Racism in Rural Canada

The launch of season 3

Nov 01, 2023

Clearing a New Path podcast and newsletter are aimed at building a more united, feminist, anti-oppressive rural (so-called) Canada.

As you today, there are still 28 drinking water advisories in First Nation communities in so-called Canada.

Thank you to Sharon and Nancy who became new yearly paid subscribers!

In this newsletter:

Racism and Allyship
New podcast episode: Racism: Rural vs Urban - A Gen Z Perspective
A note about journalism in rural and remote Canada
Rural news roundup

Racism and Allyship

The first time I did a public land acknowledgement, it was in a virtual (Zoom) gathering of Indigenous women, working towards employment and entrepreneurship. I had been invited to speak about my experience as a journalist; what it was like, how I liked it, if it was a career they might want to pursue.

The room was ALL Indigenous women. I had written down my land acknowledgement and began to read it. My voice shook, I fumbled over the pronunciation of the words and looking back, I some of it may not have even been respectful. I felt like I made a fool out of myself, and that was the BEGINNING of my talk.

I was really honest about the discrimination I felt as a woman, in a male dominated industry. How very white of me. I didn’t claim the privilege I had in that space at all, it never even crossed my mind.

At the end, a woman said she was interested in what I’d said about being in a male dominated industry as she worked in an industrial trade, one of the only women usually on a site. She didn’t know what to do about it.

When I was a radio journalist, I didn’t say anything about the sexual harassment, worried my already precarious position would be taken away if I caused trouble. Today, because of the privilege I have, I would speak up and so that’s the advice I gave. I also said to connect with other women in trades, for support and collective influence. But I failed to recognized that she was not only a woman, but an Indigenous woman and the intersectionality of extra layers of discrimination, patriarchy and racism.

I was vulnerable, awkward and I messed up. But I learned.

When I started the Clearing a New Path podcast, the first season was dedicated to amplifying woman-identifying, non-binary and queer entrepreneurs across rural Canada.

One successful Black woman entrepreneur told me about the racism she endured at the hands of her local Chamber of Commerce in Alberta. To me and my female social group, it was ‘understood’ that Chambers of Commerce were ‘old boys clubs’ and that women’s voices were only in the last few years, being recognized. This woman simply asked to be represented on the organization’s website. She fought for 2.5 years by the time we started the report “How Inclusive are Chambers of Commerce? A Report Card”. It had never occurred to me that representation mattered, even if the representation wasn’t there yet, people need to see themselves before they can be themselves.

I’ve learned what tokenism is and I’ve learned about compensation, reciprocity and reconciliation. I’ve learned that we must prioritize representation in events, panels, social media graphics, websites and in whose view we see the news from. News in Canada has been reported through a primarily white privileged lens. Even if the reporters are not white, the assignment editors and editorial decision makers are primarily white. How many stories are we missing? Whose voices are we not hearing?

I’m the first to admit, in most spaces, I take up a lot of space. I would do a lot of talking, in some cases because I felt invisible and ignored within my own family dynamics, but also because it is my white privilege to take up space.

I have switched to shutting off my mic to talk less and listen more. But I’m still learning when I need to use my voice and when I should just sit down and be quiet.

All this to say, I’m not a perfect ‘ally’. I’ve actually learned this summer that you can’t or shouldn’t call yourself an ally, it’s the group you are serving that may or may not consider you an ally because of your commitment to action, not because you call yourself one and share a couple of Instagram posts on your stories.

I’m actually not a perfect anything. Perfection is a capitalist and colonial myth.

Podcast episode

When I began to work with the amazing students from the Venture for Canada Intrapreneurship Program this past time, to help me rethink the podcast, Yvonne Wang and Uttej Mannava, both Western University students, took on the challenge of planning a podcast episode about racism from a rural vs urban perspective. Yvonne’s studies are currently around health and Uttej is studying data science.

They hosted Kirsten Schmidt from the rural perspective. Kirsten is a research assistant with the Rural Development Network and a student at the University of Alberta. She grew up in rural Alberta.

From the urban perspective, Cedric Richards, a local travel influencer from London, Ontario added his lens to the conversation.(You can follow his awesome Substack newsletter/blog here!)

I listened ‘backstage’ and it was really evident to me, because Yvonne, Uttej and Cedric are all people of colour, there was so much more context, richness and fullness to the conversation.

I am so grateful to all of them for taking this on. Their voices should be the ones centred, not mine.

A note about journalism in rural and remote Canada

During the four month hiatus of the podcast and newsletter, I did a lot of deep thinking about the news, particularly in rural Canada where we have a number of things working against us.

The continuous shuttering of newspapers and radio stations that serve rural and remote communities.
The lack of coverage of rural and remote issues in Canada.
Since the announcement of Bill C-18, Meta (Facebook and Instagram) has blocked links to Canadian news organizations - the podcast is one of them.
Rampant and unchecked mis/disinformation circulating on social media platforms when news organization links are absent.

Thanks to Jen Christie-Shaw for asking me my thoughts and the conversation on Canadian rural journalism for her newsletter. You can read it here.

These are the things I’m considering:

If we charge for news, who can and who cannot access that news? If we don’t charge, how is it sustainable? I tend to lean towards radio because in the past, it has been free and anyone should be able to listen to and receive important and factual information. But radio has relied heavily on local advertising which is drying up. Podcasts are amazing but not everyone has reliable, affordable and accessible internet service in rural and remote Canada.
The lack of funding for journalism organizations compared to other countries like the United States and how we change that.
The lenses and voices from which news is reported from and whose voices those stories amplify.
Can we change the way we ‘do’ journalism in Canada? Can we train journalists in a new way? Can we train ourselves and other Canadians how to receive and consume journalism in a new way?

Clearing a New Path

Racism in Rural Canada

The launch of season 3

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