Perceived racial and cultural discrimination and sense of belonging in Canadian society

Abstract

Multiculturalism promises equality and tolerance, yet racialized minorities in Canada continue to report experiences of discrimination. As Canada becomes increasingly culturally and racially diverse, it is important to understand what this discrimination means for sense of belonging in Canada. Using ordinary logistic regressions, we examine the effects of ethnocultural and racial discrimination on sense of belonging. Relying on a theoretical framework of the Rejection/Identification and Rejection/Disidentification models, we test the impacts of discrimination on national sense of belonging and on in-group sense of belonging. We further examine the differential effects of discrimination on sense of belonging for white and non-white Canadians. We find that discrimination negatively impacts both national and ingroup sense of belonging among both non-white and white Canadians, although the impact is stronger among racialized minorities. Thus, we argue that discrimination reduces sense of belonging in Canada generally, but is more damaging to those who already occupy a marginalized social position. These findings have implications for our understanding of multiculturalism in Canada.

Racial discrimination in post-Apartheid South Africa? The stories of Coloured people in Johannesburg, South Africa

“…The everyday experiences of racial discrimination of the interviewees in Westbury contrasts with the extensive international literature on experiences of racial discrimination. Much of the literature on racial exclusion and discrimination suggest that Black, Brown and other non-White populations in White-dominant societies are the victims of White oppression and marginalization (e.g., Della, 2020; Dovchin, 2020; Gatwiri and Anderson, 2021; Hart, 2019; Wu and Finnsdottir, 2021). Contrary to such studies’ findings, many of the participants of this study commented that they suffered racial discrimination under the Black African- majority government.…”

“…There is extensive literature on the interface between racial identity and discrimination. Much of the literature on racial discrimination is focused on experiences of non-White Black 9 and Brown 10 people living in White majority social systems such as North America, Europe, New Zealand Europe, and Australia (See, Coard, 2021; Dovchin, 2020; Gatwiri, 2021; Gatwiri and Anderson, 2021; Lowe and Wallace, 2017; Rabby, 2022; Wu and Finnsdottir, 2021). When the term ‘racial discrimination’ is usually invoked, White people are generally viewed as engaging in discriminatory practices against non-White racial groups.…”

“…Scholars have therefore documented how non-White racial minorities and migrants encountered every day race-based discrimination in various European countries such as Germany (see, Scherr, 2020; Steinmann, 2019), Ireland (Joseph, 2019; McGinnity and Gijsberts, 2018; Schäfer, 2021), Italy (Della, 2020; Rabby, 2022) and the UK (Berghs and Dyson, 2022; Cobbinah, 2018). In Canada, where societal classification is based on racial categories namely White, South Asian, Chinese, Black, Filipino, Latin American, Arab, Southeast Asian, West Asian, Korean or Japanese, scholars have widely reported on how non-White minorities, particularly Black people, experienced racial exclusion in various domains (see Wu and Finnsdottir, 2021).…”

Associations between social factors and school belonging among newcomer and non-newcomer youth in Sweden

“…Perceiving discrimination within a school context is particularly associated with lower feelings of belonging at school [44,45] and the effects of discrimination are stronger for some ethnicracial groups [46]. Considering belonging in general, a large Canadian study also found that, while discrimination is negatively associated with belonging for individuals in general, the association is stronger among racialized minorities [47]. These findings suggests that, for youth who are part of a racialized newcomer group, discrimination may predict school belonging more strongly.…”

Racism and Pregnancy Health in Hamilton, Ontario

“…9 Rather, the Canadian state has since the 1960s focused mainly on tracking two factors that intersect with racialization: immigration history (i.e., where Canadian residents were born) and "ethnic origins" (i.e., the cultural groups to which Canadian residents trace their ancestry). While ethnic identities other than "white" or "European" are highly correlated with experiencing racialization, 10 and while new immigrants from non-European countries are likely to be racialized based on bodily, cultural, or linguistic cues, 11 neither the experience of newcomers to Canada nor that of cultural or linguistic minorities can be treated as equivalent to the experience of racialization. Immigration status and ethnic origin-rather than "race" or racismare poor indicators of health inequities related to racialization in Canada.…”