Toronto / March 2025
“When we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard nor welcomed, but when we are silent we are still afraid, so it is better to speak.” (Audre Lorde)
Your Silence Will Not Protect You, is the title of one of Audre Lorde’s books of poetry and prose. When I was a young anti-racist feminist, and throughout my many years in the world of activism and advocacy, I’ve often reminded myself of these words when I became hesitant or at times afraid of the consequences for myself, my organization, my group or community, by speaking out about some injustice or other.
I have had several interviews with academic and community researchers and media over the past few weeks. One is reminded of one’s age when the calls to speak on the history of sectors and activism is much higher in volume, than those wanting to know your thoughts and vision for the future.) In retelling the stories of the past, memories surfaced not only of the triumphs but of the times (not too many I’m glad to say) when I hesitated to speak out forcefully, when I hedged my words with platitudes about a particular government or institution or policy.
I also recalled times when I did speak out, loudly and forcefully and suffered the consequences for it as an organization. I tell this story often, proud of the then younger sector leader standing up to the bullying of the provincial government of the day, hell-bent on shaping the political orientation of the organizations that they funded. Or more accurately, wanting to politically neuter civil society organizations.
Those of you who know me or have heard me speak over the years are probably familiar with this story. I recounted it earlier this week to an academic researcher who also just happens to work in the immigration ministry of one of our provincial governments outside Ontario. In short, it was OCASI’s twenty-fifth year dinner and dance celebration (we celebrated the 45th a couple of years ago). Our keynote speaker was a columnist for the Toronto Star who was known to be outspoken on a variety of issues.
We were in the throes of a great disruption of progressive work in women’s organizations, the immigration and settlement sector, anti-poverty movements, equity and racial justice work. The first acts of that government in coming to power were the significant cut of over twenty percent to social assistance rates, including the disability program, and the rescinding of employment equity legislation that the previous government had enacted.
Our keynote speaker used the opportunity of the soon to be called election to encourage the sector leaders and workers in the room to use our access to immigrant communities to encourage their participation in the electoral system. To use our language classes and other programs, our access to Faith communities, to mobilize against almost a decade of an austerity agenda that hurt the most vulnerable among us. He received a standing ovation from the over three hundred people in that room. One person, seated at my table remained in his seat as the applause continued on and on and on. It was the minister of immigration and settlement.
As the guests resumed their seats, the minister stood up, walked to the stage and taking the microphone from the host, launched into a tirade against the keynote speaker. He accused him of being a “Liberal mouthpiece” and of ‘politicizing newcomers”. He basically told off the audience for applauding the dynamic keynote address and reminded them of their ‘place’ as service providers.
There was pin-drop silence in the room as he went on and on and on. I could feel the many eyes on me, waiting for my response.
I knew I had to say something. This was a moment to act or to cower.
I felt myself stand up and move to the stage. I had no idea what I was going to say. As the minister came to the end of his ‘speech’, I took the microphone, said ‘thank you for sharing your remarks with us’. And without missing a beat, turned to the audience and said “This is democracy in action!”. The room exploded with applause. I looked towards the table where the chair of the Board of Directors was seated. She was giving me the thumbs up sign. It was a feel good moment.
The next day, I received a fax from the Ministry. We had been defunded. Less than a week before our annual members’ conference, the province pulled back $150,000 of our funding. Audre Lorde was whispering in my ear, ‘your silence will not protect you”. And I listened.
Fast forward eight years or so, and we’re facing a similar situation at the federal level. We had elected a government that was proudly anti-feminist, pro a certain kind of immigrant, was determined to cut to the bare bones in spite of a pre-election promise during their first mandate, to honour the Canada-Ontario Immigration Agreement. The political tension and deep animosity that existed between this federal government and the Ontario government proved to be a challenge and an opportunity. And for me, a personal moment of reckoning.
In fiscal years 2010-2012 the federal government made significant cuts to settlement funding across the country, but with much deeper cuts in Ontario. As much as $200M was cut from the Ontario region budget leading to significant cuts to the sector. Without any prior discussion or warning, ethno-specific agencies serving the African/Black/Caribbean communities were defunded completely. Agencies serving South and East Asian HIV/AIDS community lost their funding. As did women’s organizations providing services to South Asian and other racialized communities. The Council itself lost almost a million dollars resulting in the lay-off of eight staff. It was a brutal time in the sector.
The sector was in an uproar and looking to OCASI for guidance and leadership. Before we could formulate a coordinated collective response, some of the defunded agencies were rallied by the federal opposition parties and press conferences were happening calling out the federal government and demanding action. Media requests for comment were unrelenting. We put them off with a ‘no comment’, believing that quiet diplomacy was the way to go.
