March 18, 2024
When we talk about the elimination of racism, health care and mental health should be at the top of the list in order to atone for the sins of racism and the differential treatment for Indigenous peoples, and to fix it. We’re still waiting.
OTTAWA—The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is on March 21. This year also marks the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which itself was the world’s response to human evils of the Holocaust.
On this day in 1960, South Africa police opened fire against citizens demonstrating against apartheid laws and killed 69 people. We mark this day in memory of what happens when racism is allowed to flourish.
In 1960, Canada had no issue with South Africa’s policy of white minority rule over the Black majority, though one might have questioned Canada’s credibility if it did call out South Africa when it was actively doing the apartheid-style pass system here. First Nations on-reserve needed a pass to leave the reserve for much of the first half of the 1900s, which is just another historical example of the iron fist of the Department of Indian Affairs over First Nations, and Canada’s tarnished human rights record.
Read More: https://www.hilltimes.com/story/2024/03/18/our-day-to-talk-about-the-elimination-of-racism/415017/