Latest news with #unconsciousBias
Times
12-05-2025
- Business
- Times
Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones: ‘Buyers asked, is this food for black people?'
A few months ago, Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones was sitting in his car outside his flat in Battersea, southwest London, when a stranger got in the back. It was the second time in less than a year that the black entrepreneur had been mistaken for a taxi driver. 'It makes me laugh because I'm pretty successful, but that unconscious bias means people see the colour first and then make decisions based on the assumption.' Emmanuel-Jones recalls the incident because a desire to challenge such assumptions is at the heart of his latest venture, a chain of mainly urban farm shops under the banner of his existing food brand, The Black Farmer. The idea, he says, is to bridge the divide between rural and urban, help diverse entrepreneurs
National Post
07-05-2025
- Politics
- National Post
Peter MacKinnon: The University of Saskatchewan is on an ideological mission. It needs to end
I must disclose my background here; I was employed by the University of Saskatchewan for 40 years including 13 years as president. The institution's distinctive origins combined the development of liberal education with a responsibility to build the province's agricultural industry, and it did the latter with world-class agricultural programs and research institutes, and with faculty and students of many backgrounds from around the globe. Article content Article content Now, we are told, the academic personnel in this worldly environment require mandatory training on racism: an Anti-Racism/Anti-Oppression and Unconscious Bias Faculty Development Program. It is compulsory; those who decline its offerings will be shut out of collegial processes previously thought to be their right as tenured faculty. It was earlier reported that the program emerged from collective bargaining at the initiative of the university's faculty union; if so, this does not relieve the administration from responsibility; it signed the collective agreement. Article content Article content 'Program' is a euphemism. It is a propaganda module in which scholarly expertise and balance will not be found. It does not appear that the instructor has a university academic post and the program's ideological hue is revealed in the two required readings, one by Idle No More co-founder Sheelah McLean whose theme is that the success of Saskatchewan's white people is built on '150 years of racist, sexist and homophobic colonial practices.' The second is by five 'racialized' faculty who claim that Canadian university systems are rigged to privilege white people. Dissent, contrary views or even nuance are neither expected nor tolerated here. Opinions that are different are not on the reading list. One participant, a law professor, was invited to leave after 30 minutes because he did not lend his voice to its purpose and orientation; he revealed that he was present because it was required. The purpose of the program is indoctrination and there is no room for dissent. Article content Article content The program is part of an ideological crusade within our universities, one that includes identity-based admissions and faculty appointments, and discourages those who differ from speaking out or taking issue with its direction. It is not present to the same degree in all of these institutions, but it is visible in most and prominent in many. It disparages merit, distorts our history and rests on the proposition that a white majority population has perpetrated a wide and pervasive racist agenda against others. It takes its conclusions as self-evident and not requiring evidence. It is authoritarian and intolerant, and should have no place in institutions committed to excellence and the search for truth. Article content The question, of course, is what is to be done. There is a view that 'this too shall pass;' it is a fad that will recede in time. But, we must note, these are public institutions supported by tax dollars, and by the contributions of time and money by alumni and supporters. We should not tolerate their politicization and sidetracking of the academic mission in favour of the ideology on display here. The pushback should begin with governments and extend to others who care about these vital institutions.
