Published in the HuffPo here. There was a time when Montrealers could overlook superficial and linguistic differences to rally around a groundbreaking sporting prodigy. Despite being Black, Anglophone and a foreigner, Jackie Robinson was, by all accounts, welcomed in Canada’s then-largest city in 1946. Robinson played a single season with
Continue readingTag: multi-culturalisme
The Adventures of Diva Rachel: The Home of the Habs: For Whites Only?
This blogpost was published in the HuffPost under the title:
This Canadian Stood Up to Racism Before Rosa Parks
The Hobby Lobby case rules that Corporations can impose their restrictive values on others. What if the corporation is racist?
As a Verdun resident, Fred Christie follows the Habs, as do a legion of other Quebeckers. The Montrealer is even a proud season-ticket holder.
Accompanied by two friends, Mr. Christie enters the tavern at the Canadiens‘ hockey area, plunks down some cash and orders a few beers. The bartender refuses to serve him. The assistant manager then explains to his would-be customers that the establishment extends no courtesy to Negroes.
It is 1936. July 11th 1936.
The protagonist had resided in the Métropole for over 20 years. Mr. Christie converted to the cult of ice hockey even if the NHL then bars all coloured players. Although Mr. Christie, a Jamaican immigrant, integrated himself into Canadian culture and acclimatized himself to his adopted country, he was not treated like other customers.
Long before Canada’s “multiculturalism mantra,” this was an everyday scenario played out in Toronto, Calgary, Nova Scotia… just about everywhere in the Great “White” North. Aboriginals, Asians and Africans-descendants suffered overt discrimination at will.
During the hostility at le Forum de Montréal‘s tavern, Mr. Christie tried to explain to the Manager that this race-based rule was unfair. His pleas fell on deaf ears. Mr. Christie then called the police. They only served to add insult to injury. Humiliated, Fred and his friends left the tavern thirst unquenched and empty-handed. Like most Afro-Canadians in Montreal, Mr. Christie knew which shops and theatres avoid, which jobs were denied to him, and which neighbourhoods were forbidden to “Negroes”. After all, the city was then a sanctum of segregation. But, for the man who felt at home in the Temple du Hockey, the tavern’s racist rule was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Fred Christie filed a discrimination case against the York corporation to court. Despite registering multiple setbacks, Christie’s case went all the way to the Supreme Court.
On December 9 1939, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) rendered its final decision.
It ruled that the general principle of the law in Québec is complete freedom of business. As long as a merchant did not break the law, he or she was free to refuse any member of the public on any grounds.
The Court proceeded to blame Christie for his own misfortune:
«The respondent was merely protecting its business interests.
It appears from the evidence that, in refusing to sell beer to the appellant [Mr. Christie], the respondent’s employees did so quietly, politely and without causing any scene or commotion whatever. If any notice was attracted to the appellant on the occasion in question, it arose out of the fact that the appellant persisted in demanding beer after he had been so refused and went to the length of calling the police, which was entirely unwarranted by the circumstances.» ~Justice Rinfret
Decidedly, the SCC ratified the “no service for coloureds” doctrine as being in line with the moral standards of the day.
In the social context of Canada before the Quiet Revolution (1950’s), before Viola Desmond’s act of defiance (1946), before Rosa Parks triggered the United States’ Civil Rights Movement (1955), Fred Christie stood up to institutional discrimination.
A decade before the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1947), Fred Christie exhibited unimaginable courage and perseverance in asserting his civil rights. Though the judicial process did not deliver the desired result, Fred Christie remains a key instigator in Canada’s journey towards the establishment of universal rights. As Aboriginals, Francophones and elderly people of colour know, the Canadian justice has not always been kind to minorities. Fred Christie paved the way for us all.
Four years after the SCC’s shameful ruling, Ontario heralded a new anti-discrimination era with its 1944 “Racial Discrimination Act”. And sometimes anti-racism laws were even enforced! The jurisprudence would spread from coast to coast.
Fred Christie died enclosed in obscurity. He received no honours befitting of his buoyant bravery — in life or in death.
It’s about time, is not it?
This blog originally appeared in French on the Huffington Post Québec.
The Adventures of Diva Rachel: The Home of the Habs: For Whites Only?
This blogpost was published in the HuffPost under the title: This Canadian Stood Up to Racism Before Rosa Parks The Hobby Lobby case rules that Corporations can impose their restrictive values on others. What if the corporation is racist? As a Verdun resident, Fred Christie follows the Habs, as do
Continue readingThe Adventures of Diva Rachel: The Home of the Habs: For Whites Only?
The Hobby Lobby case rules that Corporations can impose their restrictive values on others. What if the corporation is racist? As a Verdun resident, Fred Christie follows the Habs, as do a legion of other Quebeckers. The Montrealer is even a proud season-ticket holder. Accompanied by two friends, Mr. Christie
Continue readingThe Adventures of Diva Rachel: Le PQ de Pauline a-t-il perdu à cause du vote ethnique?
Cette semaine, les Québécois étaient convoqués à redistribuer les sièges à l’Assemblée Nationale pour la deuxième fois en dix-huit mois. Sous l’aile de Philippe Couillard, les Libéraux surgissent avec un gouvernement majoritaire. Les épilogues n’ont pas tardé: les résultats sont un «rejet de la Charte de laïcité de Mme Marois» ou bien un «rejet du discours référendaire du PQ.» Peu importe l’interprétation, les sondeurs ont déterminé que les francophones aiment l’idée d’imposer des limites au code vestimentaire des nouveaux arrivants (contrairement à la
culture nébuleuse qui imprègne le quotidien canadien). Les anglos et les allophones voient plutôt la Charte d’un mauvais œil.Moins d’un anglophone sur cinq croit que la charte des valeurs proposée par le Parti québécois parviendra à améliorer la cohésion sociale au Québec, alors que le double des francophones et des allophones pensent que ce sera le cas.
