On March 21, the world recognized International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The day highlights an incident that occurred in Sharpeville, South Africa, where police shot 69 protesters who were peacefully demonstrating against apartheid laws that denied Black South Africans’ rights. Although Canada is often lauded for its collective tolerance and commitment to inclusivity, community leaders in Kamloops and beyond said progress depends on recognizing and reforming the systems that uphold racial discrimination.
During colonization in Canada, Indigenous communities were denied rights, forced to attend residential schools and forcibly removed from their land. According to the Employment and Social Development Canada (Service Canada), racialized communities today continue to face systemic discrimination, shaped by historical colonization, contributing to multiple challenges, including prevailing poverty, housing instability and barriers to quality healthcare.
“[Racial discrimination] is very different right now because it’s very subtle,” said Sally Martin, executive director of Valid Dreams, an organization in Kamloops that bridges multi-ethnic communities. “It’s not as explicit as it was in the past.”
Keisha Morong, EDI manager at TRU’s Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Anti-Racism, said people think that racial discrimination is only inclusive of Black people and the history of slavery, even though it affects many racialized communities.
“It’s not always loud,” Debra Abraham, family services manager at the Kamloops Aboriginal Friendship Society (KAFS), said. “It can be subtle. It’s systemic, and it’s atmospheric.”
According to Margaret-Anne Enders, founder of Awakenings Anti-Racism & Reconciliation and a partner with the Orange Shirt Society, normalization of subtle racism and symbolic gestures within society often makes discrimination easier to dismiss.
“They need to have a plan and track how they’re doing with that plan,” Enders said. “Who has decision-making power? Who is represented at leadership levels?”
From an Indigenous perspective, Aubrey Jackson, an Elder and a member of the Gitxsan Indigenous nation, who holds the hereditary title Xsimoyget Yal, said racism extends beyond individual behaviour to society as a whole.
“You can’t just paint the house red and leave the inside unchanged,” Jackson said, stating that public statements, land acknowledgements or diversity branding mean little if the underlying systems remain intact.
For Jackson, real change requires altering how decisions are made, who holds power and whose knowledge shapes policy from the beginning. Without that internal shift, he said, institutions risk creating the appearance of progress while preserving the same institutionalized structures that continue to exclude Indigenous communities and other marginalized groups.
“Indigenous peoples are never part of an idea from its infancy,” Jackson said. “Usually the plan is already developed, and if Indigenous people are not in favour [of the plan], it goes ahead anyway.”
Martin said the idea that racism only exists when someone intentionally tries to harm another person based on race is a misconception. She emphasized that individuals may still perpetuate harmful attitudes or behaviours through stereotypes, assumptions or systemic practices that affect racialized communities.
According to Morong, racial bias can occur within racialized groups. She said it can also occur within communities, including colourism within the Black community, where lighter and darker skin tones may be treated differently.
Morong added that racial discrimination is not often reported when it occurs. She said improved reporting could help generate the data needed to take steps to address and eliminate racist behaviour effectively.
“Eliminating racial discrimination requires more than statements. It requires daily self-examination from institutions and individuals alike,” Abraham said.