth are being systematically stream systematically pushed out and whats called the school to prison pipeline with lower Graduation Rates and facing high levels of violence and even policing in their schools for example theres a 6 Year Old Girl who was handcuffed with her hands together and her feet together you know in her school in just a borough not far from toronto so we really need to understand both the are a share of the ball of black peoples lives d in presence in this country and Education System as well as how the Education System itself is punitive and in many ways violent towards black youth black young people and black children. I want to bring in paolo who is a black. And she feels its very important that canadians get out and protest. Inequality this is what she told us early on the street. Black was matter and had like racism protest in canada are incredibly important and necessary but canadians have been here for generations and its time for other canadians to stand with us in solidarity in this movement to fight injustice im currently not protesting because i dont have the capacity to do so but i am an artist and im creating our work to spread awareness im circulating resources online and im donating to flyers and organizations that support black lives matter when i am able to desmond i knew you had that comparison between the u. S. And the king and canada its like oh canada is us light and it has its own issues so when we talking about these protests this sense of let us talk about race and lets be honest about it right now we still mood in the country in the appetite to have that conversation whats going on. Well 1st of all i just want to say the promos work and are is just wonderful and tremendous and shes an example of the different ways that we can contribute to our movements if were not able or willing to get out into the streets physically thats only one method of demonstration and fighting back. I think the mood among black people in canada generally is that we have been tired of not being able to even host these conversations of being pushed aside and ignored by the way to jordi in our country even though there is tremendous organizing in vancouver in montreal here in toronto where i am the white majority in this country is still not interested in general and having these conversations and what i believe were seeing in canada right now with recent events like our Prime MinisterJustin Trudeau taking a need for absolutely no clear purpose just a few days ago at a demonstration himself is that politicians are feeling scared they are feeling pressured now to make some sort of gestures to black people who have successfully raised our issues and so i believe that the move that theyre in is to try and offer us some crumbs some half measures to make us stop asking for the things that we want the defunding of the police the disarming of the police and the disbandment of the police that we can take the billions of dollars that we spend in policing budgets in canada and give those resources to the communities that have traditionally been released who need Mental Health supports food programs child care. Thats what the mood is of i think black people who are fed up of fighting and dying and watching each other die of the white majority resists and thats why we continue to fight because theres a resistance even from the white majority who hears us and know. What were talking about this idea of defunding the play says theres that says theres reasons behind that and that is and i think people be really shocked about the figures for how many people are killed by the police in the world and in canada you are number 2 roping can you pick up on that because youve had conversations about the funding the police in canada and people who are kind of skeptical. Well we need to understand that you know Police Killings in canada have been on the rise over the last 20 years as weve seen police by just increase over the 20 years to a point where nationally theres about 15000000000. 00 in spending on the police and yet we continue to see people dying and black people dying at grossly disproportionate rates not that theres any appropriate proportion that which we should be dying at and the police we know that in toronto black people are 20 times more likely to be shot and killed by the police and white People Living in toronto it makes it very clear that for the vast majority of the tasks that we that the police are assigned to which is responding to you know 50 to 80 percent of calls are responding to Mental Health crises are responding to the mast and Domestic Violence issues or drug related issues in each of those situations and all of those situations police exacerbate the problem increase the violence towards our communities particularly for communities living in poverty like black and indigenous communities so its theres a is a really strong push for Something Else to say that policing is not an appropriate solution and policing is in fact the opposite of safety in our communities now this is coming on the heels of generations of black struggle if we look to the poor you know who protests that were happening in toronto in montreal in the 1970 s. And eightys by the black Action Defense Committee by the black womens collective that have been fighting against antiblack racism against the policing of black men and importantly against the policing of black women that this point we continue to have the idea still to us that somehow increasing the Police Budget by means of smarter policing like body cameras or like implicit bias training are expected to somehow reduce the violence but we know that those kinds of those kinds of policies are not only increased by just a policing as opposed to decrease it but they actually do nothing to stop the endemic violence that our communities have been facing so demonstrate in saying that this time and learning Something Else were streaming live so we have conversations with you viii cheap michael pan michael thank you for being in the conversation he wants to know what will defunding the police do what will that do what impact will that. Well defunding the police you know you know people have likened it to slavery we were not looking for reform theres been many methods of people trying to reform you know body counts which is actually just another form of surveillance of marginalized communities you know as robin said unconscious bias training reform is not an option here defunding the police is the only option and the result of that is a decrease in the amount of violence a decrease in the persecution of much analyzed communities and as that has been discussed there are so many alternatives and i think marginalized communities especially black communities especially have proven time and time again that we have the capacity to take care of ourselves and to do things in indy colonial ways and ways that support and uplift communities and i think you know when were talking about defunding the police of course the concern is ok whats the alternative but so many alternatives exist which are not rooted in which are not rooted in inherent violence and are not rooted in surveillance and control of much of the lies community. I would bring in will shine and i dont want one of yeah desmond i am pleased to be hanged. I just want to add to it cicely is saying because i fully agree that the way imagination is obsessed with hypothetical violence against itself and it ignores real violence against us as black people as Indigenous Peoples in canada it is always saying that some kind of hypothetical violence will occur if the police are taken away the police are actually not able to address most violence that happens in communities they come after it has occurred but white imagination tells people that they will you less safe unless we are policed so its a way of pitting our safety against the weight majority when in fact its better for everyone in our communities if we have a safe and supportive interventions rather than violent acts doesnt you mentioned. Justin trudeau the canadian Prime Minister a little bit earlier let me show you here a quote that he made an offense have to change but repairing centuries of injustice exclusion and violence doesnt happen overnight we have to Work Together we have to work hard today i pitch to continue leading the charge a new chief. Taking the knee writs b. S. What difference has. This conversation that is now bubbling up again in canada about race about racial inequality desmond what difference has that made right now well i just want to be clear that Justin Trudeau isnt leading anything Justin Trudeau told us last year that he only learned as an adult that blackface was wrong and that he only realized that his own repeated in gaijin with blackface was something he shouldnt have been doing he realized that as an adult hes not leading anything i want to be clear about that he is a distraction and an obstacle to progress. But. As far as communities what im seeing is im seeing the work of people who may not necessarily always be on television but who have to pick up the pieces after things like a police raid in their community who have to figure out ways to protect members of their community because theyre being followed and documented and surveilled by the police this is the work that people are doing every day that goes unseen and its actually people like our Prime Minister who try to stand at the front of all of that work without having ever supported or acknowledged it and then try to steer it in a different direction so this has to be Community Led it cant be a bunch of politicians and corporations who just woke up to enter blackness yesterday saying that they will now that is completely disrespectful and its not going to give us what we just bring in will shelling has amassed a student using musing about or what canada needs to do in order to do better by people of color is what will tell us one of the best things that can the consensually do at the federal provincial useful level is carving out specific policies and funding against reason in the countries as a as a whole and canada needs to take this issue seriously because there is a prevailing understanding of colonialism and the legacy of slavery within a very similar to how there is a systemic history of oppression against indigenous folks living im just wondering in a week weve had you on the screen before and ive been following yo