POLL: Colourful pledge pushes for acceptance

Lemoya Laurensen, assistant manager YWCA Regional Newcomer Centre, is among the group.

She created a pledge to stop racial discrimination. Laurensen said she thought about creating a timeline about racism, but realized it provoked more fear and hate. This is when she came up with a colourful idea.

“I thought that maybe we would create a wall of acceptance and so I created a pledge and had people sign and put their hand prints down (on paper), so that they could support the cause of anti-discrimination, anti-racism also no discrimination against sex, gender, orientation, nationality and ethnicity,” she said.

The pledge will be carried during a walk against racism taking place later in the week.

Laurensen said she provided several different paint colours for the pledge to represent differences.

At the Newcomers Centre she said they come across people from all over the world.

“Some of them are escaping racism from countries where there has been genocide, mass killings, massacres, some of them are just escaping racism in the form of a caste system … some people here are coming to Canada for a better life,” she said.

Canada is a lot more accepting in some regards, especially compared to her home country in the United States of America, she said.

“And then in other regards, especially when it involves indigenous, native, Metis, First Nations people, they (Canadians) can be very racist. While the city doesn’t have a large immigrant population, I find it can be segregated, but yet people are open once they are exposed to each other,” she said.

“Everyone has experienced racism within their history,” she added, citing Ukrainians, Italians and Chinese people have all experienced racism in Canada at some point. “Our histories have all been touched by racism in one way or another and as a people we’ve all been touched, whether we’re black, white, native or in between.”

She said by making a pledge not to discriminate, you won’t be afraid of the unfamiliar.

Executive director of the PAMC Shayne Lazarowich mixed the red and yellow paint to make his hand stamp on the pledge.

He said they’ve done smaller events for March 21 in the past, but this time they wanted to go bigger.

“I think it’s really important just to show that community, sort of, solidarity and what we can do as a community in Prince Albert,” he said. “We’ve had tremendous response.”

“I think it’s really important, especially right now, in our community for people to see people from different backgrounds, different country perhaps, different parts of Canada working together to put on events like that celebrating, or recognizing I guess, the important date,” he said.

He said racism is always an important issue.

“We follow, sort of, larger more well-known issues that are happening in the United States … but we have the same issues in Canada. Like I said, the important thing is that regular people have the opportunity to work together and to stand up for what they believe in,” he said.

There has recently been a lot of debate on racism in Prince Albert after a video of a woman being detained outside of the Gateway Mall hit the internet and went viral.

“Isolated incidents … aren’t the things that sort of are controlling the debate. We actually recognize that most people are tolerant, are aware and are accepting of people from a variety of different cultures,” he said.

As for how to achieve racial harmony, Lazarowich said awareness and individual actions are important.

Joining together to fight racial discrimination is the YWCA, Co-operative Health Centre, Sask Culture, Multicultural Council of Saskatchewan, PAMA, JMPCL, Setting the Stage and the Saskatchewan Rivers School Division among many others.

Events around P.A.

March 20, 12 noon @ Gateway Mall – Anti-Racism Walk of Solidarity

March 20, 12:15 p.m. -10 p.m. @ Carlton Comprehensive Public High School – 2nd Annual Carlton Comprehensive Teaching Round Dance

March 20, 7 p.m. @ PA Multicultural Council – Art Exhibit and International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Celebration

March 23, 6:30 p.m. @ JMCPL – Film Night, featuring the film “The Good Lie”

March 24, 12 noon@ PA Indian and Mètis Friendship Centre – Stew & Bannock Lunch

March 28, all day (starts at 9 a.m.) @ P.A. Indian and Mètis Friendship Centre – 1st Annual Multicultural POW WOW

March 28, Feast at 5 p.m., round dance to follow @ Senator Allan Bird Memorial Gymnasium – First Nations University of Canada, Northern Campus Student Association Annual Round Dance

sstone@panow.com

On Twitter: @sarahstone84

by Sarah Stone

POLL: Colourful pledge pushes for acceptance

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