00:00:00.000Ontario, under the leadership of a progressive, conservative government, is pushing forward one of the most destructive and frankly racist pieces of legislation in Canadian history, slipped through under the guise of anti-racism.
00:00:12.760I'm Candice Malcolm, and this is The Candice Malcolm Show.
00:00:26.060Hi everyone, thank you so much for tuning into the program.
00:00:28.720So today I want to get into Bill 67 in Ontario.
00:00:32.740It is an act to amend acts with respect to racial equity.
00:00:37.040And I've been hearing a lot of feedback from viewers, from True North supporters who say that they want us to cover this.
00:01:11.800Yeah, so I mean, I listened to your podcast with Jordan Peterson and digging into so many of the problematic elements of this bill.
00:01:19.700I think perhaps the worst one of all is that it was proposed by an NDP MPP in Ontario, which should have been a big red flag to conservatives.
00:01:28.300I'm not really sure how it went from being a private member's bill, from an opposition left-wing NDP member, to being a bill from the government.
00:01:35.940So I'm wondering if you could help us wrap our heads around why this bill is being presented in Ontario under a conservative government.
00:01:42.520Well, the only explanation I can think of is that like so many other politicians in so many other places, the bill, the way it was framed, it sounds like a good thing because it's about teaching students how to fight racism.
00:02:04.200The key word that should have been a tip-off was the word equity, which appears 54 times in this bill, and the word equality does not even appear once.
00:02:16.760And this is the key thing that people have to grasp, is that when you see the word equity, it has nothing to do with equality.
00:02:24.660It has to do with a philosophy or an ideology in which racism is understood to be the default kind of environment in which both whites and people of color live, people of color are always racialized, and whites who have inherent privilege are the vectors for that racism.
00:02:52.860But that's not what I think the government understood it to be.
00:02:57.240I think they understood it simply as a means of fighting racism.
00:03:03.300You know, one of the things that startled me the most was that Rick Nichols, who was kicked out of the Conservative Party in Ontario for being against vaccine mandates, and he joined the Ontario Party.
00:03:15.660He's sitting for the Ontario Party, and he, of all people, should know the difference as a true Conservative, should know the difference.
00:03:24.360He admitted to his party, he voted for it.
00:03:32.000He did not know the difference between the word equity and equality or what it stands for.
00:03:37.100Well, it's funny that you mentioned, Rick, because I was going to bring him up later.
00:03:41.180This is actually the first time I heard about this bill, because I usually focus on federal politics, focus on Justin Trudeau and everything happening over in Ukraine.
00:03:49.120And then a guest op-ed landed on my desk from MPP, Rick Nichols.
00:03:54.740So we published that here at True North.
00:03:56.820He wrote, voting for critical race theory bill was a mistake.
00:04:02.100He said, on Thursday, I made a significant unintentional error when I voted for Ontario, I voted in the Ontario legislature for Bill 67, the equity, racial equity in education system act.
00:04:13.060And then he went on to explain exactly what you just said, that he didn't quite read it carefully enough, or he understood equity to mean equality.
00:04:21.900And he sort of talked about the two main thinkers behind critical race theory, which we talk about a lot on the show here, because it's such a concern.
00:04:31.180But I guess that the thinking isn't prevalent yet amongst conservatives if they didn't know the difference.
00:04:37.660Because a lot of the words, to be frank, Barbara, that, you know, they sound good.
00:04:42.120Like everyone wants to be anti-racist.
00:04:44.180Everybody wants to fight back against true racism.
00:04:47.380But it seems that the problem with this bill is that that's not what it does.
00:04:50.660I want to go through some of the sort of substance of the bill so that we can all wrap our heads around what is going on here.
00:04:57.380And basically, they could because basically what they want to do is create these kind of re-education training camps for teachers, compelling them and requiring them to be steeped in this leftist ideology.
00:05:08.620So there's a professional development program on anti-racism, which would establish and provide annual professional development programs to educate teachers and other staff of the board about promoting racial equity
00:05:19.360and developing the necessary tools to address racism, how racial disturbances.
00:05:24.120So they're going to introduce fines of up to $200 for anyone who is disrupts or attempts to disrupt the proceedings of a school or class through the use of race racist language and engaging in racial and racist activities,
00:05:39.500which again sounds good, but the definitions are what is important, anti-racism competencies.
00:05:45.880So teachers will be appraised or performance appraisal will include competencies related to a teacher's anti-racism awareness and the teacher's efforts to promote racial equity.
00:06:01.180Every board shall establish a racial equity plan for the schools of the board and require its schools to implement the plan.
00:06:07.460I could go on and on. There's about 10 of these or more.
