Canada urged to open its eyes to systemic racism in wake of police violence

Amid the anger over brutality and injustice, a number of prominent Canadians have cast doubt on the idea that racism is entrenched

After a string of violent incidents involving police officers, activists and ordinary people across Canada have joined the global chorus calling for a reckoning with racism, policing, inequality and the long reach of history.

In recent weeks, a Black woman fell to her death after police were called to her flat in Toronto; an Indigenous woman suffering a mental health crisis was shot dead by an officer in New Brunswick and footage emerged showing Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers in Alberta forcing a First Nations chief to the ground and punching him in the head. On Friday evening, an Indigenous man was shot dead by the RCMP in New Brunswick.