Pathways to Prosperity: Ontario

This report presents a scan of programs and models that address racism in Surrey, BC. It has been developed as part of the True Colours of Surrey, an anti-racial discrimination initiative funded by the Province of British Columbia, and led by the City of Surrey.

The scan was conducted between May and July 2016 with the assistance of the True Colours of Surrey working group and project team.

The aim of the scan is two-fold:
1) Identify existing initiatives in Surrey that help combat and address racism, and racial discrimination.
2) Identify programs and models outside of Surrey that can serve as examples and catalysts for expanding local community capacity.

The scan’s overall objective is to determine community assets, identify gaps, and inform future directions for the implementation of the Surrey Immigrant Integration Strategic Plan.

Although the scan is not definitive, it presents an accurate picture of the type of programs and initiatives that tackle racism and/or racial discrimination in Surrey and the Metro Vancouver region. We did our best to develop a comprehensive list that captures the multifaceted nature of anti-racism initiatives.
The scope of the scan was extended to include programs and models outside of the Metro Vancouver area. For this reason, a quick search of initiatives existing in the rest of Canada, and even abroad was also conducted as part of the scan. This search was inevitably light and swift, as most of the focus was put on local initiatives.

Key Findings

Overall, 6 key findings can be highlighted in this report:

1. There are a number of anti-racism initiatives in Surrey and the broader Metro Vancouver region, but not as many as initially expected.
2. For some initiatives, addressing racial discrimination and racism is but one goal among many others. Sometimes, it is only peripheral to the main mission of the project in question.
3. Anti-racism initiatives take many forms, ranging from annual events such as the Community March Against Racism, to longstanding initiatives such as AMSAA’s Safe Harbour project.
4. The majority of initiatives, in Surrey and Metro Vancouver, focus on ‘advocacy,’ ‘education’ and ‘empowerment’ with a strong emphasis on youth-related projects.
5. Only a small number of initiatives focus explicitly on providing support to victims of racism and/or racial discrimination.
6. Racism and racial discrimination tend to be framed as immigrant issues. Indigenous people tend to be overlooked in conversations about racism and/or racial discrimination.