La guerre contre la drogue canadienne: violence structurelle et traitement inégal de la communauté noire au Canada

Cet article étudie l’impact de la guerre contre la drogue canadienne sur les segments de la communauté noire, et plus particulièrement sur l’impact de la violence structurelle, des interventions policières excessives ainsi que des hauts taux d’incarcération. Pour en savoir plus, en anglais, veuillez lire les informations ci-dessous.

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This paper examines the impact of Canada's war on drugs on segments of the Black community, specifically with respect to the impact of structural violence, over-policing, and high incarceration rates. It offers evidence of the systemic nature of these dynamics by examining the early context of the war, growing stigma against Blacks, globalizing influences, and the punitive focus of funding and policy.

It also explores how Black men have been identified as the main enemy and how drug control efforts have served to diminish the health, well-being, and self-image of Black men via discriminatory and inequitable treatment before the law. The current high rates of imprisonment of Black men are an indicator of systematic deprivation of significant social capital, which will perpetuate socioeconomic harm and cycles of violence.

This commentary calls for an immediate dissolution of policies regulating the war on drugs as the first step in remedying the injustices experienced by Black Canadians. Due to the lack of Canadian data in this important area, the paper also emphasizes the critical need for more research to shed more light on the Canadian-specific complexities.

Click here to read the full paper [restricted access].

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