HRM Article Review

Carmela Patrias’ article “Race, Employment Discrimination, and State Complicity in Wartime Canada, 1939-1945” delves deep into the status of employment discrimination in Canada between 1939 and 1945 in a bid to depict the significance and nature of racism in the country. The article indicates that the pre-existing economic and social inequalities that were majorly influenced by racial connotations were heightened during World War II. Anxieties that were induced by the war resulted in a cloud of suspicion leveled against the foreigners who were portrayed as disloyal, unpatriotic, and radical could never become pure Canadians. The term foreigner as used by Canadian people and authorities encompassed a big number of individuals that were naturally born or naturalized in the country, and they ranged from Japanese dissidents, Jews, and dissidents from southern, central, and eastern Europe. African Canadians and the natives were also not spared during this era of extreme racism.

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            The author identifies the various racial stereotypes that were intensified as a result of the suspicions created by the war. The sharply racist assumptions that were brought into focus include the perceptions that southern and eastern Europeans, the Native people, and African Canadians could only be employed to do menial jobs. Moreover, they promoted the notion that Japanese Canadians, Chinese, and, Jews were economically aggressive individuals out to take away opportunities from Canadian citizens. In addition, Jews were believed to be likely participants in shady or untrustworthy practices.

            Moreover, the author looks at how the increased racial stereotypes served to legitimize the ongoing marginalization of targeted racial minorities in the job market. Of importance is Patrias’ assessment of the role the state played in perpetrating or encouraging open discrimination against individuals based on their names or origins in the provision of employment. While the author points out that not all Canadians or governmental officials were racists, she clarifies that their willingness to encourage or turn a blind eye on the discrimination and economical oppression of individuals underscores the levels of racism in Canada during the war. The author asserts that most of the state officials who were open to racism held the view that undertaking any other option would increase the chances of mass unrest in the country and disrupt the country’s economy. Also, these officials benefited in the sense that they were able to fill the menial job positions widely available in the country. In other words, the relegation of communities considered to be minorities such as Japanese Canadians, Jews, Chinese Canadians, Natives, and African Canadians aided in ensuring that the jobs that most Canadian avoided owing to the availability of an array of options were filled.

            To put the economic and social racial discrimination into perspective, the author provides an example of how a group of Slavic workers had been denied a legitimate opportunity owing to their racial backgrounds. Having moved from Alberta to Ontario, the group believed that the fact that they were naturalized Canadian citizens with a background and skilled in warfare owing to their training would guarantee them jobs in the war industry. However, upon learning their names, they were refused employment and had to return back to their homes. This example serves to highlight the levels of racism that prevailed during the period. Despite the acute and evident shortage of workers skilled in the war industry, employers were not willing to hire available skilled workers owing to their skin color and family names.