Though in the XXI century, the humankind has advanced impressively in a number of domains, the issue of intolerance still remains on agenda. Despite the fact that Canada has never been homogenous in terms of its residents’ nationality or ethnicity, as well as the fact that over the past few years, the rates of interracial marriages have increased impressively, prejudices against African American people, as well as the representatives of other nationalities, still persist. By taking a closer look at the specifics of relationships between the African American members of the Canadian society and the rest of the Canadian population, one may possibly not only define the key problem of the modern Canadian society, but also come up with a viable solution concerning the factors that predispose the existence of this prejudice.
In the process of researching the issue specified above, several objectives are to be met. To be more particular, in order to define the actors that enhance racial profiling in Canada and providing the solutions for the problem of racial discrimination among the residents of Canada, the following steps are to be undertaken:
- Analyzing the history of African American communities in Canada;
- Defining the factors that contribute to the development of negative attitudes towards African American population in Canada;
- Specifying the ethnic and racial stereotypes that affect the relationships between African Americans and Canadians;
- Based on the answers to the aforementioned questions, designing the strategies to address the persistent racial stereotypes;
- Based on the answers to the first three questions, developing the methods of changing the attitudes of Canadians towards African American population, which means designing the methods to establish the principles of ethnic and racial tolerance.
Taking a closer look at the situation, one must admit that the issue of racial profiling did not appear out of nowhere; there are, in fact, a number of factors affecting the relationships between the two ethnicities and leading to suspicions at best and enmity at worst. The lack of diversity, which Canada had been suffering up until recently, must be the key factor that predetermines the suspicions towards the representatives of Black community within the Canadian society. Indeed, judging by the historical evidence, the Canadian population became diversified only about fifty years ago (A Case Study of Diversity in Corrections: The Black Inmate Experience in Federal Penitentiaries Final Report para. 1), which is far too small a term for the citizens to get used to the idea of living next to the representatives of other cultures. While at present, the situation does not seem drastic, some of the recent researches indicate that Black people are not quite welcome in the Canadian society (Welch 276).
Speaking of the research framework, one must mention that the qualitative research method has been chosen for analyzing the problem specified above and searching for its solution. The problem will be analyzed after gathering a large amount of relevant information, which will come from the latest researches for the most part. First, it will be required to back the research up with a theory on racial profiling; the general theory of discrimination will help to take the given step. In addition, the measures undertaken by the Canadian government to address the issue of discrimination must also be analyzed. (Westhues and Wharf 109).
Works Cited
A Case Study of Diversity in Corrections: The Black Inmate Experience in Federal Penitentiaries Final Report. n. d. Web.
Welch, Kelly. “Black Criminal Stereotypes and Racial Profiling.” Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 23.3 (2007): 276–288.
Westhues, Anne and Brian Wharf. Canadian Social Policy: Issues and Perspectives. Toronto, CA: Wilfred Laurier Press, 2013. Print.