… or maybe I’m just weird in that I categorized them by country instead of color? But really, I feel that if we were talking about a movie solely about the Irish or something, I feel like we wouldn’t be talking about people’s attitudes towards “white people,” it would be about people’s attitudes towards “Irish people.”

I think this trend of being knowingly offensive is not exclusive to race, but rather a growing trend towards breaking norms on what is vulgar or bad in society primarily for the sake of breaking the norm.

South Park summarises this nicely. They choose to insult the sensibilities of everyone, including whites, lower/upper class groups, various nationalities and races; the list is long. I am not saying South Park is responsible, but rather it is reflective of a growing hunger to reject what is broadly described as political correctness (a term which is increasingly used as a slur). This desire to be entirely insensitive is also visible in the majority of anonymous internet comments, which usually degrade to outrageous flaming.

Im not entirely sure though, I’d love to hear peoples thoughts on this

I’m not sure I understand this. To clarify, are you saying that it’s wrong that we were taught to be accepting of other cultures while not living in a multicultural town? Because I’m not quite sure what could have been done to encourage more multiculturalism in a town. I know that multiculturalism was slowly spreading to my town because of people trying to move out of the Toronto suburbs, but I’m not really sure why my experiences are being invalidated because I grew up in a town that wasn’t as multicultural as I’d have liked.

And yes, of course, everyone has their own experiences, no matter what race or culture they’re from. It’s likely that the professor has experienced racism; to what degree, only they could say. However, he’s living in an extremely diverse city in a country that boasts about its ‘mixed salad’ approach to different cultures, and I’d like to hope that the Canadians aren’t so closed minded as that.

Perhaps I worded myself poorly: I wrote most of this in my head as I was falling asleep last night, and wrote it up first thing in the morning. I do believe that Canada has problematic thinking, and it of course has many of the same institutions that need analyzing and dismantling as stated. And yes, of course there’s issues with the white majority and the power they hold, and that will continue to be a problem for a very, very long time.

I’ve just never felt that people of another race or culture don’t belong here.

I understand people that are sensitive to the whole “fish out of water” storyline and see it as racist; I’m also sure that a lot of Canadians don’t think black people belong there, if only subconsciously. I just don’t see why those Canadians would identify with Cool Runnings.

Is there a link to Rinaldo Walcott’s statement that gives more detail ? Or maybe evidence ?

Does it strike you, though, as precisely the dynamic that Dr. Walcott is addressing that you lived in an exclusively white place, yet were taught that Canada was multicultural, while never expecting that any of those theoretical multicultural people might be expected to live in your own town? Isn’t this precisely what he means about the assumption that black people do not truly belong? The assumption that an all-white town is normal and expected even as you assert a belief in multiculturalism demonstrates his point about white Canadians who view Canada as naturally white and all others as visitors who are tolerated by white people.

Can you also perhaps see that the dynamic of exclusively white people talking about how accepting they are as Canadians of people of other races, while excluding anyone of those other races, is in itself a dynamic of privilege and power? Did you truly learn anything about dismantling systems of white privilege, or about systematic and institutional racism and how they work to exclude others, including thinking about why it is that your town is able to be all white and what that might say about social and economic privilege in Canada? Speaking about inclusion and difference is all very nice, but means little in the absence of the very people you are supposed to be including.

And, in fact, as Dr. Walcott expresses, there is a dynamic of white superiority created here, where white people talk about how tolerant and nice and generous they are to other people, in the assumption that those people should be grateful to be in Canada receiving the generosity of the nice white people here who are so much less racist than other white people like those in the States.

Canada is racist and I’m very tired of seeing thread after thread all over the internet where white Canadians admit to living in all white places and not knowing any people of other races, yet believe their own province isn’t at all racist, and that maybe racism happens somewhere else, but not anyone like me. This of course marginalizes the experiences of all the Canadian of colour who deal with racism in Canada, and have to deal not only with the experience of racism, but the denial of the huge majority of white Canadians that these experiences even exist.

And of course, even as they deny racism, they dismiss out of hand that a black Canadian might possibly have a sharper perspective than they do on racism, or valid observations to make about how people of colour are marginalized and alienated within Canada. Keep telling people of colour how to think about or understand racism, white people, because I’m sure you know so much more about experiencing it than people who are actually victimized by racism on a daily basis.

People in Ontario told me not to come to Newfoundland because they’re all backwards.

Every province has their own little grudges and buddies, and where you’re from, regionally, is important. This is something you see no matter what colour the person’s skin is, which I contest just doesn’t matter as much to Canadians as that professor thinks in my personal experiences.

Toronto is about 55% white. It doesn’t make much sense, to me, that racism is a huge problem in a place where almost half of the city is composed of a ‘visible minority.’

Further to that, some of the outskirts of Toronto, like Brampton, are composed of 37% white and the rest are a ‘minority’. They’re 33% South Asian there, which I’m assuming to mean they’re from India.

Yes, I believe we can be more accepting. We can always be better, and do more, and the way we treat our native population is disgusting. But growing up in Canada, I have never felt for a moment that someone of a different colour or culture or religion did not belong in Canada because I was always taught that it was a good thing.

Another aside; I’m currently living in St. John’s, Newfoundland. I am really, really loving Republic of Doyle. It shows a very, very unrealistic St. John’s – our homicide rate, in all of Newfoundland, is about 2-5 a year for the entire province, and that’s including all levels of homicide (like manslaughter), not just first degree murder. The show doesn’t show St. John’s in a terrible light, but it certainly shows it in a ‘grittier’ light that isn’t realistic.

If I was younger, growing up in Newfoundland, and I saw this show on that showed my home town, my province… it would likely be something that I would reflect upon with fond memories. Because it’s nice to see, in popular culture, that yes, Canada does exist and it’s a beautiful and diverse and interesting place and ‘oh my God, I was at this place before!’

It’s just nice to have something in mainstream media show something with a Canadian view or setting or cast because it is fairly rare.

To the extent that Canadians would or might have identified with it, I think this would have more to do with the way it shows Caribbean-black people engaged in winter sports (something Canadians do identify with) competing at the Calgary winter Olympics (another thing Canadians identify with). The movie also preaches an idealized notion about accepting differences, tolerance, and multiculturalism (and yet something else that Canadians identify with).

On the other hand, Canadians are often so proud of how accepting their country is that they tend to overlook the fact that they really aren’t as accepting as they could be. Anyways, to the extent that the film encourages this kind of ignorance is bliss, fine, it’s bad, but to claim that a vast chunk of Canadians are all secretly thinking that black people don’t belong up here, and responding to subtle cues in films like Cool Runnings, is kind of silly.

I basically mean to say that I agree with Maggie in that if you were to ask Canadians if we strongly relate to the movie, most would probably be confused.

This movie, produced by Disney, was probably exciting because it featured a location in Canada (that isn’t Toronto), and a major event. If Canadians were to ‘identify’ with something, perhaps it is the fact that the 88 Calgary Olympics were made the setting. Looking at other Disney and Hollywood movies, this is atypical.

The blackface issue, however, is unfortunately far too common. I also think that these folks (who dressed up and painted their faces) were rather insensitive, especially considering their ‘knowledge’ of blackface. Regardless of their intent, it is still a highly sensitive matter, especially considering the historical and contemporary occurrences and uses of it. For that reason, I think it was in poor taste.