Advocates are raising concerns that Black representatives have been left off the federal government's newly formed Advisory Council on Rights, Equality and Inclusion, and are criticizing the lack of progress on updates to the Employment Equity Act.
Exclusion of Black voices
The federal government announced the creation of the advisory council on June 1, but advocates say it fails to include Black representation. They also argue that the council's mandate does not explicitly address anti-Black racism.
“Anti-Black racism was not explicitly identified. At some point, omission becomes difficult to distinguish from indifference,” said Nicholas Marcus Thompson, co-chair of the National Employment Equity Council, during a news conference on Parliament Hill on June 4.
Thompson noted that Canada has spent years studying and acknowledging anti-Black racism, making the exclusion “difficult to reconcile.”
Reactions from advocacy groups
Other organizations, including Amnesty International Canada and the Canadian Black Clergies and Allies, have also called on the government to revise the council's composition and mandate.
Jean Augustine, the first Black woman elected to the House of Commons, expressed frustration: “Black Canadians are tired. We’re tired of being an afterthought, tired of having to raise our voices to be heard and seen fully, tired of having to remind people that we exist and that we matter, too.”
Augustine added that failing to mention anti-Black racism in the mandate “is to frankly ignore the one and a half million Black Canadians who proudly call Canada home.”
Ketty Nivyabandi, secretary general of Amnesty International Canada, said she believes the federal government under Prime Minister Mark Carney is backsliding on racial discrimination. “Anti-Black racism does not appear to be a priority,” she said.
Employment Equity Act update stalled
Thompson also confirmed that there is still no legislation to update the Employment Equity Act, nearly three years after a task force made recommendations. The proposed changes would create distinct equity groups for Black and 2SLGBTQ+ workers under the act, which covers all federally regulated employees, including those in the public service, banking, and telecommunications.
