MF GALAXY

From Wednesday's Globe and Mail , November 19, 2008 at 3:37 AM EST E-mail Margaret Wente "C anada's growing population of immigrants and visible minorities face mental health challenges that are often very different from those of other citizens . Although many are at increased risk of mental illness, they have poorer access to care, and their issues are often poorly understood. "Dr. Kwame McKenzie is a psychiatrist and researcher who specializes in redesigning mental health services for visible minority groups. Last year he moved to Toronto from London, England, to join the staff of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. This week Margaret Wente asked him to explain why understanding ethno-cultural differences is so important for improving mental health care.... "What are some of the distinct problems experienced by minority groups? "They vary with the group. People from areas where there has been torture and war are more likely to suffer from ...

Despite a Canadian tendency to see ourselves as self-abasing and polite to a fault, there’s an ugly self-righteousness in Canadian culture, perhaps most visibly embodied by the likes of Rick Mercer, whose fame is largely based on televised antics to make Americans look stupid. Too often, too many Canadians force-feed an undernourished patriotism by bashing Yanks; witness Molson’s “I am Canadian” ads, an entire advertising campaign based on our alleged superiority to our southern neighbours. That very arrogance serves as cover for a vicious fact about Canada in 2005: racist attitudes are widespread, and racial profiling across Canadian life is both widespread and destructive. According to an Ipsos-Reid poll published in time for March 21, the United Nations Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, nearly one in six Canadian adults--around four million people--has been the victim of racism. And one in ten Canucks wouldn’t want someone from another race living next doo...

Racism is a system of power, and racial profiling is one of the tools that a race-based system uses to maintain control. Racial profiling doesn’t work at catching criminals. The Toronto Star ( November 25, 2002 , “Laws needed to ban racial profiling”) reported that “African Canadians were much more likely to be charged with traffic-related offences that [aren’t obvious from a distance], such as driving with an expired license [which is consistent with] African Canadian drivers [being] racial[ly] profil[ed].... For [people being] profiled, the indignity is real.... "The cumulative effect on individuals of bearing this burden... would be enormously damaging on their self-respect. It would also undermine fundamental principles of equal dignity and worth and respect for the presumption of innocence.” According to a Statistics Canada report entitled “Visible Minorities in Canada - Profile Series,” people of colour are less likely than other Canadians to be employed. “More...