COVID-19 has exposed and significantly increased pre-existing racial inequities in Canada. The policy responses by different orders of government have failed to redress structural and systemic disadvantages along racial lines.
The pandemic has amplified major racial inequalities in employment, healthcare, access to senior care, housing, access to justice and education. Anti-Black racism and antiIndigenous racism continue unabated. The rise of anti-Asian hate has been ignored.
COVID-19 has also made visible Canada’s hypocrisy towards migrant workers – their work is deemed essential, yet the workers themselves are treated as disposable.
While the Canadian government is working on a recovery plan from the pandemic, we need to reimagine what a society founded on justice, equity and dignity would truly look like. To that end, the Colour of Poverty Colour of Change (COP-COC) is proposing a Reconstruction and Reset Plan for Canada, one that will not only address racial inequality, but pave the foundation for a more prosperous and fair society for all.
COP-COC envisions a future of an egalitarian Canada where the rights of all people are respected, and Indigenous peoples’ demand for justice, sovereignty and full nation-to-nation relationships with Canada is supported. As such, COP-COC calls on Canada to begin by negotiating directly with Indigenous peoples on a recovery and reset plan.
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