OCASI jumped on the phone with our contacts in the senior bureaucracy. They too were running scared. The Ontario Region office of the funder was also experiencing cuts and all their systems managers of indirect services were fired.
We reached out to political staff ensuring our letters outlining the impacts of the cuts on communities and employees and organizations reached the Minister. We pointed out the optics of defunding six organizations all serving racialized communities. Our entreaties fell on un-listening ears.
Just prior to the cuts, we (the OCASI Board and a Toronto member agency) had gotten into a dust-up with the federal minister of immigration over the agency’s intersectional antiracism policies. In response to a letter sent to him listing our concerns about his senior policy advisor’s negative media commentary on the agency’s work and its commitment to working within an antiracist and anti-oppressive framework (ARAO), the minister responded by sending a hand signed letter to the Board saying that while he will defend the rights of all to speak on racism, he would never fund it. He defined ‘it’ as critical race theory – echoes of which we continue to hear today in the national politics of our neighbours to the south. A veiled threat? Some of us took it as such.
Needless to say, no plea or factual argument could reverse the cuts. We turned our attention as the Council to mitigating the financial impact on the six or so agencies that were completely defunded. We spent the time advocating with the province and were successful in getting a pool of funds (about $1.2M if memory serves) to be shared among the agencies. The affected agencies also joined this advocacy effort so the credit belongs to them as much as it does to the Council.
The group pushed me and the Board to be more public, to speak out more forcefully against the cuts and the federal government. I, we chose the path of least resistance. We focused on what I was telling myself at the time ‘the whole’, sacrificing the few to save the whole. The defunded agencies questioned this approach at the time, labelling it as OCASI saving the larger white and male led organizations at the expense of the smaller, racialized and women led organizations. There is some truth there. Certainly not the intent, but clearly the outcome.
I have carried a secret shame about this for many years. And comforting myself with the bromide that we (I) ensured that the funding (at least for that fiscal year) was replaced by the province, didn’t and has never worked to assuaged that shame. I should have taken to the public sphere with a loud message against the federal government. I should have pointed out the sexist, racist, homophobic beliefs underpinning the decision to defund these organizations. I ducked. And as Lorde had cautioned so many years ago, ‘your silence will not protect you”. And it didn’t. Not speaking out didn’t stop the federal government from moving ahead not only with funding cuts, but with some of the most regressive immigration policies we had seen in a generation.
We are at a similar moment in our sector. Different drivers (I don’t believe the current funding cuts are due to racist, sexist, homophobic or xenophobic beliefs by this government) but similar impacts.
The sector is experiencing significant funding cuts. Provinces like BC are in a similar position to where Ontario was thirteen years or so ago. Will we be silent as a sector? Will we take the pragmatic approach and try and protect what hasn’t been decimated instead of taking an approach that says we will protect and we will fight to save what is being broken: funding, services and programs but as important, the relationship between the sector and the bureaucracy? A relationship of equals with shared goals and a shared vision of a robust, impactful, well-resourced sector.
The time is now for us to speak as a collective against the knee-jerk responses by the federal government to the growing hostility against immigration and various classes of migrants especially refugee claimants, international students and migrant workers in non-professional jobs. The government has decided to lay the blame of the result of short-sighted economic and housing policy at the feet of groups of people who came into an existing situation and are arguably the ones most impacted by the price crisis we’re facing here in Canada.
Funding for the immigrant services sector is tied to immigration targets and landings. What it does not factor in is the ongoing service needs of those already here. The demand for services is not decreasing while the supply of those very services will be compromised by the funding cuts to agencies across the country.
At the same time, we are hearing reports across the land of the change in tone by our federal funding partners as we negotiate reduced value contracts. One would expect that given the trusting and transparent relationships developed over decades, there would be some grace afforded to agencies grappling with staff lay-offs and reduced programming, while community needs remain constant and uncertainty grows about the future of the immigration settlement program.
My sector colleagues, we cannot remain silent. We must engage our elected officials to ask questions about the impact of funding cuts on communities of their government colleagues responsible for immigration. We must push and say no to the rolling back of good contractual practices we’ve established over the years, using the government’s own Code of Good Practice on Funding (2002) as our foundation.
We have and continue to work hard to build a sector that recognizes employees’ contributions and their right to fair and livable compensation.
We must hold the Department to its own commitments to gender and racial equity. To upholding the vision of the settlement and integration program, that no matter where a new im/migrant lands in Canada, they will have access to comparable good services from coast to coast to coast.
Let our vision for an impactful and successful sector be the motivation for our ongoing advocacy and activism.
Happy International Women’s Month!
In Solidarity!
dd