Alright, let's get it over with. Time to discuss the shit hole known as Thunder Bay. It's a small city in northern Ontario with a population of just under 100,000 people, or a little over if you include the Census Metropolitan Area (CMA).
Thunder Bay is principally known for its racism and redneck population. Roughly 10% of TB residents identify as Aboriginal. Another 9% are immigrants - but all European.
Fun Times
In 2015, almost a third of anti-Indigenous hate crimes were from Thunder Bay. In 2017 its MP stated publicly she was not at all surprised about its "appalling" hate crimes rate. It has the highest per-capita hate crimes rate in the country, nearly 6x the national average. This stretches back to 2013 when it had the highest hate-crimes rate, tripling the average of big cities like Vancouver and Toronto, followed closely by other northern Ontario cities and of course Ottawa.
Aboriginal women being raped by white men, and even police officers is a regular occurrence heard of repeatedly. Aboriginal men risk being beaten to a pulp by white residents and then thrown in the river. Aboriginals often deal with name calling in public and have garbage and other items thrown at them.
In a racist incident from January, a First Nations woman had a trailer hitch thrown at her, causing internal injuries which later killed her. As if this weren't enough, the woman's sister and her children were forced to leave the city after being targeted for abuse and death threats, including: "These white kids telling my kids that they are going to be the next ones found in the river or get a trailer hitch thrown at them."
Presumably the children are referring to the spate of Aboriginal teenagers found floating dead in the Thunder Bay river, which Chiefs have demanded answers about.
In 2015, Thunder Bay was considered the murder capital of Canada based on the previous year's statistics, a title it held again for 2016 murders, and again in 2017.
So aside from all that, what else have we got? A small northern city with the typical terrible Canadian weather and horrific winters; an incredibly boring, divided place (if locals' rants are to be believed).
In 2017 the Thunder Bay police chief had charges brought against him, while the Mayor and others were charged with extortion. (The chief was later acquitted, the other trials are still pending.)
In 2018, the police admitted to racism in its force and civilian service while issuing an apology. (In consequence of an investigation by the Ontario Police Watchdog.)
I just don't have the energy to continue pummeling this shit hole. So if you ever get stuck going there, what is there to do? The "attractions" listed here constitute the following:
Looking at a piece of concrete (Terry Fox "memorial")
Several parks and farms (outdoors stuff)
A Cheese Farm
A crappy little museum
A casino
Shops and the like you'd find in any town ...
Want to travel nearby? How about going to Winnipeg - a mere 596 km/370 miles away! Maybe Windsor at 832 kms/517 miles, or London, ON at 864 km/536 miles away?
HAVE FUN! O Canada!
From the CBC:
"Florence Genaille was just a little girl in a Brandon, Man., sanatorium when she says doctors bound her to a gurney, pumped her body with electric currents and then took notes as her fingers curled, her arms shook and her neck strained backwards.
It was 1953. The Ojibway girl from Rolling River First Nation was at the sanatorium to be treated for tuberculosis.
Today, she believes it was no treatment. It was, she says, a medical experiment and she was their "guinea pig" — an assessment that Genaille shares with hundreds of survivors of the sanatoriums, which have been closed for decades.
They're allegations that historians are now investigating.
"I'm telling you, my fingers were beginning to twist sideways, it was so incredibly painful," said Genaille, now 72. "And now to come to the conclusion our people were experimented on — it's an awful thing to think about."
No evidence of tuberculosis
Genaille still does not know why doctors performed the electroconvulsive therapy. She still does not know why she was sent to the Brandon sanatorium.
At the time, she was attending residential school outside Brandon. She had bad leg pain with no known cause. Finally, the nuns decided to send her to the sanatorium, saying she might have tuberculosis in her bones.
She didn't. In fact, years later, a doctor told her she had no evidence of tuberculosis at all.
But that didn't stop doctors from ordering extreme bed rest for six months, so strict that she was not allowed to get off the mattress, even when they changed the bedding.
That didn't stop doctors from slicing open the back of her thigh to explore her bone, only to sew it back up, scarring her for life and leaving her with a permanent limp.
