{"id":128313,"date":"2022-09-01T16:11:20","date_gmt":"2022-09-01T23:11:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=128313"},"modified":"2022-09-01T16:11:20","modified_gmt":"2022-09-01T23:11:20","slug":"systemic-racism-in-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2022\/09\/01\/systemic-racism-in-canada\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Systemic racism’ in Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"

Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J G1 Canada<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

1 September 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editor (Letters)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE OTTAWA CITIZEN<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is in response to Les Bovell on “Many fear wrongly being called racist”,<\/strong>who is Black and immigrated here in 1969, believes that he was treated\u00a0well in Canada\u00a0as a “black”\u00a0immigrant.\u00a0 \u00a0“Lucky You.\u00a0 Congratulations”<\/strong>, I say to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am a coloured Asian who immigrated\u00a0on an invitation\u00a0by the National Museums Corporation in October\u00a01970, doesn’t\u00a0 feel I was that\u00a0lucky as he was, and he should be considered to be one of the\u00a0very few lucky visible\u00a0minorities who entered\u00a0Canada then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My story needs to\u00a0be told and heard to understand the deck of “Racism” <\/strong>in Canada.\u00a0 The story happened in the\u00a01970s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Victoria Memorial Museum <\/strong>in\u00a0Ottawa had been gutted in 1969 with\u00a0the promise\u00a0to the public that it will be reopened\u00a0in one year with 15\u00a0 new exhibition Halls.\u00a0 And National Museums Corporation\u00a0had formed a new Design and Display Division, at 39 McArthur Road,\u00a0 to accomplish that task.\u00a0 This new Division, had appointed\u00a0 a Chief<\/strong>\u00a0Tom Wood, (War Artist, and Manager of the Canada Pavilion at Osaka); Head of Design<\/strong>\u00a0Jacques Saint\u00a0Cyr (designer of the 11-point maple\u00a0leaf of the National\u00a0flag);\u00a0 Manager<\/strong> of Administration<\/strong>\u00a0Charlie Jessop\u00a0 (Rtd. Major of the Army); and Head of Thematic Research\u00a0(<\/strong>was still not filled as\u00a0they\u00a0were searching for a competent\u00a0Liberal Scientist to fill that position).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With their head-hunting, they found\u00a0me, a Liberal scientist in London, England,\u00a0 recommended\u00a0by\u00a0the\u00a0Head of the Department\u00a0of’ Geology, Dr,.Ward Neale, at Memorial\u00a0University in Newfoundland, who having witnessed\u00a0the success I had in filling the 12 wall exhibit showcases with rotating geology exhibits\u00a0that had been empty for almost 20 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0The success showed by the students gathering around\u00a0them at lunch hours, to study the lessons in three dimensions. As a Liberal scientist, I suppose\u00a0the National Museums Corporation\u00a0felt that I\u00a0qualified to take on the job being a research\u00a0scientist (Geologist-Palaeontologist-Stratigrapher), an award winning\u00a0published poet in London, UK,; ‘award winning sculptor in Swansea, Wales;\u00a0award\u00a0winning competition\u00a0ballroom dancer;\u00a0\u00a0pianist\u00a0and so forth).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I arrived in Ottawa on October 16, 1970, and started work on 1\u00a0November\u00a01970,\u00a0 \u00a0By then all the staff\u00a0at Design and Display\u00a0were on contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the last week in March 1971, Tom Wood,  Jacques Saint Cyr, Charlie Jessop and I received letters from the Public<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Service Commision\u00a0 (PSC) to come\u00a0over to sign the letters of permanency\u00a0 to begin\u00a0 as permanent\u00a0employees\u00a0in the Federal Government as of 1st April.\u00a0 \u00a0All of us were ecstatic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Monday morning I got a call from\u00a0the\u00a0 PSC, and the voice on the\u00a0phone said, “Mr. Weerasinghe, please ignore the letter<\/em><\/strong> that we sent you about the permanency. It was sent to you by error.<\/em><\/strong>” “Why is there a problem?”<\/em><\/strong> I asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Yes, we have decided to open the competition for your job across Canada,”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Are the other three coming over to sign the permanency papers?”  “Yes”<\/em><\/strong> was the answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Let’s cut out this ‘Bull’.\u00a0 You all couldn’t find\u00a0anyone qualified for the job.\u00a0 You found\u00a0me in London, England,<\/em><\/strong> \u00a0and invited me to come over.\u00a0 And here I am.\u00a0 Are you trying to tell\u00a0me that there is an aparthied policy in hiring\u00a0<\/em><\/strong> candidates for management jobs in\u00a0Canada?”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

