What’s Happening

Canada Has An Anti-Blackness Problem

From national origin myths to austerity policies, racism permeates the fabric of the world’s ‘friendliest’ nation, argues Rinaldo Walcott and Idil Abdillahi in their work, BlackLife.

By Rhea Rollman

While chapters of Black Lives Matter exist across Canada, it is Toronto that, for many, has come to be associated with the Canadian iteration of the movement. Established in 2014, the Toronto chapter roared into national prominence in July of 2016 when its activists brought the city’s annual Pride Parade (one of the world’s largest) to a halt with a sit-down protest demanding, among other things, funding for queer black youth groups, greater presence of transwomen and Indigenous persons in Toronto Pride leadership, and removal of police from the Parade. [Read the review on Popmatters]