She had been, in the doctor's opinion, experimented on — maybe in good faith, but without merit and without consent.
'A lot of power in the hands of doctors'
Mary Jane McCallum is studying this theory.
McCallum, an associate professor with the University of Winnipeg, is researching what went on in Indian hospitals, as some were called then, and sanatoriums.
She has heard stories similar to Genaille's from other sanatorium survivors and does know this: Indian hospitals were long the training ground for medical students.
Parents of young patients were often hundreds of kilometres away in remote reserves, unaware of the procedures and therefore unable to give consent.
"That meant that there were a lot of unanswered questions and a lot of power in the hands of doctors," McCallum wrote in an email to the CBC.
Gerald McIvor agrees. Back in 1952, his brother Michael was just a child when he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and sent to the sanatorium in Ninette, Man.
Decades later, he bore the scars — disabling, disfiguring markers where doctors surgically removed a back rib and the lung behind it as a theoretical treatment for the tuberculosis.
"He always wondered, 'Why? Why did they do that?'" McIvor said, adding his brother, who died in 2000, remembered the searing pain and little else.
Years later, Dr. A.L. Paine, a pre-eminent physician who was previously the medical superintendent of the Ninette sanatorium, explained he performed these surgeries with just a local anesthetic.
In a January 1979 paper published in the journal Canadian Family Physician titled Tuberculosis: Past, present and future, he wrote local anesthetic was used "to avoid spread of the disease during general anesthesia," and that patients willingly agreed to it.
"Looking back, one must regret the frequent use of chest surgery attended at times by some deformity or reduced respiratory function," Dr. Paine wrote, while arguing "many patients would have died without surgical aid."
Taken from residential schools to sanatoriums
Today, there are other answers, though some are hidden in the history books.
In the first half of the 20th century, tuberculosis on reserves was a significant problem. The thinking at the time was that it was because Indigenous people lived in the wild.
According to an article in the August 1939 Canadian Medical Association Journal, "the Indian is still a wandering wigwam dweller at heart and adapts himself poorly to living in houses" and has "a native stubbornness and intolerance to interference that makes clinic work difficult."
But under the Indian Act, it was legal to seize kids suspected of having tuberculosis and send them to sanatoriums — sometimes directly from their residential school, as in Genaille's case.
It was also seen at the time as a financial win-win, medical historians say. The practice kept numbers up in both residential schools and sanatoriums where funding was tied, in part, to quotas.
So by the 1950s, even though there were better therapies available for tuberculosis patients and therapies that could let them heal at home, Indigenous patients continued to be detained longer — sometimes years longer — than the rest of the population.
McIvor, Genaille and historians don't yet know the full extent or intentions behind what went on in Canada's Indian hospitals and sanatoriums.
But they want to get some answers.
"I think a lot of these doctors learned from experimenting on us," Genaille said. "Why else would just my kind of people be in there and exposed to this?"
See also:
Former sanatorium patient searches for answers, validation
B.C. author tells the horrific story of so-called 'Indian hospitals'
Aboriginal children used in medical tests, commissioner says
Canadian government withheld food from hungry aboriginal kids in 1940s nutritional experiments, researcher finds
Researcher calls for public inquiry into medical experimentation on students not compensated in settlement agreement
Comment:
We know that they performed experiments on Aboriginal children with nutrition and vaccines, now it seems only a matter of time until the rest of the accusations of medical experiments come spilling out. (Some already have!)
Unless of course, the government can cover it up. One successful avenue has been the "reconciliation process" - by giving abuse victims payoffs and then essentially shutting them up. One would think if you want "reconciliation" and "healing" that you'd have massive investigations into things, clear up the truth and make everything public - enabling the country to move on. But of course, they don't want that. They just want to pay people to shut up and stifle anything from becoming public. We can't change the past, but we could learn from it. But why would cakers do that? Have to focus on the number one priority: making Canada look "good" to the world and feeling superior to Americans!
See post: Canadians aren't sorry for genocide: 'Intentions were good'
What a disgusting country I live in (unwillingly).
