Less than a year after being accused of a crime based on the colour of his skin, Shelby McPhee returned to the University of British Columbia. McPhee travelled back to UBC in January to give a presentation, “Black Activism in Education and Community: Exposing Anti-Black Racism in Vancouver,” calling on Black students to show solidarity with each other in the face of racism.
“Bringing someone in to talk about anti-racism is not going to stop institutions from being racist, but it’s a step in the right direction,” said McPhee.
McPhee said he had some initial reservations, but decided to speak because he saw a willingness from the university to try and make changes.
“The risk that Shelby took, the courage it took for him to speak out and the risk that it took him to bring this issue into national attention, it’s a very generous thing that he did,” said Aftab Erfan, the director of dialogue and conflict engagement with UBC’s Equity and Inclusion office.
“That incident is always associated with his name. In that case, the people who profiled him they’re not even named, they’re not known. He took a risk in bringing it forward,” she added.
A Nationwide Problem
At campuses across Canada, universities are also reckoning with how to deal with incidents of racial profiling at their schools.
“Racial profiling on campuses doesn’t come as a surprise to Canadians, it doesn’t come as a surprise to international students or students of colour,” said McPhee.
“The incidents aren’t new, the technology to capture these incidents is new,” he added. Mobile phones capturing instances of racial profiling have highlighted more incidents and pushed the conversation forwards, says McPhee.
An incident involving Jamal Boyce, a black student at the University of Ottawa, garnered controversy after Boyce posted a video on Twitter of him being stopped by campus security last year in June, and handcuffed when he couldn’t provide identification.
Two black Carleton students, Oritseserundede Eda and Fritz Kwabena Okrah came forward about their experiences with an instance of profiling while trying to enter Canal Building around 3 p.m. on Feb. 17. However, Carleton administration denied this was an instance of racial profiling.
Robert Wright, a former sociology professor at Dalhousie University, faced profiling late one night 10 years ago while meeting with a student in the lounge area outside his office. While Wright was sitting with the student, security approached him and said “this building requires a key,” said Wright.
“I responded, ‘Yes it does,’ and continued talking to the student.”
“The assumption was, I had somehow managed to get into that space illegally. Because I … did not look like a person who should have a key to a major building on a major campus in a major department,” he added.
Dalhousie did not respond to requests for comment.
In September, the Ontario Human Rights Commission introduced a new plan, Eliminating Racial Profiling in Law Enforcement. The plan brought forward a number of recommendations for law enforcement departments, including the need to collect race based data and making anti-racism and respect for human rights a “core competency” when hiring senior police officers and chiefs.
Changes to be made
Carleton developed an action plan to tackle racial profiling as part of their Engagement and Inclusion Officer program, in anticipation of recommendations on this subject from the Ontario Human Rights Commission, according to public relations coordinator Beth Gorham.
Measures such as training for “inclusive service delivery” and hiring more diverse security officers “expand upon measures we have had in place for some time,” she said.
The school is considering other measures like data collection and body cameras, she added, which were recommended in the commission’s plan.
After implementing new complaint mechanisms and a committee chaired by the University of Ottawa’s president, an independent investigation released in October made additional recommendations which included improved training for security officers and the university’s Protection Services’ policies and procedures.
“It was my belief before the incident–and it is still my belief now–that overall, uOttawa remains a safe, accepting and inclusive community. A university is a learning institution. Learning is our mission, and our raison d’être,” said Jacques Frémont, University of Ottawa president, in a statement when the report was released.
“We are–we must be–dedicated to learning from what happened and how we can do better.”
But this only came after Williston Mason, a residence community advisor, was profiled in a separate incident on Sept. 14 on the university’s campus.
“It shouldn’t take an external investigator to come and do a whole report in order for the university to believe students,” said Mason in a previous article in the Charlatan.
A UBC spokesperson said it was UBC-based RCMP officers, and not campus security officers, that were involved in the incident with McPhee. The school has held speaking events like the one McPhee was invited to and started a Black caucus on campus for students and faculty.
“A lot of black folks on our campuses experience anti-black racism in more subtle ways,” said Efran.
Having students and faculty come forward through events like McPhee’s speaking appearance, and with groups like the newly formed Black Caucus and Black Student Union has started a discourse on campus, which includes exploring diversity within the black community and common experiences shared with the Indigenous community on campus.
While the school has opened these discussions to students outside of the black community Erfan said the school is currently not looking at making anti-bias training mandatory for all students.
“Sometimes when there’s mandatory training on equity and inclusion issues, it actually kind of backfires,” she said. “When we look at the research, sometimes there’s actually a negative reaction, when people are made to sit down and pay attention to these issues.”
Another thing that will help combat systemic racism on campuses is having a more diverse staff, said McPhee, as “students do need those outlets.” But it’s not a complete solution.
“Appointing, hiring, bringing on an equity advisor, an inclusion advisor, anti-racism officer is not going to destroy your prejudice that the institution has adopted,” said McPhee.
New diverse hires need to be supported by the institution for any meaningful change to occur, said Wright.
“It has to be training that helps racialized employees who are hired as part of our solution to address the systemic racism and institutions,” he said. “They need specific training and support because they are going to be catching it on the chin on a daily basis.”
“If we say to a construction worker, ‘All construction workers are created equal. But today your job is to go up on that ladder and fix the chimney,’ then we give him a special tool for that–he has a harness and a safety rope in order to do that, right?”
Despite these changes coming in slow increments, McPhee said he is slightly optimistic for the future.
“The university has taken little steps, the conversation is ongoing, but it’s not going to happen overnight,” said McPhee. “We’re walking along the right road.”
A previous version of this article stated Oritseserundede Eda and Fritz Kwabena Okrah were trying to enter Canal Building late at night in March. In fact, Oritseserundede Eda and Fritz Kwabena Okrah were trying to enter Canal Building at around 3 p.m. on Feb. 17. The Charlatan regrets the errors. The article was last updated on Aug. 15, 2021.
Feature image provided.
