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Chiefs and Council
Saugeen Ojibway Nations Territories

     Chippewas of Saugeen, R.R.1, Southampton, Ont., N0H 2L0
          (519) 797-2781
     Chippewas of Nawash, R.R.5, Wiarton, Ont., N0H 2T0
          (519) 534-1689


FINAL DRAFT:  September 12, 1993


TOWARD A DEFINITION OF RACISM

PREAMBLE

This preamble and definition is based on continuing discussions
between staff of the Saugeen Ojibway and staff of the following
supporters of that First Nation's fishing rights:

  Anti-Racism and Discrimination Alliance of Grey-Bruce
  Catholic Church (Hamilton Diocese)
  CAW (Port Elgin Educational Centre)
  Central Mennonite Committee
  Project North Circle (Wiarton)
  United Church of Canada (Hamilton and Toronto Conferences)

The definition is an attempt to distill the essence of a number of
definitions supplied by these and other groups (including the World
Council of Churches and the United Nations).  During the
distillation, emphasis was placed on the practicability of the
definition -- it had to help us identify racism in Canada in 1993.
Hence we have added a "checklist for racism."

The definition below does not try to deal with the ideology of
racism or whether it consciously motivates racial acts.  Nor does
it deal with the idea that race itself may be a social construct,
having no basis in biology.  The definition of racism below simply
recognizes that racism exists and that it does harm to its targets.
It tries to define this harm in a practical way, much as the
definition of hate literature does in the Criminal Code.


SEMANTIC AND HISTORICAL SHIFTS IN MEANING OF THE WORD "RACISM"

The popular usage of the word "racism" refers to actions that
result from any attitude of comparison of one group to another
group with negative or destructive results.  The definition below
recognizes the semantic shift in the vernacular by defining racism
as an "action."

It is necessary to consider another "shift" -- this one in history.
Here is how the Saskatchewan Conference Church Society Committee
put it in their report, Beyond Ethnocentricity:
     "Power is at the root of racism.  [Alliances for those seeking
     power or in power are] made stronger first by exaggerating the
     differences between those with power and those without, and
     then by assigning values to these differences.  The assigned
     values are made to stick and eventually to become part of the
     'natural' order of society. ...

     "Once the situation has jelled and powerful and powerless
     alike have begun to 'breathe' such attitudes, then it is safe
     as a precautionary measure against change to do two things:
     to stress the flexibility of the situation by pointing to
     carefully selected 'token members' of the powerless who have
     entered the ranks of the powerful; and to verbally minimize
     the still all-important differences and to insist that all are
     equal. Whereas initially, it was important to stress the
     differences, it now becomes advantageous to stress the
     sameness -- the equality of all -- in order to effect the same
     racist ends."

This theme of "equality for all" (in the context of institutional
or systemic discrimination) is picked up by Judge Murray Sinclair
in the report of the Manitoba Aboriginal Justice Inquiry:

     "Systemic discrimination [defined as the result of racial
     prejudice] involves the concept that the application of
     uniform standards, common rules and treatment of people who
     are not the same constitutes a form of discrimination.  It
     means that in treating unlike people alike, adverse
     consequences, hardships or injustice may result ... it is
     clear that operational policies applied uniformly to
     Aboriginal people sometimes have unjust or unduly harsh
     results.  The reasons may be geographic, economic or cultural.
     However, it must be acknowledged that the application of
     uniform policies can have a discriminatory effect."

>From Judge David Fairgrieve's decision in the Saugeen Ojibway
fishing trial:

     "The Band's fishing income is a crucial part of its
     subsistence economy, and the limited access caused by the
     quota produced greater deprivation and poverty and contributed
     to increased unemployment and poverty, individually and
     communally.  The quota had a serious adverse restriction and
     constituted an infringement under sec. 35(1) [of the
     Constitution]....  The native fishery was seen as just one
     part of the commercial fishery.  No special regard was given
     to the Band's fishery operation, quite apart from the question
     of any constitutional priority. ...

     "I accept the defendants' submission that the evidence
     established that the effect of the Ministry's quota system has
     been to allocate to non-native fishermen the vast
     preponderance of fish available for commercial harvest.  The
     failure to regulate the recreational fishery in accordance
     with the same conservation plan has had the inevitable effect
     of shifting a greater share of the resource to that user
     group.  In neither respect has the Crown demonstrated that the
     plan ... recognized that s. 35(1) required that priority be
     given to the aboriginals' stake in the fishery resource. ...

     "The quota restrictions do not meet current constitutional
     standards and are, accordingly, unenforceable against the
     defendants."


DEFINITION OF RACISM

RACISM is any communication, action or course of conduct, whether
intentional or unintentional, which denies recognition, benefits,
rights of access or otherwise abrogates or derogates from the
constitutionally recognized rights and freedoms of any person or
community on the basis of their membership or perceived membership
in a racial, ethnic or cultural community.  The fostering and
promoting of uniform standards, common rules and same treatment of
people who are not the same constitute racism where the specificity
of the individual or community is not taken into consideration.
The public dissemination of any communication or statement which
insults a racial, ethnic or cultural community or which exposes
them to hatred, contempt or ridicule also constitutes racism.


For further information,
contact Lenore Keeshig-Tobias or David McLaren
PHONE:  519-534-1689          FAX:  519-534-2130