Black History Month is a time to celebrate the accomplishments of the black community and the tremendous obstacles it has overcome — both around the world and here in Quebec.
It is a time to pay homage to barrier-breaking role models, from Mathieu Da Costa, a free man who served as a translator for Samuel de Champlain and is thought to have been the first black person to set foot on Canadian soil; to Jackie Robinson, who played for the Montreal Royals on his way to becoming the first black player in Major League Baseball; to Oscar Peterson, a world-renowned jazz musician from Little Burgundy.
But it’s also a time to reflect on the sobering challenges members of Quebec’s black community still face. On the eve of Black History Month events, a National Assembly committee examining the future of immigration heard about the dismal prospects young black Quebecers face in the job market. Tuesday, the City of Montreal presented a brief that shows that while new immigrants of all backgrounds had an unemployment rate of 11.3 per cent in 2014, that of black newcomers is worse still, at 14 per cent. Census data gathered between 2006 and 2011 shows the rate is similar for both newly arrived and native-born blacks in Quebec: 13.7 versus 14.0 per cent.
This stark disparity cannot be explained by language. While an older generation of black Quebecers was largely anglophone and never mastered French, black youths from English-speaking backgrounds now tend to be fluently bilingual, and there have been new waves of French-speaking immigrants from Haiti and West Africa. There is a widespread sense among young black Quebecers that they have to strive to overcome prejudices, both subtle and overt, in order to succeed.
Yolande James, Quebec’s first black female cabinet minister, recently told the Montreal Gazette it was drilled in to her from a very young age that she had to try twice as hard as others because she was “not necessarily going to be judged the same way.”
There is plenty of data to show this is still the case. Jacques Frémont, head of the Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse told the parliamentary hearings discrimination against visible minorities is systemic and widespread. He pointed to a 2012 study by the commission that showed Quebecers with a francophone last name like Tremblay are 60 per cent more likely to get a job than anyone with a name like Mohammed. Yves-Thomas Dorval, head of the Conseil du patronat, told the committee that a survey of big employers five years ago revealed just 65 per cent see the value in hiring new immigrants and visible minorities — meaning 35 per cent do not.
The human rights commission advocated targeted hiring policies, while the black community suggested increased immigration to make Quebec even more diverse. But it seems a larger societal reckoning is in order. Quebec likes to think of itself as open, tolerant and diverse, but the reality is often otherwise. This situation is certainly not unique to Quebec, but it is particularly fraught in a province embroiled in an ongoing debate about values that can leave minorities feeling alienated.
Black History Month is indeed a time to celebrate. But let it also be an occasion for self-examination by the broader society.
