The times they are a-changin’ in the wilderness. In the past year, critical race theorists and social justice activists have trained their guns on the systemic racism which, in their judgment, accounts for the conspicuous under-representation of people of colour in the National, State and Provincial parks of North America. They maintain that there is an implicit “whiteness” in the woods, that people of colour are in receipt of an inhospitable message that is conveyed in many subtle and not so subtle ways, including the fact that the uniforms worn by park rangers are reminiscent of the uniforms worn by police officers who target them in cities.
I can’t answer to these accusations. But I do know that African-Canadian visitors to the Great Bear Rainforest in B.C., and to Churchill, Manitoba, have been made to feel unwelcome by white supremacist bears. And it has to stop. Racial profiling in the hinterland is as unacceptable as racial profiling in urban Canada. Predators must not assume that a black hiker is there to case the joint, or a nature photographer of colour is guilty of loitering. We are all Canadians after all and it is high time that we treat each other with respect.
So what must be done? There are two standard remedies for this shameful circumstance. One is to subject these bears-of-privilege to diversity awareness and sensitivity training. Another is to arrange a focus group in the intimate setting of a small lecture theater, bears on one side of the aisle, and African-Canadians on the other. Let them hash it out and get to the root of their differences. Perhaps a Canadian version of Al Sharpton or Cornell West could be recruited as a facilitator, someone who would turn down the temperature and allow a calm and reasoned exchange. Alternatively, it could be modelled on Obama’s concept of inter-racial dialogue, where one side gets to do all of the talking and growling while the white side gets to do all the listening.
But I think that the key to truth and reconciliation between the two parties lies in the Contact Hypothesis. In a nutshell, the reason that folks and critters don’t get along is that they don’t know each other up close. And the reason for that is geography. Space. So obviously the answer is bussing. It has worked elsewhere and there is no reason that it shouldn’t work here in Canada. It is a universal truism that “Diversity + Proximity = Harmony”. If you don’t believe me ask people in the former republic of Yugoslavia.
