Anti-Black racism declared a “crisis” in Brampton and Mississauga
Published May 26, 2021 at 2:27 pm
The Region of Peel is expected to declare anti-Black racism as a “crisis” at tomorrow’s Regional Council meeting, two days after the one-year anniversary of George Floyd’s murder at the hands of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
The motion calls for Peel Region to affirm its commitment to address systemic discrimination by supporting policies and programs that address the inequities the black community and other marginalized groups “continue to experience” within the Region.
Other initiatives in the motion include: engaging black communities to address racial inequities related to COVID 19; providing funding to mental health/housing/harm reduction programming to support marginalized groups, including the black community, through Regional-funded programs: ensuring Black led/black serving social agencies in Peel are funded equitably through the Regional funding mechanisms; and requesting that local municipalities collaborate with the Region to carry out antiracism public education.
The motion also recognizes ant-Black racism as “historic, pervasive and systematic” in Peel Region, and that it is experienced within institutions and “contributes to higher rates of precarious employment and unemployment, significant poverty, and overrepresentation in the criminal justice, mental health and child welfare systems.”
Visible minorities are disproportionately at risk with respect to income, housing, and other social determinants of health, the motion also declared.
More than half of Peel’s population identifies as a visible minority, a number is more than three times the national average and more than double the Ontario average.
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