Black Canadians report high levels of racism despite workplace improvements – Cornwall Seaway News

February 5, 2024

In the results of the survey released Monday, a little over 80 per cent of respondents said employers are making improvements — but a similar proportion said they’ve experienced some form of racism or microaggression in the workplace in the past year.

“While there is the overarching perception that progress has been made, still the majority, 81 per cent of people, are feeling racism, and that’s a very scary reality,” said Amanda Bartley, senior manager of management consulting at KPMG in Canada.

The share of Black people experiencing some form of discrimination was up about 10 percentage points from last year’s results, which suggests companies are not pushing below the surface enough to get to the heart of the issues, said Bartley, who is co-chair of the firm’s Black Professionals Network.

To get at the deeper issues, it’s important companies listen to Black employees, she said.