{"id":12892,"date":"2021-09-26T21:15:36","date_gmt":"2021-09-27T00:15:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/?p=12892"},"modified":"2021-09-26T21:17:17","modified_gmt":"2021-09-27T00:17:17","slug":"could-dr-manju-varma-our-new-nb-independent-commissioner-be-perhaps-confusing-racism-and-systemic-racism-although-she-may-truly-operate-independently","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/2021\/09\/26\/could-dr-manju-varma-our-new-nb-independent-commissioner-be-perhaps-confusing-racism-and-systemic-racism-although-she-may-truly-operate-independently\/","title":{"rendered":"Could Dr. Manju Varma, our new NB independent commissioner, be perhaps confusing \u201cracism\u201d and \u201csystemic racism\u201d? Although she may truly operate \u201cindependently\u201d of the provincial government, to what extent is she independent of our federal government and its ideologies parachuted from the USA?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"284\" height=\"177\" src=\"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/NB.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12893\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>New Brunswick now\nhas an \u201cindependent\u201d commissioner of systemic racism. Her name is Dr. Manju\nVarma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to <em>CBC<\/em>,\n<em>Radio-Canada<\/em>, and <em>Turtle News<\/em>, Dr. Varma is a \u201c<em>Multiculturalism\nexpert<\/em>\u201d and she holds a PhD in \u201c<em>Anti-racist education<\/em>\u201d from the <em>University\nof Toronto<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Varma also&nbsp;\u201c<em>leads\nthe new office of Inclusion, Equity and Anti-Racism for the Atlantic Canada\nOpportunity Agency (ACOA) since 2020, <strong>a federal government initiative<\/strong>\naimed&nbsp;at fostering its internal corporate diversity and inclusiveness.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a reminder, our\nprovincial government will finance the work of this commissioner (from our tax\nmoney) and it will cost us half of a million dollars, as per the media articles\ncited above and an earlier post by Bambi (shown further below):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/new-brunswick\/nb-appoints-commissioner-systemic-racism-1.6188229\">https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/new-brunswick\/nb-appoints-commissioner-systemic-racism-1.6188229<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ici.radio-canada.ca\/nouvelle\/1826880\/rapport-2022-racisme-varma-rapport\">https:\/\/ici.radio-canada.ca\/nouvelle\/1826880\/rapport-2022-racisme-varma-rapport<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-wordpress wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-the-turtle-island-news\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"CZFDQPIjxD\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2021\/09\/24\/new-brunswick-appoints-independent-commissioner-on-systemic-racism\/\">New Brunswick appoints independent commissioner on systemic racism<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;New Brunswick appoints independent commissioner on systemic racism&#8221; &#8212; The Turtle Island News\" src=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2021\/09\/24\/new-brunswick-appoints-independent-commissioner-on-systemic-racism\/embed\/#?secret=CZFDQPIjxD\" data-secret=\"CZFDQPIjxD\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>As reported by the\nCBC<em>, Dr. Varma wrote in news release: \u201c<strong>Having been an immigrant and\nhaving experienced racism<\/strong> growing up in this province, <strong>I personally know\nthere is systemic racism<\/strong> here that must be addressed&#8230; &#8220;As I embark\non this journey<strong>, I do so with <\/strong>an open mind and<strong> no\npreconceptions.&#8221;<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to<em> CBC, \u201c<\/em><em>A public report is\ndue by September&nbsp;2022, with <strong>recommendations to address systemic racism\nin areas such as health care, education, social development, housing,\nemployment and criminal justice<\/strong>. A total of <strong>$500,000<\/strong> has been set\naside, and&nbsp;Varma will have staff&nbsp;to assist&nbsp;in her work.\u201d&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The French language counterpart of the<em> CBC <\/em>uses\nthe following terms: \u201c<em>La commissaire aura comme responsabilit\u00e9, entre\nautres, de <strong>mener une consultation publique sur la nature et les\nr\u00e9percussions du racisme syst\u00e9mique \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9gard des nouveaux arrivants, des\nAutochtones, des Noirs, des personnes de couleur et d\u2019autres groupes\nmarginalis\u00e9s au Nouveau-Brunswick&nbsp;\u00bb.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of note, once\nagain, we seem to already have the outcomes of the report by endorsing, without\nany evidence base, the (rather vague) trendy concept of \u201c<em>systemic racism<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Five questions for Dr. Varma:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol><li>What\nis the field of \u201c<em>anti-racist education<\/em>\u201d (i.e. her PhD)? Bambi is curious.<\/li><li>What\nis \u201c<em>systemic racism<\/em>\u201d?<\/li><li>Could\nDr. Varma be confusing the concepts of \u201c<em>racism<\/em>\u201d and \u201c<em>systemic racism<\/em>\u201d?\n<\/li><li>Isn\u2019t\nthe assumption of the existence of systemic racism in our province, before even\ninvestigating it, a \u201c<em>preconception<\/em>\u201d in itself?<\/li><li>Will\nDr. Varma\u2019s functions include also an interest in studying Acadians (the historical\nethno-linguistic largest minority in NB)? <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>If the answer to the fifth question is positive, why wasn\u2019t this mentioned in these media articles?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And, finally, a last question to our government:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>      6. Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8212;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-wordpress wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-bambi-039-s-afkar\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"rdwdOPeywJ\"><a href=\"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/2021\/03\/25\/how-do-a-500k-position-of-a-commissioner-and-costs-of-his-her-work-on-systemic-racism-funded-by-our-government-help-heal-the-community-of-nb-indigenous-citizens\/\">How do a $500K-position of a Commissioner and costs of his\/her work on systemic racism, funded by our government, help \u201cheal\u201d the \u201ccommunity\u201d of NB Indigenous citizens?<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;How do a $500K-position of a Commissioner and costs of his\/her work on systemic racism, funded by our government, help \u201cheal\u201d the \u201ccommunity\u201d of NB Indigenous citizens?&#8221; &#8212; Bambi&#039;s Afkar\" src=\"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/2021\/03\/25\/how-do-a-500k-position-of-a-commissioner-and-costs-of-his-her-work-on-systemic-racism-funded-by-our-government-help-heal-the-community-of-nb-indigenous-citizens\/embed\/#?secret=rdwdOPeywJ\" data-secret=\"rdwdOPeywJ\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New Brunswick now has an \u201cindependent\u201d commissioner of systemic racism. Her name is Dr. Manju Varma. According to CBC, Radio-Canada, and Turtle News, Dr. Varma is a \u201cMulticulturalism expert\u201d and she holds a PhD in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12892"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12892"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12895,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12892\/revisions\/12895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bambisafkar.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}