00:06:10.740And so the idea is really to just steep these schools in this sort of perverse leftist ideology.
00:06:16.500So maybe you can help us really understand a bit better what this ideology seeks to accomplish.
00:06:21.660Well, the, what it seeks to accomplish is, is the idea that, that there is a power structure that has to be disrupted, to be broken down, to be, this is, this is, it's a revolutionary kind of ideology in the sense that they think our present society is, is a very bad one,
00:06:47.400because it's, it's established on principles that are white, that, that are based in white history and white power structures, the enlightenment values of evidence-based knowledge and due process.
00:07:04.500And a lot of the, a lot of the liberal principles that we take for granted are considered to be wrong because they are modern ideas rather than postmodern ideas.
00:07:17.920You know, I don't, I don't think this is the time to, I mean, and I can't even explain it as well as people who really studied this for a very long time.
00:07:26.700And I would encourage people to go to James Lindsay's website, new discourses.com, if you want to know everything there is to know about critical race theory and how it's implemented in schools and other institutions.
00:08:16.340What does that mean socially constructed?
00:08:18.040And it can be experienced consciously or subconsciously.
00:08:23.020Well, when you start saying that people's innermost thoughts, that they aren't even aware of themselves, are subject to investigation and punishment.
00:08:33.040Who decides on whether you're a racist or not?
00:08:36.540Well, the person who says they feel offended by some remark you've made.
00:08:40.900You notice too, that there's one group that's missing.
00:08:43.960They say this, this bill is going to combat, it's going to be anti-racism, anti-Islamophobia, anti-this, anti-that.
00:08:52.960The one group that is anti-Asianism, but anti-Caucasianism, that's not in there.
00:09:00.640Because that is, whites are going to, whiteness is the one evil that everybody is encouraged to, to be hostile to, because it's the root of why racialized people are disadvantaged in society.
00:09:17.460So if the outcomes of all these different races are not exactly the same or better than, than white people's outcomes, then the problem is racism.
00:09:38.880You read these definitions and I'll just read them here because I have them right in front of me.
00:09:41.820So they describe anti-racism, which means the policy of opposing racism, including anti-Indigenous racism, anti-Black racism, anti-Asian racism, anti-Semitism, and Islamophobia.
00:09:54.340It means the use of socially constructed ideas of race to justify or support, whether consciously or subconsciously, the notion that one race is superior to another.
00:10:05.580So, so it, it puts right in there, this idea that race is socially constructed.
00:10:10.080Um, but then in the anti-racism definition, it specifically lists all of these races.
00:10:15.400So it's like, well, wait a minute, is, is, is race socially constructed?
00:10:18.140And then, and then to a broader point, uh, Barbara, Canada has always been a pluralistic, diverse country.
00:10:25.240It was never one group of people that, that, that settled and had the country, right?
00:10:29.320It was always a mix of first nations, French, English, and in English, it was Scottish, uh, English, Irish.
00:10:36.240Um, and, and then, and then obviously in the, in the, in the 20th century, we had huge influx of immigrants from all over the world.
00:10:43.300There are so many different cultures that live harmoniously side by side in Canada.
00:10:47.260Even just taking all of the different European groups that settled in Canada and putting this clunky title, uh, whiteness on them, it, it misses so much because there's, there's a big difference between someone who just moved here, uh, from Eastern Europe like yesterday and hasn't acclimatized to Canada yet, hasn't integrated.
00:11:06.640Um, and someone who might be of, uh, you know, Chinese origin, but their family came over four or five generations ago and they, and they've, uh, uh, accustomed to Canada.
00:11:26.040Yes, because the, the idea that you're not an individual, you know, Martin Luther King pretty well said it all for all time.
00:11:32.640I'm not interested in the color of your skin.
00:11:34.440I'm interested in the content of your character.
00:11:36.240And at, at that time he expressed the liberal, the classic liberal, what we now call conservative because we conservatives are basically classic liberals.
00:11:46.740And that should have defined for all time, uh, what should be our ideal to judge people by their individual characteristics and not by the, but, uh, he's, he's old school.
00:12:02.640Now you are, you are a representative of your identity.
00:12:06.240And if you don't have the correct thoughts that go along with your identity, then you lose that affiliation.
00:12:13.640It's kind of interesting that, you know, blacks are all supposed to feel racialized, but if they insist that they don't, and that they've succeeded.
00:12:21.640Very well in our society because of our liberal principles, then they, they suddenly lose their blackness or they have false consciousness or they've been, uh, they have been brainwashed by, uh, you know, whites to, uh, to be a, uh, to carry water for whiteness.
