Equity

“The belief that true equality rests on recognizing the relevance of context, the importance of taking differences into account, and a balancing of individual with collective rights. A commitment to equity acknowledges the primacy of equal outcomes (not just equal opportunity) to ensure that members of a group have a fair share of scarce resources.”

 Augie Fleras, Unequal Relations, p. 351

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A Brief History of Human Rights in Ontario and Canada (OHRC.ON.CA)

• Early 1900s: (White) Women

  • Canadian women were not legally defined as “persons” under the BNA Act and therefore could not sit in government or in the Senate. Law changed in 1929.

• 1940: Christie vs. York

  • Black man refused service in Montreal; won initial case and awarded $200; however, was overturned by a higher court

• 1944: Ontario Racial Discrimination Act

  • Prohibited publishing or displaying symbols that expressed racial or religious discrimination.

• December 10, 1948

  • Universal Declaration of Human Rights

    • “the inherent dignity and equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world”

    • “human rights should be protected by the rule of law”

  • “everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.”

• 1951: Abolishment of Real Estate Covenants

  • Until the Supreme Court abolished them in 1951, somebody wanting to buy a house often had to agree that their property “shall never be sold, assigned, transferred, leased to, and shall never be occupied by any person of the Jewish, Hebrew, Semitic, Negro or coloured race or blood.” The Covenants didn’t try to cover anything up. They made it clear their aim was to “restrict the ownership, use, occupation and enjoyment to persons of the White or Caucasian race not excluded by this clause.”

• 1951: Fair Employment Practices Act

  • Prohibited discrimination based on race and religion in employment

• 1954: Fair Accommodations Act

  • Prohibited discrimination in public places on racial, religious or ethnic grounds (amendment in 1961 that prohibited discrimination in rental accommodation)

• 1958: Ontario Anti-Discrimination Commission Act

  • Created a commission to administer the above acts and develop educational programs (amendment in 1961 to change the name to the Ontario Human Rights Commission)

• 1964: Canadian Bill of Rights

  • Principle of Equality enshrined in law

• 1976: Canadian Human Rights Act

• 1982: Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

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Roots of Indigenous Gender Inequities (Kim Anderson, A Recognition of Being: Reconstructing Native Womanhood, 2016)

• Equitable Divisions of Labour (Anderson, p. 35)

  • Division of labour gendered (men = hunters; women = food preparation); however, “men’s work was never considered more valuable than women’s work…the work of every individual was necessary for the well-being of the family, the community, and the nation.”

  • Women had the authority over the most “precious” resource: food.

  • Men hunted, but women controlled how food was distributed and provided to the community.

  • Haudenosaunee communities, stored food was “considered wealth” and women had complete control over it.

• Land and Property (p. 38)

  • George Washington, first President of the United States, plans for “civilization”:

  • “to turn Native men into industrious, republican farmers, and women into chaste, orderly housewives.”

  • “Missionaries insisted that women’s sphere was the home and that Indian men should take up farming. When accomplished, this change would not only take away women’s economic independence, leaving them as dependent as white women; it also tore at the very fabric of the culture.”

• Heteropatriarchal religious traditions

  • “If God is a white man, who created the first man, and then later created a God-son (who comes by way of a virgin), our social relations reflect a male-centred version of both creation and authority.” (p.48)

  • Creation, in Indigenous communities, is understood to “be within the realm of the female because of the profound understanding that women bring forth life.” (p.48)

  • Missionaries “pushed the idea that everything to do with Native spirituality was evil, and specifically that women were evil (i.e. Eve or Mary as “passive and domesticated”) (p. 54-55)

• Political Decisions (p. 41-43)

  • Trudeau and his famous phrase? Canada and a “mentality of destruction.”

  • Indigenous peoples’ had equitable systems of political governance.

  • Haudenosaunee women negotiated treaties and Clan Mothers (female Elders) would put forth candidates to be Chiefs.

  • Cherokee had women’s councils where women had direct influence on political decisions.

• Moon Time (p. 50-51)

  • “Menstruation was a sign of the incredible power of the feminine”; the power to “cleanse and purify” like Mother Earth.

  • Contact with Europeans, particularly in Residential Schools, made puberty and menstruation out to be something “dirty,” “ashamed” of, and beaten and ridiculed for.