I was reading through today’s Globe and Mail paper, and saw this post left by a reader.
Allan C. Hutchinson’s letter (Obama And Canada - Jan. 7) complaining about the absence of ”visible minorities” among Canada’s political elites is misguided for several reasons.First, the use of the term ”visible minority” has been condemned by the United Nations and it is time Canadians stopped using it.
Apparently the UN warned Canada last year that the term “visible minority” is a racist term. The UN believes that the term is used to discriminate against people. According to the quote above, it seems the writer thinks that distinguishing white people from racial minorities is racist. Furthermore, it doesn’t seem like he has a problem with the lack of visible minorities in Canada’s “political elites.”
I’m not entirely sure why the UN thinks visible minority is a racist term. But I’m tempted to think that the UN, like the vast majority of Canadians, view all races as being equal now, thus any racial labeling is inherently a form of discrimination — by the very act of labeling. How then can we help those that need help if we don’t even have a vocabulary to describe them?
