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As a Canadian from the largest city in the country, Toronto, (Montreal being the second largest city) both among the most diverse cities in the world (Toronto being #1 in this ranking, not sure about Montreal but I've been there dozens of times), any article in Canada that deals with race vs ethnicity or country of origin should be dismissed or, at the least, taken with a massive grain of salt.

We don't speak in terms of race here. It's pointless in a city with hundreds of different ethnicities. It's taking a US-centric view on race (which they often conflate with culture) and transposing onto a country with very different demographics, waves of immigration, culture, and history.

They even had to cite the bird watching incident in New York (not in Canada)--i can only suppose there wasn't a good Canadian example.

Race is an unscientific and unproductive way to divide, distinguish and discuss human beings, particularly in very diverse milieux.

20-30 years ago we mainly spoke of our or our parents countries of origin/cultures. Things that matter to people's identities. Over half of the people living in Toronto were born in another country. Now all I hear about is race and it doesn't fit up here.

City v/s Rural.

Perhaps Canada's eradication of racism is due to ongoing efforts like the one posted in the article?

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Montreal is a city.

Maybe while the operators are arguing about the bias of the caller instead of trying to find out what’s going on, someone may get killed.

I called once 911 for a suspicious car and the operator told me “not your business” what the car was doing. Will I call again 911? I doubt it

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What was the car doing that was suspicious? Tbh it doesn't sound like an emergency issue to me unless someone was driving dangerously

If you think racism doesn't exist in Canada then you've been talking talking different Canadians than I have.

Uhm was that the context you gave them and that's the reason you rang 911? In my country we call 911 for emergencies, we call the cops for the not so urgent situations like the one you described

Who said racism is eradicated in Canada?

Kindly point out where I said that racism doesn't exist in Canada.

Lots of prejudice and profiling around, but race as an in/outgroup dynamic isn’t really the entire story. I think the main thrust of the difference between Canada and the States is how we refer to ourselves. There is rarely if ever anyone identifying as a hyphenated descriptor.

There are African-Americans, who actually may not be African, but there aren’t African-Canadians. But we do have people here who identify as black, or more often as a nationality (Jamaican, Ugandan, what have you). Canadians are not as nationalistic, and the idea is that we should treat people the same regardless of citizenship.

There is no general expectation of “being Canadian” other than following the law and treating others right, at least in big cities. We have sober Muslims praying the same day that the Irish celebrate St. Paddy’s with alcohol flowing. And for the most part, for most level-headed people, there’s not any unreasonable push to live a certain way.

It’s a different mentality. So long as we can decide to get along, we can get along. It doesn’t mean there’s no prejudice, but it do notice fewer stereotypes and much more nuance in conversation about it. People decide for themselves whether they want to identify as Canadian. But almost nobody identifies as Canadian to the exclusion of all else.

We do have our wackos that are nationalistic and see Canada as sharing a reactionary version of American culture. Lots of them drove their trucks to Ottawa not so long ago. Outside of Canada Day and Remembrance Day, seeing a large crowd of people with Canadian flags is unusual and a sure sign of backwards thinking.

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So… your thesis is that race doesn’t exist but racism does?

Surely race exists but it's an unscientific and unproductive framework in which to discuss human beings.

If you're American and this is tough to swallow, I understand. Your country frequently conflates race and culture. There is an white American and a black American culture. These cultures are distinct but they share some characteristics with the overall "American" culture.

You cannot say that of "white" or "black" people in my city because the "white" person could be french, Greek, Turkish or Ukrainian in background--these are all distinct cultures with little overlap. The "black" person may be Jamaican, Barbadian, Nigerian, or Somali,--these are all distinct cultures with little overlap.

They speak different languages, eat different food, worship different gods, and have different traditions. Of what use is it to group them together by race?

It's also worth noting that Nigerians in Toronto will often (unsurprisingly) identify with their particular ethnic group: Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Edo etc. I have met Nigerians from all of these groups.

Most people in Canada do not identify by their race but certainly, and unfortunately, this is an increasing trend I am observing.

You do understand, (clearly you don't) that the reason why "black culture" in America is as such is because most black Americans don't have the luxury of knowing the tribe their family originates from, due to slavery.

That difference does not mean racism does not exist in Canada, and it surely does. You're just ignorant.

Even if you forget about black people entirely, the US determines your race by your skin colour. That's how the American race system works. What the person you're replying is saying is that the Canadian race system uses different criteria. He's not saying racism doesn't exist, he's saying the rules are different.

If you want an example, I can give you one. It's clear that American race categories like 'African American' or Asian American' aren't based on geography when you consider what category people from Morocco or from the Middle East fall in. If you look white, you're white. That's the American system.

I certainly know that's part of it but a majority of "old stock" white Americans don't identify with their British, German, Irish etc. Roots, either. White American culture is quite different from the western European cultures the people descended from, too.

Those that immigrated more recently, not unlike Canada, likely identify more with their ethnicity/country of origin.

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I'm gonna guess you're of European heritage with that naive fairytale of a narrative?

And North African, yes. Feel free to point out where you think I went wrong.

I mean, really, we're all from Mesopotamia.

Yep if you go back far enough we all came from the same place.

But no, let's bicker increasingly more about our very subtle differences 🙄

Always back to the slavery debate with y’all mfs

As a former medical first responder, I strongly disagree with this article. The dispatcher should share every single piece of info they get and I’ll decide what matters after I’m on scene and gather my own additional info. It also helps me know what to expect before arrival.

I was almost killed because a 9-1-1 operator made a couple of wrong choices like this. First, he relayed to us that the call went out as a reported broken ankle. What he did not include, is that it occurred as a result of a fight between two men at the house.

Immediately upon entering the home, I called for police on scene with an emergency response code. The dispatcher decided it probably wasn’t warranted and refused to dispatch until he quizzed me about why I thought I needed backup. What he didn’t know, and I couldn’t say, is that I was looking down the barrel of a shotgun and the guy was listening to him on the radio. I was too far in to back out of the house.

I was waiting for the gunshot for a tense 2-3 minutes while repeating the code over and over to the dispatcher, with the shotgun holder guy staring me in the eye. It was horrible.

The dispatcher was reamed over this by his commander and felt horrible afterward, but his regret wouldn’t have saved me if that guy had pulled the trigger.

Always enter everything the caller says. Please. Had I known there was a physical fight causing the injury, I would have had a heads up.