From the CBC regarding the documentary 'The Pass System':
"Canadians are becoming increasingly aware of residential schools and their impacts on First Nations people. But many have not yet heard about another system of segregation — one that often kept First Nations confined to their communities.
The pass system was in effect for 60 years on reserves across western Canada. Any First Nations person who wanted to leave their community, for any reason, had to have a pass approved by the reserve's Indian agent that they would carry with them, stipulating the leave's purpose and duration.
... Williams said the pass system came into effect after the North-West Rebellion in 1885.
"It was an illegal... system that was put in place as a temporary 'security measure' after the events of 1885 that stuck around for over 60 years," he said.
... Williams said although the pass system is believed to have ended around 1941, it may have continued in different ways after that.
"Indian agents were judges, and First Nations weren't citizens until 1960 so official means of resistance were very difficult."
As Williams dug deeper into the topic, he discovered why so few people have heard of the pass system. He found a letter from 1941, "in which the director of Indian Affairs at that time said, 'Send us all your passbooks and they may be destroyed.'"
While doing research for the film, Williams spent time in the National Archives looking for documentation, but only found two passes.
"So there's enormous questions about the record-keeping process," he said. "Also, I think we have to take into account, that many people were not interested to understand the emotional impact of these and other systems on First Nations people."
"Passes" to come and go is disturbingly reminiscent of slave passes for leaving plantations. It's not surprising that the corrupt Canadian government tried to destroy all evidence. No doubt if it weren't for a few pieces which slipped through the cracks, cakers today would try and claim that it 'never happened' and is an 'urban myth'.
Further information:
“No rebel Indians should be allowed off the Reserves without a pass signed by an I.D. official.The dangers of complications with white men will thus be lessened & by preserving a knowledge of individual movements any inclination to petty depredations may be checked by the facility of apprehending those who commit such offences."
-- (Public Archives of Canada, RG 10, Vol. 37 10, file 19,550-3) The "justification" for the system.
"In 1885, the Department of Indian Affairs instituted a pass system. No outsider could come onto a reserve to do business with an Aboriginal resident without permission from the Indian agent. In many places, the directives were interpreted to mean that no Aboriginal person could leave the reserve without permission from the Indian agent. Reserves were beginning to resemble prisons."
-- (Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples) According to the Royal Commission a few people "interpreted" the pass system incorrectly and it was all just a "misunderstanding", eh?
"Parents required passes to visit their children interned at residential schools. Controlling parents’ access to their children aided and abetted the government’s policy of removing “the Indian from the child”. Agents were encouraged to only provide a pass to visit children in school no more frequently than four times a year; if a child were ill, and that information shared with the parents, additional passes might be issued."
More from the CBC:
"Very little is known about the pass system. It was a troubling piece of Canadian policy, put in place in 1885 to control the movements of First Nation people, and enforced until the 1940s.
It required all First Nation people living on reserve to get written permission from an Indian agent when they needed to leave their community If caught without a pass, they were either incarcerated or returned to the reserve.
Introduced on the cusp of the North West Rebellion, led by Louis Riel, the policy was supposed to be temporary, used to prevent another uprising. In fact, the policy remained in effect for nearly 60 years.
... Williams was researching the mistreatment of First Nation people when he stumbled upon information about the policy, with roots in his home province of Saskatchewan.
He told CBC he was shocked to find out that the policy stood in direct conflict with the promises made under the treaties, and decided to take it upon himself to piece together as much information as he could."
In 1893 the North-West Mounted Police protested the pass system, likely because they were in part responsible for enforcing it when it had no legal basis in law. Indian Affairs commissioner Hayter Reed overruled the police, even after admitting the policy was not legal.
For the most part Natives didn't resist, because the Indian Agents essentially controlled their lives and to make trouble was to risk their business, livelihood and even freedom.
"One of the biggest hurdles Williams faced when making the documentary was finding proof that the pass system actually happened.
According to Williams, in the 1950s there was an attempt to destroy all records of the pass system, held at the Battleford, Sask. Indian Affairs office. The few remaining documents were suppose to be sent to the dump, but were saved by brothers Don and Doug Light.
