BWSS Commemorates the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

​BWSS Commemorates the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

March 21, the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, marks the anniversary of the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre in South Africa when police opened fire on hundreds of South Africans protesting Apartheid’s passbook laws, killing 67 and wounding 186.

Though largely unknown, it is important to remember that the apartheid laws introduced by South African governments were adapted from Canadian colonial polices, including the reserve system, pass system, and Indian Act.

Canada’s very inception and living history is one marked by settler-colonial genocide targeting Indigenous women and two spirit people, enslavement of Black people, and mass migrant exclusion since the Chinese Exclusion Act and Komagata Maru.

During the pandemic and with the racist and misogynist so-called “Freedom Convoy” in Ottawa, there has been escalating racism against Indigenous, Black, Asian, Muslim, migrant/refugee and other racialized communities, especially racialized women and gender-diverse people. For example, more than two-thirds of recent reported victims of anti-Asian racism are women.

Why We Center Anti-Racist Practice in our Anti-Violence Work

The founding women at BWSS recognized that gender-based violence does not only take place between two individuals in isolation, but, rather, in a social context and a world view that systemically reinforces the power of some people to oppress others, including through race, ability, citizenship, sexuality, and more.

Multiple forms of oppression are simultaneous and cannot be separated from another; ending gender-based violence requires dismantling racism and all structural oppression.

This is why we work from an intersectional, anti-racist, decolonial and feminist perspective to eliminate gender-based violence and promote gender equity.

Responding to gender-based violence through working to end racism is challenging, but necessary.

At BWSS, we are committed to addressing systemic racism that racialized survivors of gender-based violence experience and to increase access and safety for Indigenous, Black, newcomer immigrant/refugee, and racialized survivors of gender-based violence. White supremacy shapes our understanding of gender-based violence, produces the narrative of the perfect victim, and reinforces exclusions in the delivery of anti-violence programs and services.

The Native Women’s Association of Canada points out how “mainstream gender-based analysis fails to meaningfully address the social, political, and cultural realities of Indigenous women.”

This means that survivors of gender-based violence who are also racialized are often shut out of the institutional supports and services that are necessary for them to attain justice and healing.

According to our recent “Colour of Violence: Race, Gender & Anti-Violence Services” report, an alarming 78 percent of racialized survivors whom we surveyed said they felt never comfortable, almost never comfortable, or only sometimes comfortable contacting anti-violence services after experiencing gender-based violence. Racialized survivors reported that the police were the least helpful anti-violence response system, while most survey respondents said they relied on and found their informal network of friends and family to be the most helpful.

Indigenous, Black, newcomer immigrant/refugee, and racialized survivors face numerous barriers to accessing justice when they experience gender-based violence, such as lack of access to culturally safe services; mistrust of the legal system and other state systems; and being minimized or disbelieved. Indigenous, Black, and newcomer immigrant/refugee survivors face heightened barriers to justice as survivors of gender-based violence, including often being criminalized for reporting violence, having their children apprehended, or facing deportation.

We, at BWSS, have consistently noted “[O]veremphasizing a criminal justice response and largely ignoring social structures that contribute to violence against women in relationships can strengthen the social/structural underpinnings of oppression.

The model of intimate partner violence service provision, which has largely been developed from a white, able-bodied, heterosexual, middle-class woman’s perspective, is encouraged to become more inclusive by adding multicultural components. But simply adding inclusive components does not necessarily shift the perspective that anti-violence service provision was developed from.”

In our work at BWSS, we know that safety changes everything. We are motivated by the urgency of dismantling racism and the absolute necessity of placing Indigenous, Black, newcomer immigrant/refugee, and racialized survivors at the center of our anti-violence work.

Resource Spotlight for the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

Earlier this month, BWSS launched our Gender Equity Learning and Knowledge Exchange providing a centralized hub for over 300 resources related to Gender-Based Violence from organizations across British Columbia, as well as key national and international resources.

Today, to commemorate the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, we are spotlighting twelve resources from our Gender Equity Learning and Knowledge Exchange.