The way workplaces handle of anti-Palestinian racism indicates a grim future for equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI), said Amy Blanding, the Northern Health Authority’s former equity director.
In October, Blanding filed a wrongful dismissal lawsuit against her former employer. During a dress rehearsal for a community concert, Blanding played her song “Sun Birds” about the ongoing violence in Gaza. She also donned a watermelon shirt.
Blanding said community members contacted her employer and expressed concern about her ability to work with minorities. She was told by the Northern Health Authority (NHA) to post a pre-written apology for her actions. Blanding said she asked for time to reflect on whether she wanted to post the apology but was told this counted as a refusal and she was removed from her role.
As a worker in charge of the NHA’s EDI portfolio, Blanding said her case is one of many which signal employers’ unreadiness to fulfill EDI promises when it comes to combating anti-Palestinian racism.
LISTEN: The future of diversity, equity, and inclusion in Canada
The International Court of Justice found expressed concern about the situation in Gaza at the start of this year and ordered Israel to prevent acts of genocide in the region. Amnesty International released a report last week saying Israel’s violence in Gaza met the legal threshold for the crime of genocide.
Pro-Palestinian voices silenced
The sheer weight of lives lost in Gaza has galvanized many, but voices speaking out in support of Palestine have been met with heavy repression. Other workers who have been disciplined for expressing solidarity with Palestinians include, former uOttawa medical resident Dr. Yipeng Ge, former member of the Ontario NDP Sarah Jama and Toronto teacher Cassandra Della Mora.
Anti-Palestinian racism is a a form of anti-Arab racism that silences, excludes, erases, stereotypes, defames or dehumanizes Palestinians or their narratives, according to a report by the Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME), the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association, Independent Jewish Voices Canada, and Canadian Muslim Public Affairs Council.
Data from statistics Canada also shows police-reported anti-Muslim hate crimes have increased by 94 per cent between 2022 and 2023.
“If organizations are actually committed and truly want to eradicate these barriers to equity and to identify what intersecting systems of oppression look like in their organization, they have to be prepared to be very uncomfortable,” Blanding said.
She said doing the difficult work to prompt diversity has not truly happened. She said she has seen many institutions adopt a “diversity calendar” where Black History Month and pride week are celebrated but there has been a lack of initiative to dig into policies.
Equity, which seeks to create justice by considering and confronting systems that benefit some groups and harm others, is what Blanding said needs to be put in place to create true diversity and inclusion at work.
“Equity is the one piece that actually needs to be focused on in organizations to ensure fairness that will allow folks to feel like they are safe to be hired into an organization,” Blanding said.
The NHA said it could not comment on the Blanding case but the response it filed in the BC civil courts indicates the organization was concerned about alienating certain members of the community. The response states that Blandings actions could have made people feel “ostracized or unwelcome and potentially hesitant to access health care.”
The civil case has yet to be settled.
The letter sent to the NHA after Blanding’s dress rehearsal alleges anti-semitism. Blanding maintains that this is unfair.
“This is just another example of how folks are getting away with absurdities and distracting us from the actual problem,” Blanding said. “I’ve been working in equity work for a very long time now, so I’m not regularly surprised by how oppression and power rears its heads. In this instance, it really did take me aback.”
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, expressed concern about the government recognizing anti-Palestinian racism as an issue. They wrote that Jewish identity and voices could be silenced.
In the CJPME’s report on anti-Palestinian racism, the authors wrote that “insisting Judaism/Jewishness means uncritical support for the policies and actions of a state that is widely and justifiably condemned for serious human rights violations is itself antisemitic, erases non-zionist Jewish identities and histories.”
Blanding said while the cases of anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab and islamophobic practices in the workplace are concerning, she believe there is still hope for Canada’s workplaces to put in place genuine EDI measures.
“The optimist in me likes to think the outcry against this anti-Palestinian racism, anti-Muslim racism, anti-Arab racism is going to push organizations, the public sector, to actually shift practice,” she said.
Support rabble today!
We’re so glad you stopped by! Thanks for consuming rabble content this year.
rabble.ca is 100% reader and donor funded, so as an avid reader of our content, we hope you will consider gifting rabble with a donation during our summer fundraiser today.
Whether it be a one-time donation or a small monthly contribution, your support is critical to keep rabble writers producing the work you’ve come to rely on as a part of a healthy media diet.
Become a rabble rouser — donate to rabble.ca today.
Nick Seebruch, editor