"It's plausible that this sort of thing was widespread, so when the Truth and Reconciliation Commission talks about missing documents, that's in part what they're talking about — where are these records?"
... And because little is being done to uncover these policies, and prove their existence, their damage to people and communities has yet to be uncovered. "To me the economic impacts are incalculable … the impact to people's dignity is of course the most important thing" said Williams."
It sure makes you wonder what other evidence the Canadian government has hidden or destroyed, and what myriad of sins go unknown.
From the Leader Post:
"According to Statistics Canada, in 1941, 67 per cent of Saskatchewan residents lived in rural areas. The Second World War was raging and although First Nations could volunteer to serve they were not allowed to leave the reserve without a pass issued by the local Indian agent.
“It was segregation,” said Alex Williams a documentary filmmaker and a former Saskatoon resident. “Reserves were open-air prisons.“
He spent five years researching and compiling information for his film, The Pass System.
... The pass system was implemented shortly after the North West Rebellion of 1885 and remained in place until 1941 when it was replaced by the permit system which remained in place until the 1960s.
“It came about in a package of recommendations that were made for the — and I am quoting here — ‘the future management of Indians,’ ” said Williams. “It was proposed by Hayter Reed and then signed off by Edgar Dewdney and went up to his boss and went all the way up to (the prime minister John A.) MacDonald. I mention MacDonald because he says, ‘It’s in the highest degree desirable to adopt it’ even though he knows the system is not legal and has no basis in law.”
Those caught off-reserve without a pass could be jailed up to 60 days, said Williams.
He said people may wonder why First Nations would adhere to the restriction, but it must be all put into context.
“They had their children,” said Williams.
During this time period, the Indian residential school system was in full swing and there were no social programs so many were dependent on rations to survive, which were controlled by the Indian agent.
Shauneen, said it’s important to tell this story because it sheds light on an entire system that was designed to exclude First Nations people from participating in Canadian society and that oppressive system is the root of today’s social issues that plague First Nations and First Nations people."
Underneath the article is a comment by Barry Lester Ryder:
"I remember as a child living on the Reserve during this time period. We were totally dependant on the Indian Agent who lived on our Reserve. He controlled every aspect of our lives and we became wards of the govt. A simple journey into town was difficult and was viewed as a highlight. I grew to admire the the outside world and what they had. Things have sure changed today but the past is still ingrained in my mind and affects the way I look at life. Reconciliation is needed by everyone and that provides hope to the lingering difficulties facing First Nations."
Website for the documentary: The Pass System
I tip my hat to you sir, and to all others than expose the rot, hypocrisy and corruption of Canada - past and present!
I would like access to the full report, not just the overview, but this will have to do for now.
LINK / PDF (Quotes below)
Summary:
Police-recorded incidents of Aboriginal female homicides and unresolved missing Aboriginal females in this review total 1,181 – 164 missing and 1,017 homicide victims.
There are 225 unsolved cases of either missing or murdered Aboriginal females: 105 missing for more than 30 days as of November 4, 2013, whose cause of disappearance was categorized at the time as "unknown" or "foul play suspected" and 120 unsolved homicides between 1980 and 2012.
The total indicates that Aboriginal women are over-represented among Canada's murdered and missing women.
There are similarities across all female homicides. Most homicides were committed by men and most of the perpetrators knew their victims — whether as an acquaintance or a spouse.
The majority of all female homicides are solved (close to 90%) and there is little difference in solve rates between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal victims.
Information sourcing:
"What this project did differently was to supplement publicly available data with a comprehensive extract of information from law enforcement holdings from across all police jurisdictions in Canada. This fills a significant gap."
"The RCMP has almost completed cross-referencing the data it collected from police records with NWAC and Dr. Pearce's research. Reconciliation to date has been valuable in establishing these findings and improving police record data quality."
"The total of missing Aboriginal females was based primarily on a report of all women listed as missing for more than 30 days across all police jurisdictions on the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC) system as of November 4, 2013."
Violence against Aboriginal women:
"They are at a higher risk of being victims of violence than non-Aboriginal females ...
