Indigenous racism appears to be normalized in Timmins according to the Ontario Chief Human Rights Commissioner.
Renu Mandhane toured the city the other week and says there is a lot of discrimination in the city towards Indigenous people when it comes to access to housing, services, healthcare and the way they are scrutinized in stores. It’s estimated that 10 to 15 per cent of Timmins’ population is Indigenous and Mandhane says something needs to be done to address these issues.
Mayor Steve Black says he wouldn’t say that racism is normalized in Timmins.
Black says he thinks the city is doing a good job of ending the discrimination by starting conversations with the First Nations communities, but more can always be done.
Mandhane says the Human Rights Commission plans to come back to Timmins within the next year to help those talks and provide training on human rights codes and cultural competency.