A convenient distraction: Is racist messaging being used in BC’s provincial election?

As British Columbia gears up for the provincial election, many voters feel anxious about their finances, caught in a double whammy of a slower economy and a prolonged affordability crisis. 

Instead of offering real solutions, however, some political parties seem intent on misdirecting this very real economic anxiety by scapegoating already marginalized communities, often stoking racism and xenophobia in the process.

In fact, ever since the economy started to slow down after the Bank of Canada’s aggressive rate hike campaign, the political discourse in BC has shifted dramatically. Immigrants and international students are blamed for the housing crisis and for driving down wages; people experiencing homelessness, addiction or mental health crises are blamed for making public spaces “unsafe” and engaging in crime; and basic steps towards meaningful reconciliation with First Nations are framed as threats to our economic prosperity. 

While avoiding overtly racist language, these misdirections often have a racial bias. They attempt to capitalize on fear and bigotry to get votes and conveniently divert attention from the real causes of financial insecurity that many British Columbians are feeling. These include: unchecked corporate profiteering from the cost of housing and groceries, and stagnating wages; systematic underinvestment in public services, particularly social and mental health and addictions services; housing and public transportation policies that have not kept up with the needs of a growing population; and immigration policies that have allowed Canadian businesses to treat the temporary foreign worker program as a source of cheap and compliant labour.   

Here are some ways that racist messaging is being used in BC’s provincial election, what it diverts attention from and our suggestions for evidence-based policies that address the underlying issues.

The bait: rising crime/threats to public safety

Recent polls show that crime ranks high on voters’ list of concerns this election. Both leading parties have promised to tackle crime by increasing police funding and implementing tougher sentencing.

However, Statistics Canada data do not show a significant surge in crime in BC. In fact, violent crime was down -4.4% in the province in 2023 and the crime severity index, which tracks the severity of crime reported to police, has remained stable over the last five years and is much lower than in the mid-2000s. 

What may be perceived as an increasing threat to public safety are the visible consequences of deepening poverty, chronic homelessness, the opioid epidemic and mental health crises—issues that cannot be solved by increased policing. In fact, they are typically worsened by it.

Policies that increase police funding and impose tougher sentences are not evidence-based solutions to crime. Research shows these policies disproportionately harm Indigenous, Black and racialized communities that are over-policed and under-protected, while they do little to reduce the occurrence of crime. 

Policing in Canada was originally developed to control and subjugate Indigenous communities. Police have been used as tools of settler-colonialism to enforce laws that dispossessed Indigenous peoples of their land, culture and autonomy. Over time, this role expanded to disproportionately surveil and control other racialized groups such as Black and immigrant communities.

“Tough on crime” policies build on this legacy. In just the last month seven Indigenous people across Canada were killed by police, including Vanessa Renteria Valencia in Surrey. Increased policing would put more Indigenous lives at risk.

In reality, “tough on crime” policies often do not address violent crime but rather target low-level offences tied to poverty, homelessness, or substance use. This approach shifts the response from public health and social services to law enforcement. And police interventions deliver punishment rather than support and do nothing to solve the root causes of poverty and addiction. 

Tougher sentencing inevitably harms racialized and Indigenous people who are overrepresented among those living in poverty or struggling with mental health crises and addictions due to wider systemic inequality. The result is to push vulnerable people into the criminal justice system.

Instead of criminalizing the visible consequences of deepening poverty, addictions and mental health crises, our political leaders need to advance policies that tackle the root causes of these issues and extend immediate support to people in need.

Achieving this would require dramatically expanded access to publicly funded, high quality mental health services—from prevention to crisis intervention—and implementing an ambitious poverty reduction strategy with a focus on deep poverty as recommended by the BC Poverty Reduction Coalition. However, as our colleagues at Health Justice have pointed out, it is much easier to use people with mental health and substance use issues as political footballs than to engage in the thoughtful work required to solve complex and longstanding health and social problems.

The bait: reconciliation is a threat to the economy

The BC Conservatives have promised to repeal provincial legislation that adopts the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), stoking fear that Indigenous land claims could stifle economic growth by blocking resource extraction and infrastructure projects. Even the BC NDP, despite leading the way on adopting UNDRIP in Canada, recently cancelled a planned reconciliation initiative, which reflected a broader political calculation based on these economic fears​.

That implementing UNDRIP would have negative economic consequences for British Columbians is a misdirection, one that piles on to the immense weight of discrimination against Indigenous peoples in our country. The economic squeeze voters are feeling today is not the result of Indigenous land rights or reconciliation efforts—efforts that are still in their infancy. Rather, it’s a result of policies that prioritize short-term profit over long-term sustainability and community well-being.

Corporate-driven resource extraction has led to environmental degradation without sustainable re-investment in local communities. Resource infrastructure projects—designed to maximize private profits rather than public benefit—have often neglected negative social and environmental impacts left in their wake for rural, often Indigenous, communities. The status quo has led to criminalization of land defenders and the BC Conservatives promise to push this approach even further.

Allowing First Nations to manage their lands will provide opportunities for economic self-determination and growth within Indigenous communities that have been excluded from land use decisions so far. These, are political decisions that havewhich has resulted in systematic dispossession and persistent poverty. We are already seeing examples of how First Nations land management can benefit both Indigenous and non-Indigenous residents of BC through the creation of affordable housing and sustainable jobs. 

Recognizing Indigenous land rights is not only just—it would ensure that future economic projects are inclusive and supported by all stakeholders. This inclusiveness can create a more stable, predictable and successful economic foundation for responsible resource stewardship.

The bait: focusing on racial equity is unfair to white people

Policies that prioritize racial equity like those envisioned under BC’s recent Anti-Racism Act are sometimes attacked as being ideologically motivated or impractical, or worse, for putting white working class people at a disadvantage. In reality, addressing racial disparities and making our society more inclusive is foundational to creating a healthy economy for all. 

Ignoring racial inequities under the guise of focusing solely on growing the proverbial economic pie perpetuates a race to the bottom for all working class people. This is because structural barriers to prosperity that stratify the economy, concentrate power in the hands of a few and ultimately harm everyone, not just marginalized communities. Racial justice and economic progress are not mutually exclusive but deeply intertwined.

We need all hands on deck to build the kind of province we all want to live in, yet we are failing to tap into the talents, creativity and experiences of the many British Columbians stuck in poverty, social exclusion or disadvantaged because they face discrimination and other systemic barriers when trying to access basic services like healthcare and education. 

The evidence is clear: Indigenous and racialized people experience widespread economic and social inequities due to deeply entrenched systemic racism. In a province where over a third of the population is racialized and another 6% is Indigenous, remedying racial inequities is not only a moral imperative but an economic one. 

Many of the most effective policies to reduce racial inequities, such as ensuring equitable access to health care and other public services, expanding the availability of affordable housing, good jobs with fair wages and adequate income support for those who have fallen on hard times, will directly benefit all working class British Columbians. These policies would also help redistribute wealth, resources and power in the province, thus supporting more sustainable economic growth in the long-term that benefits everyone. 

Elections offer a crucial opportunity for political parties to put forward big ideas to tackle our most pressing challenges. There is much that BC’s next government can do to address the affordability crisis, ease financial insecurity and make our communities more vibrant and welcoming for everyone, as we have written before. But we won’t get there by ignoring racial inequality, or worse, by embracing policies motivated by racial prejudice.

Topics: Economy, Election commentary, First Nations & Indigenous, Immigrants & refugees, Poverty, inequality & welfare, Racism & racial justice