With racism – at a wide variety of levels and formats – being exposed for what it is, the institutionalised ‘systemic’ racially motivated tendencies undertaken up and down the bureaucratic corridors of power is being exposed, for what it is, yet again, across ‘the pond’. Only this time, Canada is the latest ‘epicentre’ of controversy.
In Montreal, former Canadian football safety, Balarama Holness, who played for the Montreal Alouettes in the Canadian Football League, after triggering a public consultation that would include 7,000 participants and produce 38 recommendations, including that Montreal recognise the systemic nature of racism and discrimination against victims.
Having faced the issue head-on, he launched a petition that was signed by more than 22,000 people. Founder of an active lobby group ‘Montreal in Action,’ he said: “The actions taken in Quebec and Montreal right now on issues of racism are directly derived from the public consultation that was forced on the city.” He said that he believed the reluctance to using the term "systemic racism" came from a fear among the majority of white people in the city of seeing an erosion of their rights.
And while Montreal's Mayor, Valérie Plante, said that she recognised that systemic racism existed and that she vowed thee would be changes, the Quebec government refused to accept the term. Instead, Premier Francois Legault created an anti-racism task force in the Quebec capital.
“Their miscomprehension of the term fuels this level of ignorance,” Holness said, “whereby systemic racism means all Quebecers are racist, which is simply not the case."
A multi-dimensional educator, researcher and political entrepreneur with a focus on policy development, community engagement and the development of legal solutions to pressing economic, social, judicial and other societal affaires, the superstar football legend
Holness, who won a Grey Cup with Montreal, said he believes Quebec doesn't need to recognize systemic racism to address the problem. He said the François Legault government recognises many underlying issues in society such as racial profiling, multi-cultural under-representation in the civil service and high unemployment among some immigrant communities.
“What they deem to be racism is what we call systemic racism — they’re still dealing with the issue, they’re just not saying the word," he said. “We can still advance these issues and move beyond the debate of the term.” The anti-racism task force that Legault created in June produced a report at the end of 2020 with 25 recommendations, including that the province create a cabinet position to address racism and discrimination.
A fully endorsed and totally committed community activist, Balarama, who ran for Projet Montréal in the Montreal municipal election in 2017, has opened up the long-standing, yet for too long ‘kept under the carpet’ debate over the term, in particular, in Quebec. Something that many say was years in the making. The city’s unwillingness to address the systemic nature of racism makes it difficult to address the issues.
Described by CTV Television Network as "an inspirational view of a man confronting systemic racism,” Balarama Holness, who also played for Winnipeg Blue Bombers, is leading from the front as he uses his status in Canada to speak out – and act upon – about an issue that remains at the forefront as another of the world’s ‘pandemic.’