The mandate of N.B.’s systemic racism commissioner perpetuates the problem – IRPP

July 5, 2022

New Brunswick has skirted Indigenous demands for a public inquiry into the justice system by naming the commissioner, her former senior adviser writes.

If New Brunswick’s government is looking for an example of systemic racism at work in the province, it need look no further than the mandate it gave to its own commissioner on systemic racism, Manju Varma. Varma was named the first provincial commissioner on systemic racism in the country in September 2021, and I was appointed her senior adviser in October. Last month, I resigned.

She is now two-thirds into the one-year mandate from the provincial government to study the extent and scope of systemic racism and to provide recommendations to eliminate it from within governing structures and institutions.

Read More: https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/july-2022/systemic-racism-commission-nb/