” Is it a case of “If you are\u00a0white, you’re alright…If you are\u00a0black, stay back…..and if\u00a0you are brown,’stick’around.’\u00a0 I am Asian and I happen to be brown, and I have no intention\u00a0to stick around.\u00a0 If I knew that<\/em><\/strong> there was an aparthied policy in hiring, I would have not stepped on to\u00a0this land of\u00a0 your Canada.\u00a0 Let me know\u00a0by noon<\/em><\/strong> on Wednesday if you want my services or not.\u00a0 If you don’t I will be on the\u00a0first plane\u00a0out of\u00a0Canada on my way back to where<\/em><\/strong> I came from London, England.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Directors, Chiefs and  the <\/em><\/strong> Deputy Minister <\/strong>were upset with the turn of events.  The place was on fire.  Later that day,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0Dr. Luis Lemeiux <\/strong>(Director of the National Museum\u00a0of Natural Sciences);\u00a0Dr. Bill Taylor<\/strong> (Director\u00a0of the Museum of Man), Tom Wood,\u00a0Jacques\u00a0Saint Cyr<\/strong> and Charlie Jessop <\/strong>came to my Office\u00a0 with red-faces of embarrassment to apologize.\u00a0 And Mr. MacKenzie,\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Deputy Minister for Museums came to my Office\u00a0and apologized\u00a0and asked\u00a0me\u00a0 not to leave, and that\u00a0there\u00a0will be a call from the\u00a0PSC for me to get over to sign the papers\u00a0 of permanency,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Towards the end of the day, I got a call from a staff member\u00a0from PSC, telling me, “Mr. Weerasinghe’<\/em><\/strong> we are sorry about the confusion”<\/strong>, “Let’s stop this baloney…there was no confusion…You knew exactly<\/em><\/strong> what happened.,\u00a0 You all did not want to\u00a0see a brown\u00a0face sitting at the\u00a0desk\u00a0occupying the position<\/em><\/strong> of the Head of Thematic Research Section, at the\u00a0Design and Display Division\u00a0of the\u00a0National Museums of Canada,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I will be with you tomorrow morning”<\/em><\/strong>.  And that was my introduction to Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I understood why the National Museums insisted that the Head of Thematic Research should be a Liberal Scientist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day, Dr. Bill Taylor, the Director\u00a0of the Museum of\u00a0Man called me into his office.\u00a0 He told me “Asoka, we are in trouble with the Orientation\u00a0Hall as the two curators\u00a0 who were\u00a0supposed to be\u00a0coming up with a storyline have had difficulty agreeing with its content.\u00a0 Asoka, you are\u00a0an anthropologist and a poet, why don’t\u00a0you hide yourself for two days and come up with a long poem on the subject,\u00a0 So I did.\u00a0 My Trail of Mankind<\/em><\/strong> was adapted as the\u00a0storyline for the Orientation\u00a0Hall\u00a0without any changes.\u00a0 The poem was sold\u00a0 at the gift store with colour photos\u00a0of the\u00a0murals for\u00a0 one dollar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It acknowledged me as the poet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first\u00a0two floors of the Victoria Memorial Museum were opened by Prime Minister PierreTrudeau on October\u00a04, 1974, and I was given the\u00a0honour\u00a0to take\u00a0him and his wife around explaining the contents\u00a0of the exhibition Halls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bottom\u00a0line was, I am a proud, hardworking and an honest\u00a0 Sri Lankan-Sinhalese, and absolutely no one was going to destroy\u00a0my dignity because I am covered\u00a0all\u00a0over with a natural brown skin.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were\u00a0two\u00a0other\u00a0incidents of racism.\u00a0 One at the Museums\u00a0in 1975, and the other at the \u00a0Medical\u00a0Services Branch of Health and\u00a0Welfare\u00a0Canada\u00a0in 1979,\u00a0 It is upsetting for me to regurgitate those “racist”\u00a0 incidents\u00a0, so I will stop there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And all this is my Canada.  Not as lucky  as Les Bovell of Ottawa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asoka Weerasinghe<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J G1 Canada 1 September 2022 Editor (Letters) THE OTTAWA CITIZEN This is in response to Les Bovell on “Many fear wrongly being called racist”,who is Black and immigrated here in 1969, believes that he was treated\u00a0well in Canada\u00a0as a “black”\u00a0immigrant.\u00a0 \u00a0“Lucky You.\u00a0 Congratulations”, I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-128313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asoka-weerasinghe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128313\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}