THUNDER BAY – Whether it’s verbal slurs in a public setting, objects thrown from passing vehicles or a physical attack, reports of incidents driven by racism in Thunder Bay are not new.
But without having a means to track each occurrence, determining the true extent of racism in the city and identifying potential solutions have been a challenge.
The city’s anti-racism and respect advisory committee on Tuesday officially launched a new incident reporting system, providing people with the opportunity to document incidents of racism they have either experienced or witnessed.
Coun. Rebecca Johnson, a member of the city’s anti-racism and respect advisory committee, said the tool will paint a more complete picture on the prevalence of racism.
“I think it’s crucially important we find out what is actually happening in Thunder Bay,” Johnson said.
“We hear all these different things and then there’s something that’s been said but we don’t really know. This way we will be able to identify it, document it then we will come up with some specific statistics about what is actually happening versus conversations and what we think is happening.”
The most recent citizen satisfaction survey, which was conducted earlier this year, found that 84 per cent of respondents believe racism and discrimination is a serious issue in Thunder Bay.
Data released by Statistics Canada earlier this month showed the city had the highest rate of hate motivated incidents reported to police in the country, with 22.3 incidents per 100,000 people in 2015. Of the 26 total incidents, 10 involved an Indigenous person.
Amina Abu-Bakare, chair of the anti-racism and respect advisory committee, said while Indigenous people tend to be primarily targeted by racism, other minority groups are also impacted.
“We need to know what’s happening, what areas and who is involved and what type of racism is happening,” Abu-Bakare said, adding she has experienced racism “several times.”
“There’s a lot of overt racism but what’s happening on the street is really serious racism and we need to be aware of that.”
The reporting tool is a one-year pilot project and will track the incoming data to try to identify trends to help develop future strategies and initiatives. The online reporting component asks for a description of the incident as well as information about the type of interaction, information about who it happened to, where it happened and when it happened.
Incidents can also be reported in-person at the Lakehead Social Planning Council office in Victoriaville or by calling 211.
Marie Klassen, the director of services for the Lakehead Social Planning Council, said the reporting system largely relies on existing infrastructure and community partnerships.
“Depending on the nature of the report, the person may need some counselling. There are resources available in our city that 211 is very familiar with. We have a database of over 12,000 records that certainly give us good representation of the help available,” Klassen said.
“We would assess the report and then refer appropriately.”
Abu-Bakare said the incident reporting tool will only be effective if it becomes accepted by the entire community.
“We really need people to utilize it,” Abu-Bakare said. “If you experience racism or you witness somebody who has experienced racism, call and then at the end of the year we’re going to look at the data and see how we can move forward.”
The online reporting tool can be found at https://www.lspc.ca/incidentreport/.
