Black reps left off federal advisory council on rights, equality and inclusion

National Employment Equity Council co-chair Nicholas Marcus Thompson, left, with Canadian Black Clergies and Allies chairman Bishop Ransford Jones, during a news conference on Parliament Hill on June 4. Photo by Blair Gable /POSTMEDIA

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Advocates are calling for Black representation and a more inclusive mandate for the federal government’s new Advisory Council on Rights, Equality and Inclusion.

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The calls follow the federal government’s announcement on June 1 of the new advisory council that did not include Black representatives.

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Advocates also slammed the federal government for neglecting to include anti-Black racism in the council’s mandate.

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“Anti-Black racism was not explicitly identified. At some point, omission becomes difficult to distinguish from indifference,” Nicholas Marcus Thompson, co-chair of the National Employment Equity Council, told reporters in a news conference on June 4.

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Thompson pointed to the years that Canada and the federal government had spent studying, documenting and acknowledging anti-Black racism.

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It was why Thompson said the exclusion of Black representation and anti-Black racism on the council was “difficult to reconcile.”

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Other advocacy groups, including Amnesty International and the Canadian Black Clergies and Allies, also called on the federal government to make a course correction with the advisory council.

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Jean Augustine, the first Black woman elected to the House of Commons, also called for Black Canadians to be “respected and recognized in all spaces.”

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“Black Canadians are tired. We’re tired of being an afterthought, tired of having to raise our voices to be heard and seen fully, tired of having to remind people that we exist and that we matter, too,” Augustine told reporters.

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Jean Augustine, the first Black woman elected to the House of Commons, also called Thursday for Black Canadians to be “respected and recognized in all spaces.” Photo by Derek Ruttan /POSTMEDIA

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Augustine added that the failure to mention anti-Black racism in the mandate of the advisory council was to “frankly to ignore the one and a half million black Canadians who proudly call Canada home and who are working to make this country an inclusive environment.”

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Ketty Nivyabandi, secretary general of Amnesty International Canada, said she believed that the federal government under Prime Minister Mark Carney was backsliding on tackling racial discrimination.

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“Anti-Black racism does not appear to be a priority,” she said.

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Still no update to the Employment Equity Act

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Thompson, who co-chairs the National Employment Equity Council, confirmed there was still no legislation on the Employment Equity Act, “almost three years” after recommendations were made in a task force report.

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Those recommendations, which would update the 1984 Employment Equity Act, would create distinct equity groups for Black and 2SLGBTQ+ workers.

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The Employment Equity Act covers all federally regulated workers, including the public service, banking and telecommunications, among others.