British Columbia law claims to fight systemic racism by excluding certain ethnicities

British Columbia MLA and Attorney General Niki Sharma is pushing to create a taxpayer-funded discriminatory committee in the name of equality and equity.

Bill 23, introduced by Sharma, purportedly aims to take on systemic racism, by building on the 2022 Anti-Racism Data Act. This would involve creating a provincial committee on “anti-racism” that would be made up exclusively of “racialized” members.

The term "racialized" is not defined in the proposed bill, though it likely is meant to prohibit white people from participating in the committee.

The legislation "will take action on systemic racism uncovered through race-based data collection and lived experiences of Indigenous and racialized communities," the government of BC wrote in a release.

“A new anti-racism committee will draw up a whole-of-government action plan to address systemic racism and, for the first time, public institutions will be required to critically evaluate day-to-day operations and remove policies and practices that harm Indigenous and racialized people,” it states.

The law would mandate that public bodies create and implement a curriculum focusing on Indigenous history, establish goals for the hiring and retention of Indigenous and "racialized people," and evaluate their policies and initiatives.

If Bill 23 becomes law, it will mandate the establishment of a committee comprising a minimum of two representatives from organizations advocating for “racialized individuals or communities,” two people with “expertise in systems thinking theory and practice,” and two individuals with a background in developing and delivering anti-racism training.

The objective of this committee, as outlined in the proposed legislation, is to collaborate with the provincial government in devising an anti-racism action plan. This plan aims to address both “systemic racism and systemic racism specific to indigenous people.”

The BC government also distinguishes between equality and equity in its list of "anti-racism" definitions. Equity, as explained by the government, "recognizes that we are not starting at the same place and seeks to address these imbalances."

A BC Conservative spokesperson criticized the act as divisive, suggesting its intentions are concealed by phony well-meaning terminology.

“It is regressive for our society to hire people solely based on their skin colour,” the spokesperson said in a statement to True North. “This sets a precedent that takes us back to a darker time in our history, instead of living up to the ideal of Martin Luther King Jr. and other figures who aspired toward a society where we judge each other on the merits of our character, rather than our skin colour.”

Rebel News inquired with Sharma's office regarding the bill but has yet to receive a response, despite assurances from Sharma's office that they were preparing a statement.

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