This has always been Canada

I travel back and forth between the US and Canada a lot. It was interesting because Canadians would always tell me to be careful in the US, that it's dangerous. I'm Black/Native and gay, so that would also always come up too. It was unsafe for me there and Canada was so much safer. This was always funny to me because I do social justice activism, and the number of times I have received death and mutilation threats from people IN Canada would probably have most Canadians shocked. While I grew up in Toronto, and it's super multicultural, I still faced racism and homophobia in the city. My Grandma who moved to Canada in the 70's, talks about the racism she had to endure throughout the years, and I've also heard horror stories that my dad went through. Like giving up hockey even though he loved it because he kept getting called the N-word. Or my moms parents having to hide who they were because they didn't want to face violence for being native. This is why I think its almost laughable that the rest of the country is just realizing how racist and homophobic it is. Like London, ON has the oldest KKK chapter in Canada.

Theres photos of KKK rallies in the prairies. Im so sick of Canadians sitting on their high horse acting like we're so much better than the US and that we're above what is happening there right now. My whole life I heard people say "Black people don't face racism here, we don't have that in Canada." This country has felt just as scary to live in as the US. We're not better, we're just better at hiding it. The reason why we are seeing this "rise" in fascism, racism, misogyny and homophobia/transphobia is because it was always there, it was just impolite to showcase it and now its not. The trucker convoy that folks tried to pretend was just about vaccines, gave people the freedom to be their true horrible selves. Obviously this isn't everyone in the country but it's a large enough number that now the rest of you are getting scared about things some of us have been dealing with our whole lives and for generations. If the "good" Canadians don't start to get very real and honest about this country things are going to get far worse. This isn't a Margaret Atwood book, Canada won't be the "good guys."

Also since people want a question: How do you think we can address the racism here in this country, without causing people to feel shamed or guilty while also making changes for the good and not allowing ourselves to fall deeper into facism?