“At Least We Don’t Have Trump”: Canadian Racism’s Systemic Character—A Countersystem Perspective

Ducey, Kimberley

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-76757-4_16

Kimberley Ducey⁴

Part of the book series: Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research ((HSSR))

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Abstract

With a focus on how a (mostly) white Canadian elite play the primary role in creating and shaping inegalitarian, hierarchical, and unjust relationships among racial groups, the author uses U.S. sociologist Joe R. Feagin’s theory of systemic racism to provide insights into Canadian racism. Like Feagin in the U.S., the author demonstrates that in Canada racially oppressive conditions have regularly generated counter-framing that assertively resists the dominant white racial frame (WRF) and systemic racism. The author also provides illustrations of the recognition of racism’s systemic character at the highest levels of leadership in Canada.

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Notes

1.
Nyangweso (2017).
2.
Ibid.
3.
Feagin and Feagin (1978), Feagin and Vera (1995), Feagin (2010, 2014).
4.
Aboriginal Peoples was the proper collective noun for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis for some time in Canada, even being widely adopted by national groups and the federal government. The distinction was even made legal in 1982 when the Constitution Act came into being in Canada. Recently, the federal Canadian government—under the leadership of Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau—adopted Indigenous Peoples and its legal ramifications. By recognizing First Nations, Inuit, and Metis as Indigenous Peoples, the Canadian government acknowledges their internationally legal right to offer or withhold consent to development under the U.N. Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which Canada endorsed with conditions under Trudeau’s predecessor, Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper. I use the term Indigenous Peoples whenever possible out of respect for Indigenous Peoples and the U.N. Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
5.
Feagin (2014), p. 278.
6.
Ibid.
7.
Kirkup (2017).
8.
Ibid.
9.
In 2011, approximately 350,620 people lived on reserves in Canada, nearly all of whom claimed some form of “Aboriginal identity.” While reserves are governed by the Indian Act, residence on a reserve is governed by the Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada and band councils. For more, see Historica Canada (2017).
10.
Galloway (2017).
11.
Sam (2017).
12.
Center for Research-Action on Race Relations (2017).
13.
Ibid.
14.
See Footnote 11.
15.
1996 Royal Commission (2017).
16.
Ibid; Otway (2002).
17.
Feagin (2013).
18.
Feagin (2010).
19.
Driedger (2017).
20.
Kohut (2017).
21.
Annett (2017).
22.
Ibid.
23.
Gates (2017).
24.
Jones (2007).
25.
Jane (1999).
26.
Archives of Ontario (2017), Shadd (2017).
27.
Fries-Britt (1998).
28.
For other studies that show this is a tendency black students face, see Fries-Britt and Turner (2001), Smedley et al. (1993).
29.
Rosenberg (2004), p. 260. Caps in original.
30.
Boris (2007), p. 599.
31.
Lewis (2007), pp. 24–28.
32.
Collins (2005b).
33.
Collins (1986, 1990, 2005a).
34.
Collins, Black Sexual Politics; McGruder (2009).
35.
Collins, Black Sexual Politics; Coad (2008), Rahimi and Liston (2009).
36.
Breines (1992); For an interesting study concerning sexual politics, the sexual revolution, the portrayal of female sexual innocence in 1960s American film and changing female roles, see: Macpherson (2004), pp. 175–185.
37.
For a discussion of the public humiliation black women face in public places, see: Feagin (1991), p. 101, 107.
38.
Wentworth (1994).
39.
Ibid.

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Department of Sociology, The University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
Kimberley Ducey

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Department of Sociology, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York, USA
Pinar Batur
Department of Sociology, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA
Joe R. Feagin

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Ducey, K. (2018). “At Least We Don’t Have Trump”: Canadian Racism’s Systemic Character—A Countersystem Perspective. In: Batur, P., Feagin, J. (eds) Handbook of the Sociology of Racial and Ethnic Relations. Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76757-4_16

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76757-4_16
Published: 12 June 2018
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