Lorne Foster, a professor from the School of Public Policy and Administration (SPPA), has co-authored a report entitled Indigenous Consumer Racial Profiling in Canada: A Neglected Human Rights Issue. The report was written with former York professor Lesley Jacobs, who is now at Ontario Tech University. The report was covered in a recent article in Global News discussing a racial profiling incident at a Canadian Tire in Coquitlam, British Columbia.
In the report, the authors bring attention to the human rights issue of consumer racial profiling (CRP) against Indigenous peoples in Canada which can include routine acts of surveillance, exclusion and humiliation in retail and service spaces. The authors look at the harms this causes at both an individual and societal level, such as racial trauma, internalized inferiority and alienation. They remark how CRP undermines reconciliation efforts, repeats traumatic histories and must be acknowledged in order to continue to advance anti-racist practices.
Foster holds the York Research Chair in Black Canadian Studies & Human Rights (Tier 1) and is Director of the Institute for Social Research (ISR). He received his PhD in Sociology from York University. His research interests include multiculturalism, race and racism, political economy, youth, public policy analysis, public policy formation and human rights.
Read the full story on Global News.