Keeping statistics based on race is a touchy subject when it comes to police. But when it comes to schools, many parents seem all for it.

The reason? They're worried children of ethnic minorities are being singled out for punishment under the province's Safe Schools Act.

The law was originally passed by the Tories to crack down on disciplinary problems in the province's schools. Under the rules, anything from swearing to fighting could lead to a suspension or even an expulsion.

But some parents believe educational authorities are brandishing those punishments with a double-edged sword.

The Toronto District School Board's Safe and Compassionate Schools Task Force spent 10 weeks hearing from concerned moms and dads about the issue, and has finished a report recommending the legislation be repealed, and that the number of penalties doled out be measured by which races seem to be bearing the brunt of them.

Currently, the official documents record only whether the offender is a boy or a girl.

It also wants the phrase "zero tolerance", a reference to how much leeway students get for their behaviour, completely eliminated.

Parents representing blacks, aboriginals and the Tamil community were among the most concerned that their kids were being singled out for punishment. They believe keeping the racial statistics will prove they were right.






May 11, 2004




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You cant have it both ways... you either ban race stats in all cases or you use them in all cases...

You cant just pick and choose

It's such a sensitive issue nowadays...kind of stupid really
I work in a company (and i know there are many like that) that go out of their way to hire people of color or other minorities just to show how multicultural they are...no matter the skills...

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it's been proven time and time again that biological races don't really "exist".. unfortunately people often still judge a book by its cover..

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Palm Trees > Pine Trees , Sand > Snow

this is bad for many reasons. First and most obvious. This is outright racism. Not hiring a white guy because he is white is equally as bad as not hiring a "minority" because he's not white.

Second: You potentially end up with substandard workers because race has absolutely nothing to do with the job you can do.

Third: the backlash of this is that it damges the reputation of minorities that do get the job based on merit alone because everyone will just assume that they are a token employee. This attitude is not right either but its an unfortunate result of porrly thought out policy.

the point of employment equity is to have the population of the workplace reflect the population of the country. Canada as a whole has a workforce that is 13% minority. Therefore in every office, in every oppertunity, there should be a representative amount of 13% that is a minority.

I understand people who are white, saying how this is basically backwards racism, however the truth of the matter is, is that there STILL is no equity, there's just a need to equalize the 13%.

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equality is a wonderful idea. Im not against it. So why not put money into educating minorities and making it easier for immigrants to use their foreign degrees or upgrade them instead of hiring substandard workers based on race?

I think employment equity programs are the lazy way out. The only reason white people are still in higher positions is because we have been here longer. Minorities only started coming here en masse 25 years ago. You cant expect everything to instantly equal out.

quote:

Originally posted by Jayx1 equality is a wonderful idea. Im not against it. So why not put money into educating minorities and making it easier for immigrants to use their foreign degrees or upgrade them instead of hiring substandard workers based on race? I think employment equity programs are the lazy way out. The only reason white people are still in higher positions is because we have been here longer. Minorities only started coming here en masse 25 years ago. You cant expect everything to instantly equal out.

ahh you hit the nail on the head! Thats the biggest problem with employment equity, it doesn't actually solve systemic and structural discrimination. What good is employment equity when minorities aren't given the oppertunity to acquire the skills to get those sort of jobs based on merit. So in essence employment equity is the easy way out for now. Its a band aid solution to a greater problem, that we as a society must deal with.

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i wouldnt call it racism. Canada is the least racist country on the planet. The problem is how the system handles foreign degrees. This isnt racism its just job protectionism.

don't worry .. things are getting better in Markham and RH ..

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Palm Trees > Pine Trees , Sand > Snow

quote:

Originally posted by Jayx1 i wouldnt call it racism. Canada is the least racist country on the planet. The problem is how the system handles foreign degrees. This isnt racism its just job protectionism.

there is a difference between racism, and structural/systemic discrimination. Trust me it exists, though definitely not as much as other countries. Still though just becuase it's better here then some other country doesn't excuse us for having it exist.

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p.s all the managers are at a managers meeting today (all day!) here at work, talk about slacking off!!

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