ABSTRACT
This chapter assesses the recent history of civil society action in combatting racism in Canadian society. Canadians were in general intolerant of racial and religious minorities. Racial and religious minorities experienced overt discrimination and were effectively excluded from participation in the country's economic and political mainstream. Up until the latter half of the twentieth century, racial discrimination and unequal access to economic and political participation forced the onus of settlement and integration into Canadian society on ethno-racial communities themselves. It was not until the mid 1970s, when the media began to report a number of particularly vicious racial assaults that racist behaviour appeared to become part of the Canadian consciousness. Civil society groups mobilized in response to these incidents. The increasing dependence of many non-profit anti-racism and settlement organizations on government grants and contracts decreases their ability to be vibrant members of civil society, as agents of social change and to be critical of government policy.
