The Realities of Racism: Exploring Attitudes in Manitoba, Canada

ABSTRACTBetween December 2020 and January 2021, we conducted an online mixed-methods survey to explore racism in the province of Manitoba, Canada. The survey was completed by exactly 500 residents of the province and was largely representative of the demographics of the province. The survey measured views on racism, multiculturalism, religious diversity, assimilation and linguistic diversity, and also explored lived experiences with racism. In this article, we report respondents’ views on multiculturalism, religious diversity, assimilation and racism. The strong majority of Manitobans recognized that racism is a problem in their area of the province, and yet views towards assimilation and support for religious diversity remain mixed. These findings show contradictions between overall support for broad themes like diversity or multiculturalism yet high levels of continuing discrimination and racism in the province. Our findings emphasize the impacts of whiteness, with the intersectional complexities further emphasized by the qualitative stories shared by participants, giving accounts of racism at work, in stores, healthcare, justice and in different demographic groups. Specifically, incidents of racism against Indigenous Peoples were the most commonly experienced and witnessed.KEYWORDS: Mixed methodssurveyracismManitobaCanada Disclosure StatementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by Canadian Heritage.Notes on contributorsMichelle LamMichelle Lam is the Director of BU CARES, a research centre of Brandon University.Denise HumphreysDenise Humphreys is Research Assistants at BU CARES, a research centre of Brandon University.Genevieve Maltais-LaponteGenevieve Maltais-Laponte is a Research Analyst at Brandon University.Akech MayuomAkech Mayuom is Research Assistants at BU CARES, a research centre of Brandon University.Stephanie SpenceStephanie Spence is Research Assistants at BU CARES, a research centre of Brandon University.