Commentary Flecks of racism mar Canadian society, yet Canada cannot seriously be called a racist country. And racism here is certainly not systemic. That is clear to me after living and working in multiple provinces, towns, and cities in our fair Dominion. From Toronto and Picton to Brandon and The Pas, from Winnipeg to Meadow Lake, and from Victoria to Parksville, Canada is a land of mostly kind and tolerant people despite a small portion of bigots among us. Bigotry is rooted not in the system, but in individuals. What is systemic is the cycle of poverty, drug abuse, alcoholism, violence, hopelessness, family breakdown, single-parent families, and crime that plagues many. Claiming that incarceration produced by this toxic soil is a product of “systemic racism” in our legal system is apocryphal and only postpones real change. Racism is discrimination and bias on the basis of skin colour or ethnic group. …