International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 2025

---

In Canada, March 21 is commemorated as International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. March 21 is significant because it commemorates the day police in Sharpeville, South Africa, shot and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration against apartheid in 1960.

Apartheid in South Africa was a system of racial segregation, which means that the different racial groups were not allowed to cooperate with each other, and people were treated unequally due to their group. Although apartheid is no longer in effect in South Africa, there are still economic and social effects that continue to exist, such as economic inequality.

Why should Canada observe the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination? After all, we have never had anything as bad as apartheid in our history, have we? Or have we?

The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination invites us to consider our history and how that history may have legacies that impact the present.

For example, consider the Residential School system, in which thousands of Indigenous people were forcibly removed from their families and sent to schools aimed at destroying their culture. The schools are infamous for the abuses that occurred, ranging from physical, sexual, mental, and spiritual abuses.

Combatting racism requires action on the part of all of us. It requires standing up when a friend or classmate makes a racist joke. It requires speaking and listening in tough conversations. Most importantly, it requires keeping an open and empathetic mind. The government of Canada suggests following the BRAVE framework:

Use the BRAVE Framework

The build, respect, acknowledge, validate and emphasize (BRAVE) framework is a useful tool that provides strategies to explore when having courageous conversations.

• Build the intention, focus, and safety needed to have honest conversations about race.
• Respect the sensitivity of the topic while challenging people to go beyond the superficial. Everyone needs to respect each other’s boundaries.
• Acknowledge the uncomfortable realities of the past and the present.
• Validate and accept the experiences of your racially marginalized colleagues. Productive conversations require acknowledging the reality of racism and racial discrimination.
• Emphasize prioritizing goals and measuring success around racial equity.

Check out the Government of Canada’s anti-racism toolkit.

Visit the Library and explore our texts related to anti-racism and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour) topics!