00:12:41.640So, uh, this, this, this is a very Marxist idea that you are a member of the ownership class or the working class, or it's just, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's.
00:12:52.640They've turned the economic paradigm into a cultural paradigm.
00:12:56.640So, uh, now it's, uh, you are a function.
00:13:01.640That's such a pernicious ideology because it's very patronizing and infantilizing to, uh, people of color, assuming that they can never get ahead unless there's huge state interference, uh, in order to give them a special leg up.
00:13:17.640And, uh, it's also hugely insulting to people of color, like, uh, South Asians and Asians, other Asians who have done extremely well, uh, because, uh, they have taken advantage of the opportunities that our country, our democracies give, uh, everyone.
00:13:38.640And they have applied, uh, their own work ethic and their ambitions.
00:13:42.640And, you know, they're not interested in microaggressions or anything else, and they've gotten ahead and they are, have succeeded actually statistically better than, uh, the average white person.
00:13:55.640So they are totally, you know, they're considered to be white adjacent or they have other explanations.
00:14:01.640The point is that students are going to be punished for having thoughts that normally we would consider normal in a society that values critical thinking.
00:14:14.640And they will not be allowed to say them.
00:14:16.640This word disturbances or disruptions, it's not defined, is it?
00:14:22.640It will be, it will be somebody who will say in a classroom, well, I don't really believe that, uh, you know, a man can actually become a woman.
00:14:31.640I mean, I guess a man could identify as a woman, but he can't really become a woman.
00:14:35.640That will be considered a disturbance.
00:14:50.640Um, it's, it's, it's just so pernicious and it will, it will, it will actually smother, uh, a student's, um, inclination, nevermind ability.
00:15:02.640You can't develop a skill unless you exercise it.
00:15:05.640But if you've, if it's been smothered, if, then you will never even know what that skill is.
00:15:12.640You will never even, you'll stop wanting it.
00:15:16.640You know, if you don't allow a child to throw a ball between the ages of five and eight, that child will never be able to develop a really good throwing arm.
00:15:25.640Uh, and that's what they're doing to these children or they're, they would, they're going to do if this bill passes.
00:15:31.640So I've, I've just, um, it's one of the most disturbing, um, bills I've ever seen.
00:15:38.640And, and, uh, I know Jordan Peterson, uh, felt exactly the same way.
00:15:42.640And that's why he organized that podcast very quickly.
00:15:45.640Uh, and it went on and it, and it sort of, that bill was introduced under the radar.
00:15:49.640Uh, and as you say, from a radical leftist who was known at Laurier University for being radical, even by Laurier's far leftist, uh, uh, attitudes towards equity, diversity, and inclusion, and all the rest.
00:16:06.640And nobody knows that better than Lindsay Shepherd, you know, who, who, uh, was the, uh, the first victim.
00:16:15.640And she was the victim of, of the person who introduced the bill 67.
00:16:19.640The, she was the victim of her policy, her policy on sexual violence, sexual violence.
00:16:25.640Um, and it was considered then radical, even by Laurier standards.
00:16:30.640Uh, so if the people of Ontario, if the parents of Ontario don't wake up and let their MPPs know and let Doug Ford know and let, I don't know what happened to his Minister of Education, Stephen Lecce, who, um, and Sam Oosterhof, who's supposed to be.
00:16:54.640Maybe you could get him on your show and ask him, ask him what the hell he was thinking.
00:16:59.640Well, that's a great, that's a great suggestion because he was sort of a young outspoken MPP.
00:17:04.640I think he was elected when he was still a teenager, if I remember correctly.
00:17:08.640And part of the reason that the progressive conservatives and Doug Ford became so popular and got Frank, frankly, got elected was because they were pushing back against the former premier of Ontario, Kathleen Wynne and her pernicious sex ed program.
00:17:22.640And this government was supposed to be the ones that were pushing back against radical leftism in our education system.
00:17:29.640So it, it, it really is remarkable that they would, you know, champion this, this NDP bill.
00:17:35.640And, and especially with the background that you're describing with, with Lindsay Shepard and that whole ordeal, which Lindsay wrote a great book about for, for us here at True North, um, called Diversity and Exclusion.
00:17:46.640She recounts every single thing that happened and it's just absolutely wild.
00:17:50.640The ideology, the bullying, uh, the, the way that she was treated.
00:17:53.640But I'm wondering, because what we've seen in recent years in the United States where, you know, basically this, this ideology has just been wholesale imported into Canada.
00:18:02.640It's an American ideology addressing American issues.
00:18:05.640Uh, I, I mentioned that, uh, Rick Nichols op-ed that he wrote for us.