Les résultats des élections fédérales de 2004 et 2006 révèlent que les circonscriptions à forte concentration d’immigrants ont affiché un taux de participation inférieur à la moyenne. En 2001, près de 90 % de tous les immigrants étaient domiciliés dans les provinces de l’Ontario, de Québec et de la Colombie-Britannique. Les circonscriptions à plus fort pourcentage d’immigrants se trouvent dans les zones métropolitaines.
Quels enseignements peut-on tirer de ces images plus récentes de la participation des groupes minoritaires et des immigrants à la vie électorale canadienne? D’abord, il est assez évident qu’il faudra davantage de recherche. L’une des priorités est l’exploration des différences dans les taux de participation électorale de communautés spécifiques.
The Adventures of Diva Rachel: Le PQ de Pauline a-t-il perdu à cause du vote ethnique?
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The National Capital Region will soon welcome a new CFL football club. This will be the third time the team rises from its ashes: the Ottawa Rough Riders went bankrupt in 1996, and again in 2006 under the Renegades moniker. At the time, Franco-Ontarian football fans (and those in nearby
Continue readingThe Adventures of Diva Rachel: The Year of the Snake : It didn’t start in 2013
Chinese-Canadians have been part of the Canadian landscape for over a century. As May is Asian Heritage Month, Canadians of all backgrounds take a look back at their contributions: past, present and future. PM Harper culled Asian-Canadians by declaring 2013 as the Year of Korea in Canada, Canada Post issued
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This article was published in The Huffington Post Canada. Read it here and post a comment! This week is momentous for legions of moms and women in general: the “Big O” is comin’ to town. Yes, the former Queen of Television, the one then-Senator Obama called “possibly the most influential
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The news of the ethnic cleansing of Canadian c-notes by the Bank of Canada hit like a bombshell last summer. It was revealed that an Asian-looking female figure was gentrified by the federal institution to appease Canadians who expressed xenophobic views in a focus group. The news went viral around
Continue readingThe Adventures of Diva Rachel: Buh-bye Mark Carney, So Long Ethnic-Friendly Promises -OR- Proof Carney Behaves Like a Liberal
Yesterday, it was announced that Bank of Canada boss Mark Carney was leaving his position at the head of Canada’s central bank for a position across the pond. This came after much speculation as to whether Carney would ascend to the political arena. There was some fodder as to which
Continue readingThe Adventures of Diva Rachel: The Diva Chooses Dalton’s Successor : It’s Gerard!
For the next Premier of Ontario, I chose Gerard Kennedy. The race for leader of the Liberal Party of Ontario has an excellent range of candidates. Gerard Kennedy has a record of inclusion of all Ontarians, regardless of their sociocultural or linguistic identity. For me, Gerard is the candidate best
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Comme prochain premier ministre de l’Ontario, je choisis Gérard Kennedy. La course la chefferie du Parti libéral de l’Ontario dispose d’un excellent ventail de candidats. Gérard Kennedy a une passion pour l’inclusion de tous les ontariens, quel que soit leur identité socioculturelle ou linguistique. Pour moi, Gérard est le candidat
Continue readingThe Adventures of Diva Rachel: Stephen Harper trumpeted his lust for Brit colonialism in 2006 speech
At the heart of our relationship is the golden circle of the Crown which links us all together with the majestic past that takes us back to the Tudors, the Plantagenets, the Magna Carta, habeas corpus, petition of rights, and English common law […] all those massive stepping stones which
Continue readingThe Adventures of Diva Rachel: Stephen Harper jubilait son admiration pour la colonisation britannique dans un discours de 2006
Au cœur de notre relation se trouve le cercle de la Couronne, qui nous relie tous avec son passé majestueux qui nous ramène à l’époque des Tudors, des Plantagenets, de la Magna Carta, de l’habeas corpus, de la pétition des Droits, et de la Loi du peuple britannique […] tous
Continue readingThe Adventures of Diva Rachel: Separatist candidate: pick immigrants based on ethnicity?
The French version of this article is available on HuffingtonPost Quebec website. La version française de ce billet est disponible sur le site du HuffingtonPost Québec. Parti Québécois candidate suggests racial profiling immigrants based on ethnicity on live radio. Jean-François Lisée, star candidate of the Parti Québécois, embraced the same
Continue readingThe Adventures of Diva Rachel: White privilege | Dulce et Decorum
Source: http://noraloreto.ca/2012/08/17/white-privilege/ Some signs that you benefit from privilege: 1. Your white skin has never caused people to pause and think, damn this person may be (fill in the blank for whatever societal ill or stereotype you can imagine: lazy, slow, unemployable, a janitor, a nanny etc.) 2. You've worked
Continue readingThe Adventures of Diva Rachel: La xénophobie qui déferle au QC et au ROC
Le Canada est un pays qui se félicite pour son inclusion de plusieurs races et ethnies, qui aime s’appuyer fièrement sur le pilier du multiculturalisme, et qui aime fêter ses communautés culturelles d’un océan à l’autre. Les bavures de cette semaine ont fait ressortir les profondes racines de préjugés qui
Continue readingThe Adventures of Diva Rachel: La xénophobie qui déferle au QC et au ROC
Le Canada est un pays qui se félicite pour son inclusion de plusieurs races et ethnies, qui aime s’appuyer fièrement sur le pilier du multiculturalisme, et qui aime fêter ses communautés culturelles d’un océan à l’autre. Les bavures de cette semaine ont fait ressortir les profondes racines de préjugés qui
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