Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

March 21, 1960 – there must have been excitement and fear that day as the residents of Sharpeville, South Africa gathered to peacefully protest the Apartheid “pass laws.” Imagine the courage each of the equity warriors demonstrated as they peacefully stood together against those that were familiar with using brutal violence to enforce racial injustice. Students and neighbours came together in a common commitment to seek change, to pursue equity, and to demand the elimination of racism within a country that had legitimized inequality.

It must have been an exhilarating dream.

Forty-six years ago, they stood together for this dream. Today, we remember their bravery. That day, sixty-nine black demonstrators were killed and 180 wounded by armed South African police, in what history records as the Sharpeville Massacre.

Six years later, in response to the many international voices in solidarity with a small group of equity warriors that had gathered in one South African neighbourhood – armed with nothing more than their conviction to peacefully stand together – the United Nations declared today, March 21st, the International Day to Eliminate Racial Discrimination.

Today, the Canadian Labour Congress walks alongside a growing neighbourhood of communities determined to see this dream become reality.

Today, the struggle to eliminate racism must confront racism in all its forms – overt and systemic.

Forty-six years ago students faced the guns of oppression and eventually that courage – coupled with international solidarity – officially ended Apartheid in 1994. However, systemic racism persists.

Since 1994, ten million households, principally Black township residents in South Africa, have faced cut-offs of basic services such as water and electricity because economic apartheid remains rooted in privatization policies of today’s governments.

In 2004-05, in the city of Detroit, utility providers similarly cut-off heat, water, and electricity to forty thousand city residents – primarily African American families – due to the same privatization and co-modification policies, that local governments have implemented.

Canada is not immune to systemic policies that perpetuate racial discrimination. The Canadian Labour Congress, and other members of social movements, have demonstrated that economic racism persists in Canada.

The data is black and white – economic disadvantage is racialized. Poverty is colour-coded.

Ten years ago in Canada, research showed labour market earnings of South Asians was nearly $7,000 less than the national mean, while those of Vietnamese origin were nearly $5,000 less. First Nations earnings were almost $9,000 below the Canadian mean.

Today in Canada, there remains, large and consistent gaps in economic security for Aboriginal and workers of colour compared to other workers.

Recent research released by the Canadian Labour Congress for example, has shown that workers of colour continue to earn less and suffer higher unemployment rates despite holding higher accreditation than other workers.

Lower incomes, high unemployment and precarious work continue to be the norm for people of colour and Indigenous communities.

Today our struggle to eliminate racial discrimination must confront the current economic and social policies that perpetuate systemic barriers and racial injustice in our workplaces, educational and social institutions.

This means, we must redouble our struggle to eliminate the racism, xenophobia and discrimination that are embedded in policies like Canada’s Anti-terrorism Act and associated “security” programs.

We need to see an end to immigration practices that exploit temporary and migrant workers and subjugate people’s dignity and rights.

Today, the Canadian Labour Congress, representing 3 million workers, honours the equity warriors who gathered in one neighbourhood in South Africa, forty-six years ago.

Today, the Congress joins alongside other members of the Canadian social movement in renewing its commitment to fulfill a neighbourhood dream.

We invite you to join with the Canadian Labour Congress to intensify our collective efforts to implement a racism-free workplace strategy that will confront and redress the impacts of an economically racialized workforce.
Today, the Congress also renews its commitment to work alongside social movements to advocate for economic and social policies that build real equity and justice for all.