It is impossible to move on from the past without admitting and addressing what had happened. The future is bleak if the mistakes of the past are not recognized, addressed, and compensated for. Canada’s multiculturalism policy is set to fail because the country has failed to address the way it has marginalized several groups. Canadians compare themselves to the United States and convince themselves that they are better because they are not as bad. A long history of slavery, racist immigration policy, segregation and violence against Black people in Canada is continually disregarded because it is not taught nor talked about.

Shireen Ahmed was born to immigrant parents who were both avid hockey fans, in particular supporters of the Montreal Canadiens. She spoke about how she grew up surrounded by sports but it was not until the Olympics that she saw women’s sports being presented on the same level as men’s. Ahmed received a MA in Journalism from Ryerson University (now TMU) and worked as a freelance journalist until she joined the CBC. In 2021 she was the first hijab-wearing and racialised woman to appear on TSN and remains one of only four hijab-wearing sports reporters in the US and Canada. 

Sutton Hanna examines the myths about Canada that newcomers are told. As an international student himself, Sutton thought Canada was free of racism and discrimination - throughout his time in Peterborough/Nogojiwanong he has grown to understand this country has its own historical and present vein of anti-Black racism.