Nomenclature: "Visible Minorities"

Seems like a convenient and apt description, to name minority populations within Canada who can be readily distinguished by physical characteristics that identify them as coming from distinct groups other than white Caucasian, as "visible minorities". It is a term that the United Nations anti-racism overseer has found to be intrinsically offensive, however.

So Canada has prepared an official response. To be delivered by a Citizenship and Immigration Canada delegation to inform the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination that as far as Canada is concerned the term is appropriate and extremely useful. Despite that the UN watchdog has put Canada on notice that it considers the government to be behaving in a racist manner through the use of that wording.

In response, Canada's government reached out to its academic community to research the history of the term, both nationally and internationally. And an open workshop for the purpose of stimulating discussion and gathering additional concerns was conducted, along with seeking the opinions of provincial and territorial governments on the use of the term within the country.

The result is the statement that "the government of Canada ... has no plans of changing its standard usage". The 18-member committee struck to consider the issue, comprised for the most part of academics and former diplomats from around the world came to a conclusion and is prepared to render its report to the UN.

The UN committee issued a ruling in 2007 of their "concern" over Canada's use of the term, that it contravened the "aims and objectives" of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, which Canada itself had ratified in 1970. The committee has scheduled Canada among 11 countries for a session.

This committee of the United Nations has thus far examined racial issues and human rights in 100 of the 174 member states of the UN since Canada's last appearance. In its report Canada makes it quite clear that the term "visible minorities" refers to groups the government actively intends to protect against discrimination in the workplace.

Those groups are four in number: visible minorities, women, aboriginal groups and the disabled community. "The term is specific to the administration of the Employment Equity Act. The Act is similar to a 'special measure' taken for the purpose of securing advancement of certain racial or ethnic groups as referred to in ... the convention."

Over 5 million Canadians, 16.2% of the population, identify themselves as members of a "visible minority" group, a term that they understand benefits them for accelerated employment opportunities and consideration with the government and its agencies and which has no negative connotations whatever.

It would be immensely useful and more in accord with their mandate were the UN committee to focus on countries whose human rights records are abysmal and discomfiting to their populations. But this is, after all, an agency of the United Nations, and as dysfunctional as most other such UN-affiliated agencies.