00:18:09.640He, he, he, he looked at the two sort of founding thinkers, uh, Robin DiAngelo, uh, who wrote a book called White Fragility.
00:18:15.640And then Ibram X. Kendi, who wrote a book called How to Be an Anti-Racist.
00:18:18.640And I know he also has a children's book, uh, called Anti-Racist Baby, uh, which I will not be reading to my little kids.
00:18:24.640But, uh, Ibram X. Kennedy wrote that the only remedy to racist discrimination is anti-racist discrimination.
00:18:30.640So he's outright calling for discrimination against, uh, white people.
00:18:34.640Anyway, in, in the U.S., you know, we saw a, uh, conservative Republican governor get elected in Virginia, which is usually a pretty solid blue state.
00:18:42.640Uh, we've seen, uh, many states, including Montana, Florida, all these states pushing forward bills to prevent and stop the teaching of this, this really, uh, racist theory in their schools.
00:18:54.640How come parents in Canada haven't had the same kind of, uh, uprising and the same kind of outrage over, uh, the fundamental racist principles being taught in schools?
00:19:04.640Like you said, both really harmful to young, um, children of color who come from backgrounds where they're now told by the school that you can't succeed because the system is against you, no matter what you do, uh, you'll always be held back.
00:19:16.640And to young white students saying that there's something inherently wrong with you because of your skin color.
00:19:21.640I mean, I can't think of a worse way to divide and, and, and teach kids.
00:19:25.640Why isn't there more pushback from, from parents in this country?
00:19:55.640Um, I mean, I, I, I, I'm sorry to keep harping on Rick Nichols, but it's a perfect symbol of if he can be hoodwinked, if he can be gaslighted.
00:20:16.640They all mean the opposite of what they sound like.
00:20:20.640They mean equity is the opposite of equality.
00:20:22.640Diversity, uh, is, is the opposite of diversity of opinion.
00:20:28.640It's, it's actually, uh, the kiss of death to critical thinking.
00:20:33.640And inclusion means exclusion for, uh, people who, who aren't, uh, intersectionally, um, you know, on the list of official victimhood.
00:20:44.640Uh, so they're all weasel words and they're all very, very illiberal, very anti-classic liberalism, but Canadians, I'm sorry to say are easily hoodwinked.
00:20:57.640They are, they have a tendency to, uh, they, this, this addiction to niceness turns them into sheeple.
00:21:06.640Um, and, um, I, I, it's sad to say, oh, you deserve what you get.
00:21:11.640But the trouble is that a lot of people that don't deserve it are swept along because there isn't a critical mass of, of, uh, parents.
00:21:18.640Parents who have, who, well, I shouldn't say not everybody because some people are uniting under FAIR, uh, this organization that shows parents how to organize and how to make their voices heard.
00:21:30.640So forgive me, I, I don't mean to be criticizing you. You're doing a great job, but there's not enough of you.
00:21:35.640Um, so I'm sorry to use this as a pulpit, but I'm, I'm so agitated by this bill and so, so annoyed at, at Canadians who are so trusting of the state that they actually, uh, it does this, that this does not arouse their curiosity, let alone, um, their, their alarm.
00:22:00.640Well, it's sort of like, you know, we, we, uh, go along to get along until we reach a point where we can't go along anymore.
00:22:05.640And I think we, we recently saw that with the trucker convoy, at least initially, you know, for two long years, we went along with these draconian, uh, contradictory, hypocritical policies.
00:22:14.640It didn't really make any sense, but we had this sort of like collective idea that we were all in it together and we were gonna do what was necessary.
00:22:33.640Uh, it's great that people did, you know, kind of kick back, but then what was the message that a lot of people are taking from the freedom convoy?
00:22:42.640Well, if you do that, you're going to get, uh, punished with an act, the emergencies act, the, I mean, your bank account frozen.
00:22:52.640How many people, how many people took courage from the freedom convoy?
00:22:56.640And how many people took the message, Ooh, uh, I guess I don't want to be part of a movement that, um, you know, uh, that, that, that is very public about demanding my rights because my rights could be taken away.
00:23:11.640Uh, and I think that's unfortunately the message that a lot of Canadians took from the convoy.
00:23:18.640And I think that was the purpose of Justin Trudeau using heavy handed force against protesters was to, to, to, to put a chill in, in, in the, in the minds of Canadians, because I, we had it ourselves here, Barbara, where we were getting messages from supporters saying, you know, if I donate to true North, will I have my bank account frozen?
00:23:36.640And it's like, it's like, all they have to do is plant that seed of doubt in people's minds and, and conservative groups will take a hit because no one wants to do something that subsequently a month later is deemed to be illegal or something like that, or, or extremist.
