Prepared by Zachary Fenn, Development Coordinator, Pacific Peoples’ Partnership
Pacific Peoples’ Partnerships (PPP) will not stay silent in the face of systemic injustice. We must act and speak in solidarity with the Black and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) communities. Our mission of supporting the aspirations of Canadian and South Pacific Indigenous peoples for peace, justice, and environmental sustainability includes speaking out against the unjust, racist, and systemic violence Black and Indigenous people face every day in Canada and worldwide.
The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement has shed light on the ongoing violence and systemic racism that people in the black community have faced for generations. The death of George Floyd on May 25th has sparked a long-overdue conversation. Now we see perhaps the biggest movement in recent history, with as many as 15-26 million Americans – and many more in Canada and across the world – demanding system change. Systemic injustices, white supremacy, and police brutality are not new realities for black communities, and unrooting capitalist colonial systems is imperative for BIPOC communities.
The movement has made progress in beginning to address years of wrongdoings. George Floyd’s murderer was convicted of 2nd-degree murder, and the other officers present were charged with aiding and abetting the murder. Around the United States, numerous cities have defunded their police departments or are reviewing budget cuts and tearing down colonial statues. In Canada too there are pressures on cities to defund their police budgets; Surrey is being criticized for its superficial approach to police reform, and an open letter is circulating to the Vancouver police board and the provincial government to ban street checks, which have been shown to be harmful and discriminatory against Indigenous, Black, and low-income communities.
While focalizing Black lives and Black rights, the BLM movement in Canada has also seen Indigenous involvement and a broader focus on Indigenous rights and struggles. Many in the movement have pointed out the connections between Black and Indigenous experiences of systemic racism and violence and the intersectionality needed to fully dismantle the colonial racist structures that are still in place today. Canada has a long history of injustices toward Indigenous peoples, including colonization, residential schools, the sixties scoop, and police abuses such as the starlight tours. Often Canada prides itself on being a multicultural country while placing European settler culture at the centre and other cultures as an add on – including First Nations peoples. As Moussa Magassa, human rights educator at the University of Victoria, explained in an interview with Douglas Magazine, “Multiculturalism for many Canadians is white culture and its tolerance of other cultures, with the condition that the latter play by its rules and so-called Canadian values.”’
Rallies in support of BLM are ongoing across Canada. PPP’s President Muavae Va’a was proud to stand in solidarity in one of the Victoria BLM rallies, where peaceful and powerful dialogue was established from Indigenous and black organizers to thousands of supporters. One of the organizers, Asiyah Robinson, shared the aim of the rally with Chek News: “We’re trying to bring people together. We’re trying to make sure our community knows that they have a platform and they have a voice. We’re trying to make sure that people try and see the varied ranges of ages, of direction, of just histories that all of our black people have and to just honour their voices, give them their space. And also talk to our allies about what we’re looking for and what our next steps will be because this is just the first.”
Tackling systemic racism in our own communities is crucial. The BLM movement exhorts all of us to listen to people of colour and other marginalized communities. It demands that we do the work to learn about our histories of racism, recognize our own biases and privileges, examine ongoing systems of oppression, and demand change. For ways you can help support this work in Canada, please check out the resources below:
Ways to help In Canada
(from GreenPeace.org)
-
- Justice For Regis Korchinski-Paquet: Get Mayor John Tory, MPP Bhutila Karpoche, and Toronto Police Chief Mark Saunders to commit to a transparent investigation and to hold the officers involved accountable in the death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet through firing and filing charges
Indigenous Businesses to support in Canada
You can search this database by location or type of business:
Black-owned Businesses to support in Victoria
(List from @urvoicematters_ on Instagram)
-
- Blue Nile East African restaurant
-
- Carribean Village Cafe
-
- Zucchini Wives Food & beverage
-
- House of Boateng cafe
-
- Le Petit Dakar
-
- Trini to D bone
-
- Nallaju Cuisine
-
- Messob Ethiopian Cuisine
-
- Stir It Up Victoria
-
- Lulu’s apron
-
- Elk & The Tide Catering
-
- C-lashes
-
- Lashes by Randeel
-
- MK- Beauty – Face, Beauty, & Hair
-
- Who Dyd your hair
-
- Now I look Good
-
- Kande Global Hair Couturiere
-
- GX Barbers
-
- Status Barber Shop
-
- Mocutz
-
- Dre Searles tattoos and illustrations
-
- Strictly roots events
-
- N8 images
-
- Victoria Africa fest
-
- Bask Arts Home Decor
-
- Udamma Fashion
-
- Tribe Asani Fashion
-
- Island afrikan supermarket
-
- Mount Tolmie market
-
- Shea butter market
-
- CREAN Society Youth Empowerment
-
- Maureen Washington vocal coach
-
- Purity clean victoria
-
- SW creations
-
- I dream in decor
-
- Doula Jay Duncan
-
- Storm fit nation
-
- Merge combat and fitness
-
- Flight basketball