The rate of victimization among Aboriginal females was close to three times higher than that of non-Aboriginal females."
"... there were 164 missing Aboriginal females as of November 4, 2013. They make up approximately 11.3% of the total number of missing females (1,455 total)."
[4.3% of female population = 11.3% of missing females]
Police estimates for the missing women:
Uknown = 61 / Foul Play = 44 / Accident = 45 / Lost or wandered off = 12 / Runaway = 2
Between 1980 - 2012:
"There were 1,017 Aboriginal female victims of homicide during this period, which represents roughly 16% of all female homicides — far greater than their representation in Canada's female population as described above."
Stats:
"The number of Aboriginal female victims of homicide has remained relatively constant while the number of non-Aboriginal female victims has been declining."
"Aboriginal women accounted for 8% of female victims in 1984 as compared to 23% in 2012." (They attribute this to the decrease of non-aboriginal female homicides)
"The Aboriginal female homicide rate per 100,000 population dropped from 7.60 to 4.45 between 1996 and 2011."
Cause of Death:
Beating: Aboriginal women, approximately one-third 32% / Non-Aboriginal: 17%
Stabbing: Aboriginal 31%, / Non-Aboriginal: 27%
Shooting: Aboriginal 16% /Non-Aboriginal 26%
Strangled/Suffocated/Drowned: Aboriginal 13% / Non-Aboriginal: 22%
[They say further research needs to be done to understand differences]
Location of killing is relatively the same except non-Aboriginal women are more likely to be killed at home, while Aboriginal women are twice as likely to be killed in an 'open area'.
Related Criminality:
"Other assault" and "sexual assault" offences more likely to occur in Aboriginal murders.
Interestingly:
"It should be noted that only a small proportion of Aboriginal female homicides (approximately 2%) were described by investigators as linked to the drug trade or gang or organized crime activity."
Offenders:
Relationship stats are generally the same, except non-Aboriginal women are more likely to be killed by a spouse, and Aboriginal women are more likely to be killed by an acquaintance.
89% of the women's killers (all groups) were male, no surprise there.
Offenders killing Aboriginal women more likely to have a criminal record, less likely to be employed and more likely to be on social assistance or disability. They were also more likely to have consumed some intoxicant substance.
They are less likely to have a mental disorder (10%) compared to NAF offenders (20%).
"The most frequent motive in Aboriginal female homicides was "argument or quarrel" representing 40% of all incidents (compared to 23% for non-Aboriginal females)."
"The data collected indicates that police solve almost 9 of every 10 female homicides, regardless of victim origin (88% for Aboriginal female homicides, 89% for non-Aboriginal female homicides). Other factors, such as victim involvement in certain occupations, may reduce the chance their murder will be solved."
Risk Factors
Aboriginal women are less likely to be employed, more likely to be on a form of assistance, and more likely to support themselves through 'illegal means' (by 10%).
Aboriginal women are more likely to have consumed an intoxicating substance before death (63% to 20% for NAF).
Sex trade:
"Aboriginal female homicide victims involved was slightly higher than that of non-Aboriginal female homicide victims — 12% versus 5% respectively — which are both relatively small components of the available population.
As a result, it would be inappropriate to suggest any significant difference in the prevalence of sex trade workers among Aboriginal female homicide victims as compared to non-Aboriginal female homicide victims."
How disappointing for all the rednecks who claimed the vast majority of these women were hookers and therefore 'did it to themselves'!
Aboriginal women being slightly double NAF in the sex trade is worth noting, but hardly significant in terms of overall missing and murdered indigenous women. (There's also no indication of the general number of NAF in prostitution). Even if we account for offenders being Johns, what of the others?
Then we come to the RCMP "efforts" to be implemented, to summarize:
- Partnering with local and municipal forces for unresolved cases
- "Prevention efforts" aka targeting high-risk communities
- "Increasing public awareness"
Here's my favorite bit for 'Strengthening the Data':
"To continue to ensure there is solid data available for operational decision-making and to ensure RCMP members record the most relevant information possible for Statistics Canada, the RCMP will roll out changes to how it collects data on homicides and missing persons. As a result of this project, the RCMP will ensure that Aboriginal origin is captured as part of Homicide Surveys."
