Unspoken Racism in Canada: When Being Polite Does Not Mean Anti-Racist

Silence and politeness, albeit, not merely as violent as the racism in other prominent countries, is equally if not more so morally destructive.

I am an immigrant living in Canada since late 2012, although this beautiful land has given me tremendous opportunities, it came with a cause. We moved from Southeast Asia to a small town in Canada where the population is predominantly white (as expected). Everyone is nice, although you can sense the unwelcoming vibe with the deafening silence and stares. At that time, I think none of this but as time progress, I started to understand that silence alone and forced grin may not be racism but it is far from the idealistic and misguided philosophy of Canada on diversity. We say diversity here a lot, you’ll hear it in workplaces and you’ll read it in almost correspondence you get about Canada.

However, it stops there. There’s no clear and specific pathway towards what really makes diversity great and monumental. Managers and executives who acts like overlords over immigrant workers speaks about the big game and how they respect and embrace diversity, it’s nothing but a hallow speech for their ego boost, most of the time, it’s simply a marketing ploy with no coherent plan to integrate immigrants.

Yes, there is racism in Canada, although I am still trying to understand if ignorance is more rampant or if racism is actually the symptom to an even dangerous problem. Being observant and reflective to people’s passive aggressiveness brought about a realization that sometimes, politeness is a mask to silent racism that is more prevalent than people might come to anticipate when they come here.

It shows up in the workplace in a way wherein you will be affected indirectly in a conscientious manner perpetuated by the management in a slow, methodical approach to mask the racism. Work promotions that were not given because all of a sudden there were performance issues that were never addressed, and even after they gave you awards and recognition but still they managed to hire someone who is white and inexperienced, questionable education, and later finding out that the company already made the decision even before the hiring process started.

In Canada, racism is masked behind the disguise of anything that will hide the hypocrisy, it’s scarier because it is methodical, almost psychopathic, and never in your face.

No one speaks about it because the world knows that Canadians are polite.

Companies would often hire immigrants and subtly tell their hiring managers to prioritize newcomers because they need the job and would likely stay longer and show up for work. Then after the hiring, there is lack of training, lackluster support from management, no intercultural training, and you are always the scapegoat. These companies will then claim diversity is in the core of their business for marketing and ego boost. In my experience here as a team leader with HR responsibilities, immigrants are more likely to get written up and disciplined, immigrants are more likely to get unjustly fired, immigrants are less likely to get approved for wage increase, immigrants are less likely to get promoted because our education is international, and white people are more likely to get their job back after getting fired as I witness repeatedly.

One glaring observation is how Canadian companies treat mental health and illness. If an immigrant shows unbecoming behaviors in the workplace, white managers would often blame their culture for the behavior and that employee would get a lecture on diversity and integration while a white employee will be provided preferential treatment because of mental illness or concerns. I believe in mental well-being, that’s the field I work in, but this is just pure hypocrisy and abuse when decision makers decide based from preference rather than professional duty. Again, no one talks about this because people deem it sensitive.

Racism in Canada may be subtle, that does not mean it’s nonexistent. It has proliferated silently and hidden in passive aggressiveness.