What Canadian city's ban on caste bias mean for the South Asian diaspora

The city of Burnaby in the province of British Columbia has unanimously voted to ban discrimination on the basis of caste, seen as a major victory for social equality campaigners.

This adds momentum to a series of measures taken by Canadian government agencies working towards including the repressive caste system followed by people from South Asia as a discriminatory policy. “This move is aimed to include caste-based bias as a discriminatory action in our employee policy and code of conduct,” said Councillor Sav Dhaliwal.

Dhaliwal said caste has been added to the protected category in the city’s equity policy framework.

Two other recent developments that furthered the movement to include caste as a protected category in Canadian policies include the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal penalising two residents in the province to pay $9,755 as compensation for using casteist slurs against a person belonging to a so-called low caste and the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) trustees voted in favour of addressing caste-based discrimination in its schools.

These are the latest in caste-based bias victories, with many jurisdictions in the North American continent bringing in laws and motions, including the State of California and Seattle City Council, to fight against caste-based hate.

The age-old Hindu caste system in India gives a rigid hierarchy to society, with Brahmins at the top, followed by Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras. While Indian laws protect people lowest on the social ladder, caste bias remains rife in the subcontinent, including Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

Since caste is assigned at birth, it prevents members of the so-called lower castes from moving up the social ladder.

In Canada, casteist practices have been recorded among other religious groups in South Asian communities, such as Sikhs, Muslims and Christians.

The big debate

As with any caste-related issue in India, anti-caste movements in Canada also saw a huge pushback, and it came from Hindu organisations. The reasons for opposing these moves include the argument that casteist practices don’t exist in Canada; if any, they are minuscule. These moves can paint the South Asians and Caribbean people as bigots, and those who claim to be anti-caste are resorting to Hinduphobic measures, they say.

“We object to linking caste to Hindu dharma (religion). When Canada’s oppression of Indigenous people is condemned, they don’t condemn Christianity. Or when Sikh or Muslim extremists do terror attacks, we don’t point out to their religion. So here too, caste is a social issue, not a religious one. Attack on Hindu religion cannot be considered acceptable under Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and Human Rights,” said Dr Ragini Sharma, president of the Canadian Organization for Hindu Heritage Education (COHHE), one of the Hindu groups that opposed the TDSB move.

The Hindu groups also argued that the “existing policy under the categories of ‘place of origin, ethnic origin, ancestry, and creed’ adequately covers caste-based discrimination if it were to be reported.”

In an emailed statement, the group Canadians for Hindu Harmony said, “This motion encourages division by forcing caste awareness among staff and students. This issue is currently non-existent, thus causing unnecessary fear, suspicion, anxiety, and confusion.”

Both organisations ran an online petition for parents in Toronto to mobilise support against the TDSB move.

“While teaching Black History and Indigenous Education, nobody says it divides the community, or that hurts white folks or white children; why do anti-caste moves bring this kind of opposition?” retorts Vijay Puli, founder of executive director of SADAN.

Dalit History Month

While 2023 saw quite a few events to celebrate April as Dalit History Month, the movement began when the Peele Children Aid Society (PCAS) held events for the last two years to promote Dalit History Month.

Burnaby City has declared April 14 as Equality Day since 2021. While these events were a precursor to the bigger movements in Canadian cities, it is important to note that the Peele region has the largest population of visible minorities in Ontario.

The South Asian Dalit Adivasi Network (SADAN) organised a panel discussion at the University of Toronto. The event had Yalini Rajakulasingam, a trustee of TDSB as a guest speaker.

Yalini rose to prominence for initiating a motion to add caste as a discriminatory policy in TDSB. “It began in May 2021 when the engineers’ case was going on in Silicon Valley; that is when it struck me, why don’t we identify caste discrimination in organisations, institutions, and workplaces like the TDSB.”

TDSB is putting together a document to be sent to Ontario Human Rights Commission to design a structure to address caste discrimination.

April marks the birthdays of two of the most prominent Indian Dalit leaders, Jyotirao Phule and Dr BR Ambedkar, the father of the Indian Constitution and the leader who paved the way for India’s public policy initiatives for the lower caste and feminist movements.

Dalit History Month soon spread worldwide as anti-caste activists and allies observed, celebrated, discussed, and shared thoughts to further the causes for marginalised Dalit communities (formerly known as the untouchables) and Adivasis (India’s indigenous people).

As Dalit History Month draws to a close, Councillor Dhaliwal anticipates that other Canadian local governments will take similar steps to outlaw caste, just as various organisations and local governments inspired the Burnaby City Council to do so.