Paki Bashing and Race Relations – How Bill Davis and Roy McMurtry Worked to Establish a Thriving Multicultural Society in 1970s Ontario

I grew up in Toronto in the 1970s and 80s when there seemed a kinder gentler politics around.   I had met Conservative Premier of Ontario, Bill Davis a few times and I campaigned for Attorney General Roy McMurtry in his Eglinton riding in the early 80s. I supported them for their positive policies in the 70s and 80s on inclusive race relations and their genuine efforts to make newcomers – the visible minorities welcome to Ontario at a time fraught with racial prejudice for South Asians – the “Paki bashing”I experienced on the streets.    

I had just turned fifteen in April 1974 and it was the day after moving to an apartment on Parkwoods Village Drive in Don Mills.  At the end of the first day of my new school, Donview Heights Junior High, I took a walk exploring the area at dusk towards Parkway Plaza.  I did not think much of the three boys who were walking towards me and suddenly I was on the ground being punched and kicked and for the first time to hear “Paki go home”. 

I was confused, scared and angry, did not know what they meant to call me 'Paki' at the time.  I stumbled to our apartment building bruised and battered, sat on the stairwell crying not wanting to show my face to my parents, yet I had to relent and go in.  When my mother asked me, I said I fell down the stairs and knew she did not believe me.

The next day in school, a new friend, Dominic Cursio asked what happened and I inquired what Paki meant and he replied, “That is a bad word for you guys".  He educated me on similar derogatory words for Africans, Italians and instructed - “Don’t take it man - fight back”. 

I did fight back, as on another day walking along a hallway, a youth lined to enter a class called me 'Paki'.  I reacted with a body slam onto the lockers and as the startled boy fell to the ground the teacher ran out to grab me and said, “That’s it, you are going to the Principal”.  As we were about to enter the office I managed to tell him, “That guy called me a Paki” and he immediately turned around to walk me back to the boy and asked him to apologize to me. 

Imagine my surprise!  

I realized then that this teacher had no issue with my colour, along with other teachers, administrators and most of the schoolmates I encountered.

There were the blatant few who did make me feel vulnerable.  Soon I learned that they were cowards, as whenever I challenged them, most retreated, except on the few occasions where I had to fight and on another - running was the best option rather than fight four.  

In the fall of 1979 - I took on three youth at Eglinton and Weston Road about 11 pm after I got off my job at Queensbury Arms restaurant.  That time I was saved by an Italian Pizza delivery person when he stopped his FIAT on the middle of the road, and another good Samaritan who gave me a ride to the Eglinton Subway - giving me reason to be optimistic about Canada. 

A Culture and a System that Honours Diversity

Through this tumultuous time I learned that the average Canadian was inherently open to welcome a stranger. Perhaps, this can be attributed to John Ralston Saul's assertion in his book A Fair Country that Canada's Aboriginal  culture to welcome, accommodate and include strangers to the circle is embedded in the Canadian psyche.  

I also realized that there has to be policies and laws to protect us from the mean and prejudiced few.  The most difficult kind of prejudice to deal with would be institutional and covert in nature – be it from an employer, a landlord or even an officer of the law. 

The Ontario government initiatives gave me comfort that, even if the streets were unsafe at times, a process and a system was being institutionalized to deal with discrimination.     

These initiatives showed how Canada, in the 1970s and 80s, was truly setting the stage as a multicultural, plural nation.  As I was politically interested and engaged, I began to learn about the pioneering race relations efforts of the Ontario government led by Conservative Premier Bill Davis.

Around this time Toronto was shamed when Shamsudin Kanji, a Tanzanian-Indian immigrant was assaulted at a subway station by two white youth and thrown onto the tracks. He committed suicide in hospital after both his legs were amputated.

With Mayor Gus Harris
Scarborough Civic Center 1983

All this prompted me to get involved in the Scarborough Community and Race Relations Committee established by Mayor Gus Harris and worked on initiatives to bring better cultural awareness and harmony in the changing face of our neighborhoods.   

Meeting the Pioneers - Bill Davis and Roy McMurtry

I met Premier Bill Davis when I was a volunteer cameraman with my father and a friend, Razvi Azeez around 1980 at Scarborough Cable TV for a talk show - People Participation hosted by South Asian host of Pakistani origin, Sydney Zaidi. 
 

Premier Davis made a lasting impression on me as I had an opportunity to chat with him after recording the interview.  I remember his genuine curiosity and interest about where I was from, what I was doing and planning for the future.  His gentleness, humility and disarming smile was a pleasant surprise and I realized that my colour did not make an iota of difference to him.  

Meeting Premier Bill Davis  for tea at Queens Park 1981
(L-R) myself, Jasvir Soor,The Premier, Sydney Zaidi, Jim Ball

I met him another time when he invited a few of us community volunteers for tea at Queens Park - again the conversations confirmed what a statesman he was.

I got to know Roy McMurtry similarly through the talk show and realized he was a decent man too and as Attorney General he made race relations his priority, especially as the South Asian community was increasing many fold with the influx of East African Indians.

Hon. Roy McMurtry - <Wikipedia>

Mr. McMurtry backed by Premier Davis, encouraged the creation of the Mayors’ Committees on Race Relations in Ontario.  He established a race relations division in the Human Rights Commission.  He was also aggressive on the law enforcement side, giving special attention to the activities of racist organizations whose leaders he encouraged to convict and jail. 

