The killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American man, on May 25, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, by a white policeman with a troubled past during an arrest for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill, while three other policemen watched without coming to George’s aid, unleashed a tsunami of emotions that led to 21 straight days, and counting, of protests by all races demanding police reforms in the United States of America. This wave of protests has swept across the world to many other countries including Canada, where racism against indigenous people has become a part of the protest issue.
The protests have also triggered an intense soul-searching reflection by leaders of corporations in many countries about racism in their products, services and corporate governance practices, including hiring processes.
With all the outcry against systemic racism in the USA, one might think that Canada is a better place for people of colour since the news coverage of racist incidents is far less. Ironically, that is not the case. According to an international study conducted by Northwestern University released in June 2019, Canadian employers have been found to be 11% more likely to discriminate against people of colour when it comes to hiring.
This observation was corroborated by an Environics Institute for Survey Research study released in Canada in late 2019. The study revealed that the Canadian workplace is one of the most common places where people of colour face racism because 40% of Canadians of colour surveyed, who said that they had experienced racism said they had experienced it at work.
The study further found that people of colour experience racism in many ways including being perceived as less intelligent, talked condescendingly to, passed over for promotion, and being shortchanged on pay.
Racist behaviour in the workplace in Canada is anecdotally subtle. In some cases, racists overtly express their prejudice through various techniques including microaggression to exert their sense of white supremacy over a person of colour. And sometimes it is expressed through a mix of both subtle and overt behaviours. I recall a harrowingly painful experience a former work colleague, who happened to be a person of colour, shared with me some years ago that still fills me with both anger and sadness: her white boss had asked her if she thought first in her native language before translating into English when writing reports at work. Reflect on that for a few minutes.
Tokenism is another covert form of racism which is enabled by hiring people of colour to fill a diversity quota without any real plans for their career advancement.
People of colour always feel that the cards are unfairly stacked against them. The yardstick against which they are measured is much higher than what is used for their privileged white colleagues. Immigrants of colour are even worse off. When they do get hired, after being rejected many times because they are perceived as not being good enough due to their not speaking with a North American accent, they have to work three times harder than their white colleagues to prove themselves. Mistakes or failures of white colleagues are not always viewed as harshly as mistakes made by people of colour. It can also be soul-crushing to discover that your white colleagues have been promoted, sometimes in secret, for doing far less than you have.
It is hard to report workplace racism because it’s very personal and hard to prove it and a person of colour has to also battle with fears of reprisal. It’s even harder for immigrants of colour because they come to Canada without the social network, family support, and generational wealth that provides a cushion and safety net against reprisals. For immigrants of colour, the choice is starkly one-dimensional; you have to accept it to make a living and pay your bills.
The consequences of workplace racism on health, income and promotion are significant given that workers discriminated against spend most of their life at work. These are some of the issues fuelling the protests in Canada,
In response to the protests, the federal government and provincial governments have announced plans to combat systemic racism in Canada.
While these reactive measures are helpful, the jury is still out on their long-term effectiveness on reduction of systemic racism in the Canadian workplace. The federal government had instituted name blind recruitment in the civil service a few years ago, however, it may not be very helpful for immigrants of colour who apply with international qualifications as those are likely to trigger the racist prejudices during the process.
While people of colour cannot control systemic racism and the limitations it imposes on career aspirations, they can control their reactions and actions in order to overcome it and succeed in spite of it.
Some of the tips I shared in one of my earlier articles are very relevant in this situation. I won’t repeat them in detail here but the core message is simply to be the best at your job. Go above and beyond.
This way you will establish an incontrovertible personal brand based on hard work ethics, integrity, reliability and credibility. In other words, you have to do so much more than your average white colleagues. Having a great reputation in the workplace also makes your manager look good – something that may melt the ice of racism in his/her eyes over time.
Volunteer to be part of special projects that are aligned with your skills and talents, with your manager’s approval. Plan ahead to demonstrate how you can maintain your primary role and have time for this special project.
Network extensively. Join or create support groups either internally within the same organization, if there are other people of colour with similar mindset or join affinity associations of professionals of similar backgrounds. Through these groups, you would learn coping mechanisms and strategies to overcome racist impediments by learning from the experience of others with more experience. Through your network, you may find other more diverse companies at which your talents and skills would be the only measure for your future success.
Reporting your concerns to the Human Resources department is another option, however, if the department is not visibly diverse enough or have a reputation for ‘being on the side of management” you may want to tread with caution as that may become a double-edged sword. This also applies to complaining through the Whistleblower hotline.
When the racism is overt and can be documented, it is harder to ignore and the Human Resources department will be more inclined to help you. Even if the Human Resources department is not fully convinced of the merits of your complaints, they would conduct an investigation to ascertain the facts to forestall any potential legal and reputational damage that may result from a badly handled racism case.
If the racism is covert, insidious and sustained to the point where it’s affecting your mental and emotional health, seek the counsel of a qualified legal practitioner
No matter how hard it feels to keep at it; keep at it. Never give up. Remain steadfast in your self-belief and faith. Your day in the sun will come.
Have you experienced racism in the Canadian workplace? Please share your experiences with racism and how you dealt with it so others can learn from you.
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Ernest Onuorah, MBA, is a financial services risk consultant, author, speaker, and career coach. He had worked at consulting and financial service firms including PWC, TD, RBC, BMO, and Home Trust Company, a $2.5 billion niche mortgage lender, where he was AVP, Enterprise Risk Management. He holds the CRISC, FRM and CRM designations. His areas of expertise are Enterprise & Operational Risk Management. He can be reached at ernest.onuorah@localhost.
