Isaac Saney: Dalhousie University and Multiculturalism Portfolio

isaac saney: In the absence of a clear national commitment to address Canada's role in the transatlantic slave trade, Jones says she was encouraged by a recent UN report recommending that the federal government apologize for slavery and consider issuing for federal Heritage Minister Melanie Joly, who is responsible for the multiculturalism portfolio, did not immediately respond to requests for comment, according to National Observer. Isaac Saney, a historian who teaches black studies at Dalhousie University, says any meaningful dialogue about reparations must begin with an acknowledgment of what he calls the original sin of anti-black racism in Canada the enslavement of thousands of people of African descent between the 16th and 19th centuries. We're having these conversations around the province ... and if the government were in tune, the government would be doing this. Slavery is the dead hand that has shaped a society, says Saney. Slavery was abolished in the British colonies in the 1830s, but Saney says its legacy set the stage for later injustices against black Canadians such as segregation, anti-black immigration policies and present-day social inequities by establishing a precedent for treating people of African descent as non-citizens. Slavery no longer exists, but the processes ... that put it into motion have continued in one form or another into the present. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.