You mean it hasn't been up to this time?
Another gold bit:
"Second, the use of the term "Aboriginal" as a descriptor has different definitions in the different data sources that make up this research project. For example, CPIC captures Aboriginal as an "ethnicity" whereas Statistics Canada's official position is that "Aboriginal" is not an ethnicity but rather an origin. Where possible, the above report attempts to use Statistics Canada compliant language."
And that's it. That is the end of the "overview". Here is what I take away from this:
1) I basically learned nothing and the five minutes I spent reading a quick Statistics Canada page (for the last post on this topic) was just as enlightening in much less time.
2) We still don't know why Aboriginal women are being killed at a higher rate, there is no real attempt to pinpoint a cause. With such a small percentage in the sex trade, what about the others?
3) I am left with the same conclusion as my last post: are the "acquaintances" Aboriginal or not? That will explain the discrepancy.
4) The only thing you can really gather from this overview is that a bunch of drunk unemployed losers on welfare and disability are getting pissed off, getting into "arguments" with Aboriginal women and then beating them to death.
Really? That's it? A bunch of pathetic slobs getting drunk and killing Native women?
Here is what cakers have said: it's their own family members killing them (not true). That turned into: it's their own boyfriends and husbands (turns out less than NAF's). Then: they were all prostitutes (again not true).
How can they be 4 percent of the female population yet over 10% of the missing women? How can they be four percent of the population yet account for 10-16% of the murders (up to 23%)? Especially when they are less likely to be killed by a spouse or family member than NAF? Why are they most likely to be killed in Yukon or Saskatchewan (with a white majority population)?
Does it all boil down to some loser leeches who feel big by treading on their "inferiors"? Who are these fat grease-stained slobs anyway? Aboriginal? White? Other?
I really don't feel that I've come away with any answers from this. I did get to read some stats and look at some fancy charts though.
Post Script - Why won't the RCMP answer The Toronto Star's questions?
RCMP won't comment on discrepancies in the Missing Database (Globe & Mail)
1830's
The first Residential Schools are established for Aboriginals.
1834
Slavery is abolished in Canada.
1880
Chinese workers brought in to help build the Canadian Pacific Railway. They are not given the same rights or pay as their fellow white workers.
1885
Canadian government imposes a "head tax" of $50 on the Chinese to deter further immigration. Fifty years later it would be raised to $100.
This earns the government the equivalent of a billion dollars in today's currency.
1872
British Columbia disenfranchises the Chinese. (They would add the Japanese and East Indian later)
1876
The 'Indian Act' is passed. In order to apply for enfranchisement an Aboriginal must be a university graduate or pass a three year probation period demonstrating 'assimilation' (effectively disqualifying any).
1895
BC legislature disenfranchises the Japanese.
1899
Immigration Branch: "It is not desired that any Negro immigrants should arrive in Western Canada . . . or that such immigration should be promoted by our agents."
1903
The Chinese head tax is raised to $500.
1907
BC legislature disenfranchises East Indians
Race riots in Vancouver: white residents attack Chinese and Japanese sectors of the city.
1908
Saskatchewan disenfranchises the Chinese.
1911
Western Canada commissioner of Immigration offers the medical inspector a fee for every black applicant he rejects.
The Federal Cabinet passes an order: "for a period of one year from and after the date hereof, the landing in Canada shall be and the same is prohibited of any immigrant belonging to the Negro race, which race is deemed unsuitable to the climate and requirements of Canada."
(It is not implemented and later repealed.)
1912
Saskatchewan passes the 'Female Employment Act'; a law restricting Oriental men from hiring white women. Similar laws were later passed by Manitoba, Ontario and British Columbia.
Ontario tries to assimilate Franco-Ontarians by banning the French language in Francophone schools.
1914
The ship 'Komagata Maru' attempts to disembark in Vancouver. It is carrying 400 East Indians and passengers from Asia. It is parked at the Harbour for eight weeks while three riots carry on; people die and the military intervenes.
Chinese and Japanese students are segregated from white students in British Columbia.
