The Urban Alliance on Race Relations is a non-profit charitable organization that works primarily and proactively with the community, public and private sectors to provide educational programs and research, which are critical in addressing racism in society.
The Urban Alliance was formed in 1975 by a group of concerned Toronto citizens.
The Urban Alliance on Race Relations joins many Palestinian, Muslim, Arab and Jewish organizations in condemning the exponential rise of discrimination against Palestinian, Muslim, Arab and Jewish communities across Canada.
As an organization committed to fighting racism, we oppose the criminalization of peaceful anti-racist advocacy and protest. Currently, we are seeing the targeting and demonization of racialized communities, with several Canadian leaders making statements equating them with “terrorism”. As we’ve previously seen during the so-called “War on Terror '' after 9/11, and Canada’s seige of Kanien’kehá:ka, this framing promotes state policies and practices severely limiting human rights and civil liberties for Indigenous and racialized populations. We also observe that suppression and reprisal against anti-racist and anti-colonial advocacy is a hallmark of the system of white supremacy. We call on Canadian leaders to acknowledge, apologize for and address harms caused by such statements. These harms include drastically rising anti-Palestinian, anti-Muslim, and anti-Arab hate incidents on our streets, in workplaces, and in schools.
We simultaneously condemn the recent violent and hateful attacks against Jewish schools and places of worship. We should all be concerned when the safety and wellbeing of Jewish communities is threatened as they exercise their rights to freedom of worship, and freedom to visibly express their religious affiliation and identity. An attack on one of us as we exercise these rights is an attack on us all.
Canada is a member state of the United Nations and as such has an obligation to uphold international law. We believe this is a time for empathy, dialogue, and learning about the detrimental impacts of settler colonialism, white supremacy, anti-Semitism, anti-Palestinian racism, and Islamophobia.
The Urban Alliance on Race Relations expresses deep sorrow in response to the May 14 white supremacist attack in Buffalo, New York.
We honour those who lost their lives to this heinous act of violence: Roberta A. Drury, Margus D. Morrison, Andre Macknil, Aaron Salter, Geraldine Talley, Celestine Chaney. Heyward Paterson, Katherine Massey, Pearl Young, and Ruth Whitfield.
The York Catholic District School Board invites applications for the position of:
Director of Education
Join us on March 21st at 3pm for our event "Making Good Trouble" to mark the International Day for Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The forum will feature conversations around racial justice as it relates to allyship, education, health, workplaces and our broader society.
Register now: tinyurl.com/IDERD2021
Interviewed later, Nigel Barriffe, president of Toronto’s Urban Alliance on Race Relations, said removing local access to justice for both victims and people facing charges is an attack on the poor and working class in a city already divided economically.
Barriffe, who spoke at the rally, said Black and other racialized people could pay high costs as a result.
“We all feel really strongly that the government is making a bad decision on this,” he said.
“Why are we again reducing services in the community?”
The release of their report was condemned Monday as “political theatre” by Nigel Barriffe, president of the Urban Alliance on Race Relations, who said Ottawa has failed to provide a plan, deadline and funding to root out white supremacists and neo-Nazis.
“It doesn’t seem like the government is interested in really dealing with getting Nazis and white supremacists out of the Canadian Armed Forces,” Barriffe said. “If they were, today they would have come up with an actual action plan, not a plan to come up with a plan.”
Nigel Bariffe, president of the Urban Alliance on Race Relations, said people using local courthouses live far from the downtown core and will have to take a whole day off work to make court appearances.
"Many cannot afford the day of lost wages, caregiver costs, and transit fees, so consolidation will end up increasing justice system costs because of delayed cases, increased arrest warrants, and thrown-out cases," he said.
