Discrimination and Denial: Systemic Racism in Ontario's Legal and Criminal Justice System, 1892-1961

Many people believe that race relations in Canada are characterized by tolerance and compassion, and their complacent attitude has largely gone unchallenged, owing to an absence of racially based, systematic, and empirical data. In this study, Clayton Mosher combines extensive qualitative and quantitative data in new ways, and examines the antecedents of systemic racism in Canada's legal and criminal justice systems. He focuses on the experiences of Asians and Blucks in the province of Ontario for the 1892-1961 period and presents evidence of racism in Canada's immigration policies, as well as in its society through poor access to housing and property, employment, and services. His analysis demonstrates that Canadian law has been used to control and disadvantage Asians and Blacks through both direct action and interpretation, and through silence and complicity. Mosher finds the explanation of criminal justice outcomes for minority groups in the interrelationships between the criminal justice system and other social institutions. He follows how differential police attention accorded minorities resulted in their experiencing higher rates of arrest, particularly for drug and public-order crimes, and how minorities' treatment in the criminal courts was negatively affected by the views held by court officials. Discrimination was rationalized in the popular media through stereotypical images of Asians and Blacks that defined them as threats to White victims.