His efforts got the Court of Appeal to agree that any assault that was motivated by racism should be treated more severely in sentencing.  

I remember our family friend and Crown Prosecutor, Kingsley Wijesinha, telling me a story when he sought and won a conviction for assault. The accused called him a Paki as he was escorted from the courtroom.  The Judge who heard this called him back and added another year to his jail sentence. Later the Criminal Code of Canada was amended to reflect this principle.

McMurtry also persuaded the Ontario cabinet to issue an official policy statement on race relations from the government of Ontario. The policy statement was developed and displayed in thousands of public places, including classrooms throughout the province.

Electioneering

Being aware of these efforts, I decided to canvass for McMurtry with a few friends in his Eglinton riding for the March 1981 elections.  I spent a few days walking door to door, dropping leaflets and speaking to surprised people. 

Many were intrigued by a visible minority being active in the community and politics, at a time when it was rare.  The positive interactions informed me more about this inherent Canadian nature of acceptance.

I remember the joyful victory night with beer flowing, music, dancing and Mr. McMurtry being genuinely grateful for our participation.  I felt it well deserved for a decent man who worked hard to make life better for us in Canada.

In an address titled Investing in Our Diversity at the 

Urban Alliance in Toronto, on April 19^th 2007, the Hon Roy McMurtry, as Chief Justice of Ontario said; 

My many years as a lawyer, Attorney General, and as Chief Justice of Ontario, have made plain for me this palpable truth: the law alone is not enough to protect those who are of different colour, or those who profess a different religion. The law will never be enough, by itself, because there is no legislature in the world capable of legislating ultimate principles.

You cannot legislate to what degree a man must love his neighbour, nor even that he must not hate him. It is, I think, true of tolerance as it is of liberty, that, in the words of justice learned first hand: “...it lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no court, no law can save it; no constitution, no court, no law can even do much to help it; but while it is alive, it needs no constitution, no court and no law to save it”.

Well said, Mr. McMurtry - that conditioning to be kind, open and accepting humans has to begin with parenting, schools and media.  

Yet I knew the importance of setting a standard with legislation as a deterrent, as there is always recourse.   

I did realize that I had to take responsibility too.  As much as I appreciated the laws being there, I knew as a newcomer, I had to reach out too - to engage, communicate and educate people - take away the fears of a stranger, to build friendships, trust and community, as it is a matter of the heart and mind and it is a two way street.

This meant being patient with people who mispronounced my name or thought we all lived in mud huts in Sri Lanka or were surprised I spoke English or knew the same songs, had a car or played Rugby back there.  I realized that reaching out, being open and patient led to good relationships and people opened up and invited us to their homes too, as we opened ours.   

While the Canadian welcome complemented by far reaching policies and laws has created a vibrant and a colorful urban Canadian landscape, I do lament and am concerned about so many distinct people in cities like Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver becoming separated and polarized in language, religious and ethnic based schools and communities. 

When these Canadians miss opportunities to interact and learn about each other to become comfortable with the rich diversity of their neighbours, fissures in the multicultural and plural foundation of Canada may appear.  It is our collective responsibility to ensure that the original intent of these policies and laws are nurtured and perpetuated for unity and harmony.  

Its About Leadership

Haroon Siddiqui, Toronto Star Columnist published an article called Bill Davis and the art of human politics on August 9^th, 2009 paying tribute to him on his 80^th birthday.

Siddiqui wrote;

There was a time not that long ago when there were other ways of becoming famous, such as holding public office and serving the people in a modest, civilized manner. Bill Davis epitomized that ethos.

In 1982, when a determined Pierre Trudeau was not willing to compromise on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the provinces wanted leeway to override certain sections (the Notwithstanding Clause), it was the Conservative Bill Davis who convinced Trudeau to relent at the last moment - such was his personal power.

Section 27 of the Charter is what defined Canada as a multicultural nation.  

All this pioneering work by both Bill Davis, Roy McMurtry in Ontario, and Pierre Trudeau for Canada make them my Canadian heroes. 

McMurtry cites a threat from a white supremacist leader as a traitor to their race to thwart this important work, so we know all the risks that go with "doing the right thing" that may not be popular with the status quo (1).  

With Hon Alvin Curling at Queens Park 1988 

Their good work institutionalized multiculturalism, leading to wider acceptance and enabling astute and talented people like Hon Alvin Curling from Jamaica to be selected the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2003 to 2006; and Hon Yasir Naqvi of Pakistani origin to be elected to the Ontario Parliament from Ottawa Centre, a predominantly white Canadian riding to become a minister; and to the rainbow cabinet of the new Trudeau government in October 2015.

I take this opportunity to pay tribute to these brave and pioneering leaders - Bill Davis, Roy McMurtry, Pierre Trudeau and everyone else who laid the foundations for the truly multicultural and plural Ontario and Canada for now and for the future.     

Thank you.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) In a Letter addressed to Roy McMurtry by David Duke,The Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan wrote "In the name of the white race - take heed that your nefarious anti-white activities are being monitored and recorded by our international Klan movement. If you persist in your treacherous activities against the white race, I can assure you that there can only be grave consequences"  - Speech at Urban Alliance - Toronto 19th April 2007.