Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2003 13:16:00 -0400
Subject: racism - The Canada Councl
From: julian samuel <jjsamuel-AT-vif.com>


M. Nourbese Philip, Toronto, Ontario,
Julian Samuel, Ralph Hajj, Rawi Hagi, Montreal, Canada

John Hobday, Director
The Canada Council
350 Albert Street
P.O. Box 1047
K1P 5V8
Ottawa
p: 800 263 5588 extension, 4200

RE: The use of all-white arts juries by Mona Kiame at The Canada Council

Open Letter to The Canada Council

Dear John Hobday:
	
We are writing to inform your office that we are extremely distressed 
at the recent use of an all-white jury put together by Mona Kiame 
within the Writing and Publishing section of the Canada Council 
(October 31, 2002). Needless to say, all recipients of awards at this 
competition were also white.

We, the undersigned artists–in particular M. NourbeSe Philip and Julian 
Samuel- have for the last two decades been engaged in the fight against 
the systematic exclusion of African, Asian and First Nation artists 
from the Canada Council and its provincial and municipal counterparts. 
Indeed, M. NourbeSe Philip was a member of the first Advisory Committee 
for Racial and Cultural Minority Arts Issues struck by the Council in 
1990. Her book, “Frontiers: Essays and Writings on Racism and Culture,” 
remains a seminal work on racism within the arts in Canadian society.

The Council, for its part, appears over the years to have responded to 
the challenges presented by structural and systemic racism within the 
arts. In 1993-94 the Council created a standing sub-committee on 
cultural diversity within the Council. In 1996-97 it released the 
report of the Second Advisory Committee for Racial Equality in the 
Arts. Further, in 2001 the Canada Council was a finalist for the 
Canadian Race Relations Foundations’s 2001 Award of Excellence. The 
Council’s website states that the "Council was among the top 
organizations out of 78 nominated for the award, which recognizes 
excellence in combating racism through policies, programs and 
practices." The Council’s website also states that the 12th Annual 
Report on the Operation of the Canadian Multiculturalism Act, 1999-2000 
recommends that "there is much to learn form the Canada Council’s work" 
which reveals "close links to culturally diverse communities across 
Canada...." and "inclusive approaches that integrate meaningful 
representation of difference and racial diversity at ...decision making 
levels."

In light of the above, and given the work done over the years by 
writers and artists like ourselves to ensure that all-white juries be a 
thing of the past, it is scandalous that the program officer, Mona 
Kiame, could, in 2002, put together an all-white jury to assess a 
competition in poetry in the Writing and Publishing Section and oversee 
the disbursement of funds to an all-white group of applicants. At the 
provincial and municipal levels in Ontario, it is now accepted practice 
that juries be racially, ethnically and culturally mixed. Given the 
number of Canadian poets from African, Asian and First Nations 
backgrounds, we simply do not accept that the program officer was 
unable to find at least one such poet to be on this jury. It is 
unacceptable to exclude African, Asian and First Nations artists from 
arts juries, and at best Ms Kiame’s actions reflect a shocking lack of 
expertise in her field, or simply a wanton laziness; at worst her 
actions appear to be disingenuously implementing an unwritten policy of 
white affirmative action–a return to the good old days.

In these times when racism has acquired a new patina of legitimacy as 
reflected in the general acceptance of the pernicious practice of 
ethnic profiling against Africans, Arabs and South Asians, we must 
remain vigilant. We cannot, therefore, allow the Council to turn back 
the clock to an era when it was acceptable to concoct all-white arts 
juries to disburse public funds solely to white artists.

Ms Kiame’s actions are so egregious a breach of the Council’s own 
stated policies, we ask that:

(a) Ms Kiame’s be immediately removed as an officer within Writing and 
Publishing;

(b) we be informed whether it is now the Council’s practice to assemble 
all-white juries;

(c) we be informed about the racial make-up of the juries in all the 
disciplines for the last five years;

(d) we be informed explicitly in writing that we will not be punished 
due to this letter, either by a withholding of funding, or exclusion 
from future juries.

Finally, we demand that an Emergency Jury of peers be set up 
immediately to re-assess M. NourbeSe Philip’s application: she was 
subjected to an all-white jury and all the recipients of awards from 
that jury were white. Failure to do this will signal an evacuation of 
very principles the Council has been recognised for by the Canadian 
Race Relations Foundation. It will also signal a disturbing lack of 
commitment on the part of the Council to fighting racism and a return 
to the unconscionably racist system of exclusion that we have all 
worked to destroy.

Julian Samuel, M. NourbeSe Philip, Rawi Hage and Ralph Hajj have all 
been recipients of Canada Council grants. M. NourbeSe Philip is also a 
Guggenheim Fellow in Poetry.


Sincerely,

Julian Samuel, Rawi Hage, Ralph Hajj and M. NourbeSe Philip.

c.c. PMO



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