76% of Black people in the city are treated unfairly at least a few times a month, according to a survey
A recent in-depth report on Torontonians’ day-to-day experiences with microaggressions and discrimination found that black people are “significantly” more likely to face discrimination than white people.
A research brief entitled Everyday Racism: Discrimination in the City of TorontoTuesday, a report on discrimination from the U.S. Department of Justice was made public.Toronto Social Capital Study published in November.
The report, which was made by the non-profit Toronto Foundation and the Environics Institute for Survey Research, was the first of its kind. It found that about 76% of Black Torontonians experience racial discrimination at least a few times a month.
Professor of psychiatry and CEO of the Wellesley Institute Kwame McKenzie said, “I wasn’t surprised.”
“The type of discrimination they are trying to measure is microaggressions, which are small, everyday acts of racism that people notice. This is what most Black people in Canada experience every day.”
The information comes from a survey of 4,163 people in Toronto who were 18 or older and took place both online and over the phone last summer.
Participants who said they had been treated unfairly in any way were asked what they thought was the main reason.
About 41% of people said it was because of their ethnicity or race, 34% said it was because of how they looked, 32% said it was because of their age, and 30% said it was because of their gender.
“But when it comes to racialized Torontonians, 61% of those who say they’ve been treated unfairly say it’s because of their ethnicity or race,” the report says.
Black Torontonians say that people treat them like they are not smart
As part of the survey, people were asked about 10 types of discrimination they had experienced. This was done using the Everyday Discrimination scale, which was made by Harvard University professor David R. Williams.
People who took the survey were asked about discrimination in their everyday lives. For example, they were asked if they were ever called names or insulted, if they were ever threatened or harassed, and if they were ever followed around stores.
They were also asked how often they are treated with less courtesy or respect than other people, if they get worse service at restaurants or stores than other people, if people act like they think they are not smart or are afraid of them, if people act like they think they are dishonest, and if people act like they are better than them.
Black Torontonians are more likely than people of any other large racial identity group to say they are treated as not smart. In fact, 25% of Black Torontonians say this happens to them regularly, while only 17% of white people say the same thing.
About 46% of black people said they have never had someone be afraid of them because of their race, while 65% of white people said they have never had this happen.
Andrew Parkin, who helped write the study and is the executive director of the Environics Institute for Survey Research, said that the data help show how racial and ethnic groups have had a lot of different experiences.
“This affects how people feel connected to their community and how much they trust institutions like city services, city hall, the police, the justice system, and schools,” Parkin said.
Discrimination is a big reason why people don’t have jobs
The report also says that there is a strong link between economic security and discrimination, as well as between well-being and economic security.
The report says that Torontonians who face discrimination the most often are less happy with their lives, have worse mental health, and have less economic security than those who face discrimination less often or not at all.
Agapi Gessesse, who is the executive director of the CEE Center for Young Black Professionals, says that the number of Black Torontonians who say they are often treated unfairly because of their race is a big reason why so many of them are unemployed.
Statistics Canada says that Black youth between the ages of 15 and 24 have had high unemployment rates during the pandemic. In January 2021, almost one-third of the work force in this age group, or 30.6%, was unemployed, which was almost twice the rate for non-visible minority youth.
“It paints a picture that fits with how many people are out of work. Why is it that our community has a lot of well-educated, motivated, and willing-to-work young people, but the unemployment rate doesn’t seem to be going down?” Gessesse said.
“Organizations like ours have to find labor gaps in the market and train people to fill them, so that you’ll want to hire them no matter what they look like or who they are because you don’t have much of a choice.”
The report says that people who say they are discriminated against the most have much less social capital than people who say they are discriminated against less or not at all.
McKenzie said that there is a link between discrimination and social capital, but that it can be hard to prove that one causes the other.
“If you are in a group that deals with racism every day, you would be less likely to trust other people. It would make you try to keep your social networks small to keep yourself safe “he said.
“So, you can see how it could lead to less social capital and less social cohesion. But we don’t really know if that’s what happens.”
McKenzie and Gessesse aren’t involved in the study in any way.
South Asians say they get less respect than other people
The report also says that at least a few times a month, South Asians in Toronto are treated unfairly because of their race. People in this group are more than twice as likely as white people to say they get worse service at restaurants and stores.
Also, they are the most likely of the largest racial groups in the city to say they are treated less respectfully than other people. 25% of black people say this happens at least a few times a month, while only 14% of white people say the same thing.
Parkin said that the Toronto Foundation and the Environics Institute for Survey Research gathered information about religious groups that said they were often treated badly because of their religion. They will soon release more specific information about this.
“On top of the racial discrimination we’re talking about today, there are many other kinds of discrimination in Toronto, including against people who are obviously religious,” Parkin said.
“These are all kind of there in the data, and we’ll be working over the next few minutes to bring as much of that to the surface as we can.”
Being Black in Canada is a CBC project that Black Canadians can be proud of. It has more stories about the lives of Black Canadians, from racism against Black people to success stories in the Black community. You can find more stories to read here.