00:23:52.640And then all of a sudden have to live with the repercussions for years to come.
00:23:55.640Listen, people like, people like Trudeau think we're in a war.
00:23:58.640And, and what he did was as good as put sanctions on people who support people like you.
00:24:06.640And he, if the idea is if you cut off the money, you shut down, you shut down the problem.
00:24:19.640And, and the number of times that he alluded to people who support the freedom convoy or people in the convoy as Nazis or Nazi adjacent Nazis.
00:24:27.640Nazi this Nazi, this Nazi that's was because when that was such a ridiculously nugatory, a little sidebar to the whole thing was disgusting to me, it was, it was such a calculated, such a calculated strategy for branding.
00:24:49.640A segment of the Canadian population as people that you are allowed to hate.
00:24:56.640Because who's the worst, who are the worst people in the world Nazis, right?
00:25:38.640Well, and I, and I think that's right.
00:25:39.640Like so many, I mean, my own grandparents and people in my family went to fight against Nazis in World War II.
00:25:46.640So the whole idea that somehow people standing up for basic freedoms today have anything to do with that ideology is so, to me, it's so, it's so untrue, Barbara, that I couldn't even take it seriously.
00:25:57.640Like when he said it, I laughed and I'm like, really, he's going to try with this.
00:26:00.640Like, I think even members of his adoring legacy media thought that he sort of jumped the shark with that one.
00:26:05.640But then I, I, you know, I read, I read a lot online and I read message boards and stuff.
00:26:09.640It's like, you know, the, the, there, there was something that stuck about that because the media for, for five years has been pushing this idea that the conservatives and the right are kind of flirting with the far right and the extreme right.
00:26:19.640And that means racial nationalism or something like that.
00:26:22.640You know, even though the, the, the people that they accuse of doing that, it's patently true that they don't do that.
00:26:28.640Uh, but they'll, you know, they'll find one example of one thing that someone said and, and kind of use that to paint the entire group.
00:26:33.640And I mean, it's, it's the same kind of problem, uh, as, as this bill with sort of the chilling of speech, the saying that certain things are not acceptable to talk about in our society.
00:26:42.640And that certain people are just beyond the pale end and they can't.
00:26:45.640Well, I mean, he said things that I, I like, seriously, if, if they were said by Donald Trump, like how long will we tolerate these people?
00:27:08.640They are, uh, and I'm not, I, I, in fact, I've written that we can't keep calling anybody a Nazi that, you know, but, but certainly, uh, one way of, of, of segregating a portion of the population.
00:27:22.640Is to insinuate, to imply that their ideas, their ways, their behavior are a form of, um, uh, that they are bringing a certain germ into the purity of the public forum.
00:27:44.640You know, we, the good people in this country are all getting vaccinated because we believe in moral hygiene and physical hygiene.
00:27:57.640Uh, so you want to paint people as bad.
00:28:02.640You paint them as a form of dirt in some way.
00:28:06.640They're bringing dirt into the house, into the, and then I, I didn't, I didn't laugh at him with all that talk.
00:28:14.640I didn't laugh at all because I could see it for the tactic that it was.
00:28:17.640I could even imagine him sort of discussing it with some of his, you know, uh, the people with whom he discusses things to, to decide how he's going to, uh, frame an issue.
00:28:32.640I, I, um, he's not as, he's not a stupid man.
00:28:36.640Um, and he's very determined to, uh, he's got his legacy, his vision of, of what he wants to, he wants to change this country, um, along, you know, to, to meet his own, uh, dreams and expectations.
00:28:54.640And, um, I have to say, uh, a lot of Canadians are, are allowing him, you know, they're supporting him and we've, we've got him for so long because we've deserved him as a collective.
00:29:19.640You know, they always say you get the government that you deserve.
00:29:21.640Well, hopefully with a conservative leadership race on the horizon, uh, something new will get offered and Canadians can have a real meaningful choice, uh, in the next election.
00:29:32.640Okay, Barbara, well, I really appreciate your insight on bill 67.
00:29:35.640I think that there's something to, uh, what you have done because, uh, Jordan Peterson and yourself came out really against this bill and it seems to be stalled.
00:29:43.640I know, I know it's, it's over in committee, it passed first reading and second reading.
00:29:47.640And then, and then that's when you guys started covering it and now it sort of stalls.
00:29:51.640So maybe the government will quietly make this bill go away because of, uh, the, the, uh, you know, raising of the alarm that you've done.
00:29:57.640So, uh, we appreciate that and we appreciate, uh, your time, uh, and coming on true north today.