Page 16 - Professional Advisory on Anti-Black Racism

Institutional racism: institutional racism exists in organizations or institutions where the established rules, policies, and regulations are both informed by, and inform, the norms, values, and principles of institutions. These in turn, system- atically produce differential treatment of, or discriminatory practices towards, various groups based on race.
Race: there is no such thing as race – instead, it is a “social construct.” This means that society forms ideas of race based on geographic, historical, political, economic, social and cultural factors, as well as physical traits, even though none of these can legitimately be used to classify groups of people.
Racialization: the process by which societies construct races as real, different and unequal in ways that matter and affect economic, political and social life.
Racism: a belief that one group is superior or inferior to others based on race. Racism can be openly displayed in racial jokes, slurs or hate crimes. It can also be more deeply rooted in attitudes, values and stereotypical beliefs. In some cases, people don’t even realize they have these beliefs. Instead, they are assumptions that have evolved over time and have become part of systems and institutions.
Stereotype: incorrect assumption based on things like race, colour, ethnic origin,
place of origin, religion, etc. Stereotyping typically involves attributing the same characteristics to all members of a group regardless of their individual differences. It is often based on misconceptions, incomplete information and/or false generalizations.
Systemic barrier: a barrier embedded in the social or administrative structures of an organization, including the physical access- ibility of an organization, organizational policies, practices and decision-making processes, or the culture of an organiz- ation. These may appear neutral on the surface, but exclude members of groups protected by the Human Rights Code.
Systemic discrimination: patterns of behaviour, policies or practices that
are part of the social or administrative structures of an organization, and which create or perpetuate a position of relative disadvantage for groups identified under the Human Rights Code.
Whiteness: a dominant cultural space with enormous political significance, with the purpose to keep others on the margin.
White supremacy: the belief that white people constitute a superior race and should therefore dominate society, typically to the exclusion or detriment of other racial and ethnic groups, in particular Black or Jewish people.24
24 Google’s Oxford Languages dictionary
14 PROFESSIONAL ADVISORY ON ANTI-BLACK RACISM