NDP opposes Doug Ford’s calculated cut to the Anti-Racism Directorate

Laura Mae Lindo, the NDP critic for Anti-Racism, issued the following statement regarding Doug Ford’s decision to cut experts from the four, unpaid subcommittees of the Anti-Racism Directorate, who serve to provide advice on eliminating anti-Black, anti-Indigenous, anti-Semitic and Islamaphobic racism:

“Anti-racism efforts in Ontario need to get better, not worse. Doug Ford is moving our province backwards by making deep cuts to the vital work of the Anti-Racism Directorate.

Racialized people in Ontario deserve equitable opportunity and treatment in this great province – whether we’re talking about education, navigating provincial systems like health care, or knowing that their safety matters, and deserves to be protected. The Anti-Racism Directorate works to eliminate racism and discrimination in government policies, decisions and programs, and helps the province move towards equity.

But despite a number of recent racially-charged incidents in Ontario, and ongoing public concern over high-profile issues like carding, Doug Ford has cut members of the Anti-Racism Directorate's subcommittees.

The message Ford is sending to Indigenous communities and racialized Ontarians is that they don’t matter to his administration. There is growing concern over the direction Mr. Ford is dragging the province, and rightfully so with harmful calculated cuts like this one.

Mr. Ford needs to explain what his plan is for the Anti-Racism Directorate.”