Stones and glass houses bro. Canada had segregated schools until 1983 for gawd sakes.
Against Black Canadians
- Slavery: Chattel slavery was legal in the French and British colonies that became Canada for over 200 years. Enslaved people, both Indigenous and African, were considered property, their forced labour contributing to colonial prosperity. Slavery was abolished in 1834, but its legacy continued through segregation and systemic racism.
- Segregation:Legal and informal racial segregation was pervasive in education, housing, employment, and public services.
- Schools: Legally segregated schools existed in Nova Scotia and Ontario, with the last segregated school closing in Nova Scotia in 1983.
- Public Life: Black individuals were denied service in hotels, restaurants, and theatres. Viola Desmond was famously arrested in 1946 for refusing to leave a whites-only section of a Nova Scotia movie theatre.
- Discriminatory Immigration: The government actively discouraged Black immigration, including a 1911 Order-in-Council (though never officially enforced) to prohibit the entry of the "Negro race" deemed "unsuitable" for the climate.
- Destruction of Communities: Historic Black communities, such as Africville in Halifax and Hogan's Alley in Vancouver, were forcibly razed by municipal governments in the mid-20th century due to intentional neglect and urban renewal projects.
- Colonialism and Genocide: The foundation of Canada involved the colonization and dispossession of Indigenous lands, a process increasingly described as genocide due to associated forced displacement, violence, and compulsory assimilation programs.
- Residential Schools: For over a century, Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families and placed in church-run, government-funded residential schools with the explicit goal of cultural eradication and assimilation into "white" society. Physical and sexual abuse was widespread, and many children died.
- The Indian Act: Enacted in 1876 and still in force today, this legislation has been a primary tool for controlling Indigenous life, creating the reserve system, and imposing paternalistic government control over their lives and lands.
- Forced Sterilization: Provinces like Alberta had eugenics policies, such as the Sexual Sterilization Act (repealed in 1972), which led to the forced sterilization of Indigenous and other marginalized women without their consent.
Against Asian Canadians
- Chinese Head Tax and Exclusion Act: Starting in 1885, a race-based head tax was imposed on Chinese immigrants to deter their entry, followed by the Chinese Immigration Act, 1923 (the "Exclusion Act"), which banned almost all Chinese immigration until 1947.
- Japanese Internment: During World War II, approximately 22,000 Japanese Canadians, many of whom were Canadian-born citizens, were forcibly removed from the West Coast and sent to internment camps. Their property and fishing boats were seized and sold by the government, often without compensation.
- Komagata Maru Incident: In 1914, 376 Indian passengers, mostly Sikhs, were denied entry to Canada and forced to return to India due to restrictive "continuous journey" immigration regulations.
- Japanese Internment: In 1942, over 20,000 Japanese-Canadians—including those born in Canada—were forcibly moved to internment camps, and their properties were seized and never returned.
- Exclusion of Jewish Refugees: In 1939, Canada famously refused entry to Jewish refugees on the MS St. Louis, leading many to perish in the Holocaust.
