Most Saskatoon Teens Witness Acts Of Racism
Monday, January 21, 2008 at 14:44
A Saskatoon high school student says more people need to talk about racism in order to combat it.
Rochelle Arcand, a Grade 12 student, says too often people don’t talk about the problem.
A new survey conducted for the City of Saskatoon’s Diversity and Race Relations department indicates racism is a common experience.
Two-thirds of the students surveyed say they have seen or heard acts of racism against others.
About half of the Aboriginal youth surveyed say they have been treated less favourably because of their skin colour or race — although half of those were reluctant to share their experiences.
Arcand isn’t, and says people have generalized about her at her workplace because she’s Aboriginal.
She says: “At first I was the only Aboriginal one there, and a few girls were talking about how they’ve experienced these ‘awful Natives’. They started talking really bad about them, and I felt I didn’t want to work there anymore because I go through a lot of racism at school, and work was the one place I thought I wouldn’t have to go through it . . . but I experience a lot of racism at work.”
The city hopes to hold focus groups for students to discuss what was in the survey, as well as ways to change people’s attitudes.