The 5th meeting of the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent will take place April 14-17 at a still to be decided location. This post is the 613-819 Black Hub’s response to the Forum’s call for inputs.
613-819 Black Hub’s input
In May 2023, Canada announced its bid for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council. The 613-819 Black Hub’s input to the 5th Permanent Forum on People of African Descent presents evidence of action, or inaction, suggesting that Canada should not be granted a Human Rights Council seat until it works with Canadian provinces to make substantive progress on these issues.
Government of Canada
Government back tracks on initiatives targeting Black Canadians – The Government of Canada’s Budget 2025 doesn’t mention Black Canadians.
Government ignores human rights– The Government of Canada’s May 2025 Speech from the Throne, which outlines government priorities and was read by King Charles, doesn’t mention human rights or diversity, equity and inclusion or Canada’s Black Justice Strategy which contains comprehensive recommendations, addressing justice, child welfare, immigration and education and aims to transform Canada’s criminal justice system “from one that punishes the poorest and most marginalized members of our society, and that carries a history of racism and oppression, to one that is fair and equitable and free from discrimination; in other words, a justice system that is truly just.”
Cutting immigration, and the foreign aid– the government’s cuts to immigration, and the foreign aid that helps reduce it, will disproportionately impact Black people in Canada, especially migrant workers.
Housing: focusing on increasing supply not preserving existing affordable housing – Black Canadians are disproportionately impacted by the lack of affordable housing. Budget 2025 says the government will save $2.4 billion over four years by halving spending on housing programs over the next four years and prioritizing programming focussed on housing supply via the new Build Canada Homes program. This ignores the far larger issue of the loss of existing affordable housing.
Reducing the federal public service but not its anti-Black racism – While Budget 2025 announced a reduction of about 40,000 federal public service (FPS) positions by the end of 2028-2029, it said nothing about addressing the systemic anti-Black racism in the FPS highlighted in several recent reports on the Canadian Human Rights Commission, the Privy Council, Global Affairs Canada and Black FPS executives.
Government of Ontario
Ontario Public Service – Unlike the current federal government, the Government of Ontario is directly addressing issues faced by Black Ontarians – including inside the Ontario Public Service. The Ontario government created the Black Equity Branch in 2022 to lead research, training, and development of policies and programs focused on the elimination of anti-Black racism in the Ontario Public Service. The success of the Branch will require rigorous evaluation.
Education – As of June 2025, the Ontario government had taken over five Ontario school boards, including the biggest in Toronto and Ottawa, the Toronto District School Board and the Ottawa Carleton District School Board, and replaced all the democratically elected trustees with appointed supervisors – none of whom are Black or have said anything about how they will address systemic anti-Black racism.
Human rights – The Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario receives claims of discrimination and harassment under the Ontario Human Rights Code, including claims of anti-Black racism. The Tribunal offers a way for people to seek legal justice without the expense of hiring a lawyer. However, the Tribunal is so backlogged that it can take years to get a hearing. Like at the federal level, the Government of Ontario must be pressured to properly resource the Tribunal to allow for timely resolution of complaints.
Child welfare – Black children remain over represented in Ontario’s child welfare system.
City of Ottawa
Ottawa Police Service – The Ottawa Police Service (OPS) continues to receive multi-million-dollar annual budget increases despite their own data showing they continue to disproportionately use force on, and traffic stop, Black Ottawa residents.
City budget doesn’t mention Black people – None of the City of Ottawa 2026 budget documents we reviewed mentioned Black people.
City of Toronto
Confronting Anti-Black Racism Advisory Committee – At its February 7 and 8, 2023 meeting, Toronto city council re-established the Confronting Anti-Black Racism Advisory Committee. Like all advisory committees, this one must continue to be scrutinized to ensure it’s helping lead – not block – fundamental change.
Toronto Police Service (TPS) – The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) released its report From Impact to Action: Final report into anti-Black racism by the Toronto Police Service in December 2023. The report found that Black people were subjected to systemic racial discrimination, racial profiling, and anti-Black racism.
Quebec
Government of Quebec’s continued refusal to acknowledge the existence of systemic racism – On September 2, 2025, the media reported that the Quebec government has refused federal funding to combat systemic racism in the justice system, saying it does not agree with the program’s approach.”
Cross jurisdictional issues
Judicial racial bias – Discussions on the over representation of Black people in Canada’s criminal justice system, including prisons, rarely mention judges. Yet, there are several systemic issues which contribute to judicial racial bias. The first is the deeply held belief in the legal profession in the impartiality of judges, even regarding cases involving race, despite most judges being white. Second, is judges’ resistance to accept effective anti-racism training as they see such training as indoctrination by outside forces. Third, there’s no race-based data on judges’ rulings. Finally, unlike lawyers, judges aren’t bound by their professional rules of conduct to actively perform conflict checks to avoid presiding over trials where conflicts may exist with the parties involved.
Anti DEI backlash – Much of the current backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion is against performative, ineffective DEI. Peter Sloly, the only Black police chief in Canada’s capital Ottawa, faced massive resistance to DEI reforms he implemented in the Ottawa Police Service.
War on Hate diverts resources from addressing systemic anti-Black racism – In 2016, the United Way of Eastern Ontario launched the United for All initiative billed as “a coalition of organizations, community leaders, and people with lived experience committed to overcoming hate in East Ontario.” In September 2024, the Government of Canada launched Canada’s Action Plan on Combatting Hate. Data continues to show that these initiatives are having no impact on addressing anti-Black hate – especially state-sponsored hate like police disproportionate use of force against Black people. What the initiatives are doing is helping justify further increases to police budgets for hate crime units.