TORONTO —
New data from Statistics Canada is adding to growing calls for the federal government to address racial inequities experienced by various population groups in Canada during the course of the pandemic in its economic recovery plan.
The survey results released Thursday found that 28 per cent of Canadians surveyed reported they had experienced some form of discrimination since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Statistics Canada surveyed 35,000 Canadians between Aug. 4 to 24 to better understand which groups have been negatively impacted as a result of systemic failures amid the health crisis.
The agency notes that the survey data is not based on random selection and that the findings should not be interpreted to represent the overall Canadian population.
Young participants aged 15 to 24 were twice as likely as seniors aged 65 and older to report that they had experienced discrimination over the course of the pandemic. Among youth, Statistics Canada found women were 45 per cent more likely than their male counterparts to reporting having experienced prejudice.
Both Indigenous men and women were more likely than their non-Indigenous participants to report experiences of discrimination, but the difference was again particularly large among women.
DISCRIMINATION IN POPULATION GROUPS
According to the report, the experiences of discrimination also varied “across ethnocultural characteristics.”
Statistics Canada found that Chinese, Korean, Southeast Asian and Black participants were more than twice as likely as white participants to report that they had experienced discrimination.
The agency said the results are consistent with the data from a previous crowdsourcing initiative, which found that Chinese, Korean and Southeast Asian participants perceived an increase in the frequency of race-based harassment or attacks since the beginning of the pandemic.
The new report also found that immigrants who arrived in Canada within the last 10 years were more likely than established immigrants and Canadian-born participants to report that they had experienced discrimination.
Gender-diverse participants who did not report their gender as exclusively female or male were almost three times more likely than males to report that they had experienced discrimination during the pandemic. LGBTQ and other sexual minority participants were also more likely to report experiencing discrimination.
Additionally, participants who identified themselves as having a disability were twice as likely as participants without a disability to report being discriminated against.
FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION
Among those who said that they experienced discrimination, the most commonly reported form was based on race or skin colour (34 per cent), followed by age (30 per cent), physical appearance (26 per cent) ethnicity and culture (25 per cent) and sex (22 per cent).
Avvy Go, director of the Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic, says the new data amplifies equity concerns those who have experienced racism have had for years.
Go told CTV’s Your Morning on Thursday that the coronavirus pandemic has exposed racial inequities in multiple sectors across Canada including employment, health care, housing and education.
“Even before the pandemic, People of Colour, Indigenous people were earning less income, they were more likely to be employed in low wage jobs, and they have higher unemployment rates… There has also been significant increases for unemployment rate among Chinese and South Asian, more so than any other group,” Go said.
“We know that this is a result of systemic racism and structural racism within the labour market.”
Colour of Poverty – Colour of Change (COP-COC) is a campaign that is currently pushing for political parties to acknowledge racial inequalities amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada’s economic restart plan.
The campaign is calling for the federal government to address discrimination within its borders so the health crisis does not continue to impact racialized groups more so than other populations.
“By doing so, we will increase the opportunities for employment for the underrepresented groups, and that includes not just people of colour, but also women and people with disability as well,” Go said.
WHERE AND HOW DISCRIMINATION OCCURS
As each group faces its own set of unique challenges and circumstances, Statistics Canada found that the most common forms of discrimination differed between groups.
Among Indigenous participants who faced bias over the course of the pandemic, the most common form was discrimination based on Indigenous identity while those belonging to a visible minority group reported forms related to race and ethnicity. Among Black participants 84 per cent reported that they had experienced discrimination related to race or skin colour.
Similar to how the forms of discrimination were mixed, where participants experienced prejudice also varied.
Statistics Canada reported that about 4 in 10 participants (36 per cent) said that they had experienced discrimination in a store, bank or restaurant. One-third experienced it while using public areas such as parks and sidewalks, almost one-third experienced it online, and approximately 3 in 10 experienced it in the workplace or when applying for a job.
However, not all groups experienced the same types of discrimination situations.
According to the data, Black and South Asian participants reported more often incidents of discrimination that occurred in a store, bank or restaurant.
Chinese and Filipino participants were more likely to report experiencing discrimination while using public areas, and Arab respondents were more likely to report bias in the workplace.
Gender-diverse and sexual minority participants said they mostly faced discrimination online.
In all population groups, participants who reported experiencing discrimination also had lower levels of trust in institutions, including the police and the court system.
Statistics Canada acknowledged that each population group faces its own unique set of challenges and additional analyses will be required to get a deeper understanding of issues faced by all groups of people that live in Canada.
HOUSTON (AP) — Brian White scored in the second half to rally the Vancouver Whitecaps to a 1-1 draw with the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday night.
Houston (12-9-8) took a 1-0 lead into halftime after Ezequiel Ponce scored on a penalty kick in the seventh minute of stoppage time. Ponce’s third goal this season came after Amine Bassi drew a foul on Whitecaps midfielder Pedro Vite following a video review. It was Ponce’s sixth career appearance, all starts.
Vancouver (13-8-7) scored the equalizer in the 73rd minute when White, who entered in the 60th, used assists from Fafá Picault and Ryan Gauld to find the net for the 13th time this season. Picault’s assist was his fifth, matching his career high for a single season. Gauld’s assist gives him a career-best 13 on the season.
Yohei Takaoka, who had clean sheets in his last three starts, finished with one save in goal for the Whitecaps.
Steve Clark saved three shots for the Dynamo, who remain one point behind Vancouver in the Western Conference standings.
Houston, which was coming off a 4-1 victory over Real Salt Lake, has allowed just 33 goals this season.