1916
During the beginning of the First World War minorities were not wanted for enlistment. By mid 1916 Blacks were allowed to enlist if they served in segregated units. Aboriginals were placed in labor units.
Women in Manitoba are given the right to vote. Only men were granted full citizenship; women wouldn't obtain it until the end of the 19th century. Later they are granted voting rights in Saskatchewan and Alberta (note: only white women).
1917
Women in British Columbia and then Ontario are granted the right to vote.
1918
White women over the age of 21 are given the right to vote in federal elections.
Women in Nova Scotia are granted the right to vote.
1919
Quebec Court rules it is legal to segregate blacks in theaters. According to the Chief Justice: "Racial discrimination is not contrary to the public order or morality of Canada."
Women in New Brunswick are given the right to vote.
1920
British Columbia restricts fishing licenses for Japanese-Canadians.
Jews face discrimination in employment, as well as restrictions and quotas in the school sector and hospitals.
Chinese people are barred from certain jobs, some by law: pharmacies, provincial and municipal contracts, legal system.
1922
Women in Prince Edward Island are granted the right to vote.
1923
Having been unable to deter Chinese immigration through the 'head tax', Canada passes the "Chinese Immigration Act" essentially excluding all Chinese people from entering Canada.
Meanwhile, European immigrants are being paid to settle on lands seized from Aboriginal people.
1924
Ontario Court decides that it is within the law to refuse to serve a black customer.
Unions agree to lower minimum wages for "Oriental" workers.
British Columbia passes minimum wage laws that do not apply to Chinese workers.
1925
Women in Newfoundland are given the right to vote.
1929
Administrators at McGill University use discriminatory criteria in choosing students in an attempt to limit the amount of Jewish pupils.
"The Person's Case": the legal definition of a "person" is changed to include women for the first time.
1930's
Restrictive quotas are placed on Jewish students for many Canadian colleges and universities.
Chinese men are not accepted into 'government relief camps' alongside unemployed white men; in 3 years over 130 would starve to death.
1935: 'Christie Pits' riot in Toronto: members of the Swastika Club fight Jewish students and factory workers; vandalizing Jewish shops and assaulting Jews in their neighborhoods.
1939: Supreme Court of Canada rules that racial discrimination is legally enforceable. (This was the result of a Montreal business owner refusing to serve a black customer)
Jewish German refugees aboard the ship MS St. Louis are denied entry into Canada.
Black volunteers are rejected for the military effort.
In Alberta and New Brunswick, black students are denied access to "white" schools.
In BC, Asian school children are segregated and this is legal due to racist restrictions attached to leasing property or ownership deeds.
1940
A 'special committee on Orientals' in British Columbia decides to exclude Chinese and Japanese men from the armed forces due to 'hostility' from whites. A few years later East Indians were restricted from conscription unless they assimilated to Anglo practices.
Women are granted the right to vote in Quebec.
Italian-Canadians and communists are sent to internment camps in Alberta, then later New Brunswick.
1942
Japanese Canadians in the west coast are interned in camps. Two years later Japanese citizens were disenfranchised by the federal government in any place that did not have preexisting laws.
Prime minister King justifies this by claiming it would make no sense for Japanese to have voting rights in Ontario if there are none in BC.
1948
East Indian, Chinese, and Japanese are finally granted the right to citizenship and voting.
1952
Inuit people are granted the right to vote legally. In practice, it is nearly worthless as they are in the Arctic and ballot boxes are not available to their communities until 1962.
In the 1950's residential schools are established for the Inuit in the north.
1960
Aboriginal people are granted the right to vote by the federal government.
1964
Ontario school rules regarding segregation for blacks are withdrawn, the last "black school" in the province closes a year later.
1970's
Government begins to close Aboriginal Residential Schools across the country.
1983
Last segregated school in Nova Scotia closes.
1996
The last residential school closes in Saskatchewan.
Alright, let's get it over with. Time to discuss the shit hole known as Thunder Bay. It's a small city in northern Ontario with a population of just under 100,000 people, or a little over if you include the Census Metropolitan Area (CMA).
