There is a common misconception that racism in Canada is almost non-existent. It is a rather dismissive statement to make for a number of reasons. I have chosen these images to illustrate some of the current issues. It is believed that in order to overcome racism, various institutions need to involve more people from different ethnic and racial backgrounds and provide diversity training for employees. This is insufficient and inaccurate, as it gives quite a superficial perspective on race-based bigotry and how it should be handled.
The first issue is that it does not review the systemic and structural aspects of racism and how it affects various institutions and society as a whole. This, for example, is why most police officers believe that their job focuses on protection, without understanding how racism affects law enforcement (Henry et al., 2010). Second, diversity programs use vague language, which gives them the wrongful freedom to not provide actual solutions that could ensure progress in society. Third, there is a rather poor understanding of accountability in various institutions, including law enforcement. Thus, various cases of racism are ignored, because a random excuse is always easily found. In conclusion, a lot of important steps are yet to be taken to combat racism.
Reference
Henry, F., Rees, T., & Tator, C. (2010). The colour of democracy: Racism in Canadian society (4th ed.). Nelson Education.