Vancouver — 6-2-2 in its last 10 matches overall — leads the all-time series 10-9-6.
The Whitecaps remain on the road to play the Los Angeles Galaxy on Saturday. The Dynamo travel to play Austin FC on Saturday.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Tom Pearce and Nathan Saliba scored in the second half — the first goals of their careers — and CF Montreal rallied for a 2-2 draw with the New England Revolution on Wednesday night.
“In the second half, the guys came out a little more ambitious and above all, more connected,” Montreal head coach Laurent Courtois said. “It was a great second half of resilience and fighting spirit. Nathan and Sam were impressive.
“Impressive in covering the gaps and compensating for the teammates, and the individual defending – yes it’s true, it is a lot of weight on their shoulders, but that’s the job.”
New England (8-16-4) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 24th minute on Bobby Wood’s third goal of the season. Teenage defender Peyton Miller notched his first assist in his fourth career start and sixth appearance and Carles Gil picked up his ninth of the season. Peyton, at 16 years, 315 days old, is the eighth youngest player in league history to record his first assist.
The Revolution took a two-goal lead in the 35th minute and held it through halftime when 19-year-old Esmir Bajraktarevic took a pass from Gil and scored his third goal of the season and career in his first full season in the league. It was the 73rd regular-season assist in Gil’s career, tying him with Steve Ralston for the most in club history.
Montreal (7-12-10) pulled within a goal in the 54th minute when Pearce scored off a free kick after defender George Campbell drew a foul on New England’s Mark-Anthony Kaye. It was the first goal for Pearce in his third career start and fourth appearance.
“Playoffs are the goal. Maybe it wasn’t in the best form, but in the end, we are picking up a point,” Pearce said. “We came into this game confident, ready to play our own game. Everyone tries their best, whenever the players are called on, we are always ready, and we are always giving it our best.”
Montreal scored the equalizer in the 68th minute on the first career goal by Saliba, a 20-year-old midfielder. Saliba has made 34 starts and 48 appearances with Montreal in his two seasons in the league. Campbell snagged his second assist of the season and the third of his career.
“It’s an incredible feeling, it’s a goal I’ve been waiting for a long time. I’m extremely happy that I was able to score it and that it can help the team take this important point on the road,” Saliba said. “Pearce’s first goal gave us really good momentum and we kept up the pressure to go for a second goal. We got more solid defensively, and we came back ready after halftime, to push for these 3 points.”
Aljaz Ivacic finished with four saves in goal for the Revolution.
Jonathan Sirois stopped four shots for Montreal.
New England beat Montreal 5-0 on the road on Aug. 24.
New England leads the all-time series 16-13-4. Montreal improves to 5-8-2 on the road against the Revs.
The Revolution travel to take on Charlotte FC on Saturday. Montreal returns home to host the Chicago Fire on Saturday.
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Adolis García hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning, Cody Bradford pitched seven strong innings after the worst start of his career, and the Texas Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 2-0 on Wednesday night.
The win kept the defending World Series-champion Rangers alive in the AL West race, trailing first-place Houston by 10 games with 10 to play.
García launched an inside sinker over the left-field wall off Toronto starter Bowden Francis (8-5) after Wyatt Langford singled.
“He swings hard, he swings a lot,” Francis said of García. “I guess the velo was dropping during that time.”
Bradford (6-3) allowed five hits and no walks while striking out six.
The seven shutout innings are the most in a game during his two-year career. He was knocked out of his previous start after allowing career highs in hits (nine), runs (eight) and homers (three) in 3 2/3 innings in a 14-4 loss at Arizona.
“Throughout the week, you’ve got to try and digest what happened, see where I can make adjustments, whether it was just game plan went wrong or just poor execution, or a little bit of both,” Bradford said. “Then you flush it.”
Bradford was perfect through four innings before Alejandro Kirk opened the fifth with a smash back to the mound that caromed off Bradford’s left foot and rolled into right field for a single. It extended Kirk’s hitting streak to a career-high 12 games.
Spencer Horwitz’s double to left-center put runners on second and third with no outs before Bradford retired the next three batters.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider credited Bradford’s “deceptive fastball.”
“When you’re throwing 89, 92, you’ve got to have pretty good deception with that at this level,” Schneider said. “Kept us off balance.”
Kirby Yates pitched a perfect ninth inning for his 31st save in 32 opportunities.
Francis, who took no-hitters into the ninth inning in two of his previous four starts, allowed a double to Marcus Semien, the Rangers’ first hitter of the game. He gave up five hits and one walk in six innings.
Francis has a 1.96 ERA in nine starts with 54 strikeouts and seven walks since being moved back into the starting rotation in late July.
“I don’t even want to get complacent, on cruise control,” Francis said. “Just keep attacking.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Blue Jays: SS Bo Bichette was a late scratch with a right middle finger contusion suffered during infield practice. Schneider said the team will get back x-rays on Thursday. Bichette was activated Tuesday following a calf injury and played for the first time in two months, going 2 for 5 with one RBI at the plate. … INF Will Wagner (left knee inflammation) will have the knee scoped on Thursday. Schneider said Wagner should be ready to start spring training. Wagner, son of former major leaguer Billy Wagner, was acquired from Houston at the trade deadline.
UP NEXT
Rangers rookie RHP Kumar Rocker (0-0, 2.25 ERA) will make his home debut against Blue Jays RHP Kevin Gausman (12-11, 4.02) in the series finale. Rocker allowed one run in four innings at Seattle last Thursday in his major league debut.
