Rochelle Wilner President	Frank Dimant Chief Executive Officer	Prof. Stephen Scheinberg National Chair

Yom ha-Shoah Holocaust Memorial Day
Teacher’s Guide

Glossary of Terms

Aboriginal People:

A term frequently used to describe the first inhabitants of what is now Canada, and their descendents. Each Nation of "Turtle Island" (North America) has a name for themselves which when translated implies “The People” or “The Human Beings.” Other terms include First Nations, Native, Indigenous, Indian, Metis, Dene and Inuit. Some of these terms are generic and some describe a subset within Aboriginal societies. The preferred terminology fluctuates for several reasons, including problems with "outside naming", categorization, and different Tribal and regional preferences. An effective approach is to consult with the person or group addressed to find out their preferred terminology.

Acculturation:

The process whereby the culture, values and patterns of the majority are adopted by a person or an ethnic, social, religious, language or national group. This process can also involve absorbing aspects of minority cultures into the majority culture’s patterns.

Adverse Impact:

The numerical impact of employment practices that disproportionately exclude designated groups. This is a signpost to investigate possible discrimination. It is not a measure of discrimination.

Affirmative Action:

A set of explicit actions or programs designed to increase participation at all levels of employment for and by individuals or groups previously excluded from full participation.

Anti-Racist Education:

A perspective that permeates all subject areas and school practices, aimed at the eradication of racism in all its various forms.

Antisemitism:

Latent or overt hostility directed towards individual Jews or the Jewish people, leading to social, economic, institutional, religious, cultural or political discrimination. Antisemitism has also been expressed through individual acts of physical violence, vandalism, and the organized destruction of entire communities.

Assimilation:

The full adoption by an individual or group of the culture, values and patterns of a different social, religious, linguistic or national group, resulting in the elimination of attitudinal and behavioral affiliations from the original group.

Attitude:

The state of mind which makes us act in certain ways about social events or objects; a consistent pattern of thoughts, beliefs, emotions and reactions.

Barrier:

An overt or covert obstacle; used in employment equity to mean a systemic obstacle to equal employment opportunities; an obstacle which must be overcome for equity to be possible.

Bias:

A subjective opinion, preference, prejudice or inclination formed without reasonable justification, that influences an individual’s or group’s ability to evaluate a particular situation objectively or accurately; a preference for or against.

Bigot:

One stubbornly or intolerantly devoted to one’s opinions and prejudices.

Bilingualism:

The ability to utilize two languages with equal fluency.

Black People:

People originally of Black African heritage. Because of a long history of colonialism and migration, Black persons now come from all parts of the world, including Canada.

Bona Fide Occupational Requirement:

A workplace requirement that is directly related to a person’s ability to perform a specific job.

Censorship:

The act of implementing a policy or program designed to suppress, either in whole or in part, the production of or access to information, sources, literature, the performing arts, letters.

Conciliation:

Primarily an informal communications process aimed at getting the parties to establish meaningful dialogue, combat rumors and suggest cooperative ways of solving mutual problems.

Culture:

The ideas, beliefs, values, activities, knowledge and traditions of a group of individuals who share a historical, geographic, religious, racial, linguistic, ethnic or social context, and who transmit, reinforce and modify those ideas, beliefs, etc. A culture is the total of everything an individual learns by being immersed in a particular context. It results in a set of expectations for appropriate behavior in seemingly similar contexts.

Designated Groups:

Social groups whose individual members have been denied equal access to employment, education, social services, housing, etc. because of membership in the group. The designated groups in Ontario are visible minorities, women, aboriginal peoples and persons with disabilities.

Disability:

Inborn or assigned characteristics of an individual that may prevent full participation in educational, social, economic, political, religious, institutional or formal activities of a group, or that may require accommodation to enable full participation. Visible disabilities are readily apparent and consequent discrimination or stigma may be more predictable than with invisible disabilities which are not immediately apparent. Persons with disabilities form one of the designated groups in employment equity programs. An important aspect of this definition is voluntary self-identification.

Discrimination:

The denial of equal treatment, civil liberties and opportunity to individuals or groups with respect to education, accommodation, health care, employment and access to services, good access to services, goods and facilities. Discrimination may occur on the basis of race, nationality, gender, age, religion, political or ethnic affiliation, marital or family status, physical, developmental or mental disability.

Dominant Group:

See Majority.

Emigration:

The process of leaving one’s home or country in order to settle in another home, place or country, for personal, economic, political, religious or social reasons.

Employment Equity:

A program designed to remove barriers to equality in employment by identifying and eliminating discriminatory policies and practices, remedying the effects of past discrimination, and ensuring appropriate representation of the designated groups.

Equal Opportunity Program:

An explicit set of policies, guidelines and actions devised to eradicate discriminatory practices and to ensure access to and full participation in educational and employment opportunities, housing, health care, and the services, goods and facilities available to the general community.

Ethnicity:

The multiplicity of beliefs, behaviors and traditions held in common by a group of people bound by particular linguistic, historical, geographical, religious and/or racial homogeneity. Ethnic diversity is the variation of such groups and the presence of a number of ethnic groups within one society or nation. The word ethnic is often used to denote non-dominant of less powerful cultural identities in Canada.

Ethnocentrism:

Tendency to view others using one’s own group and customs as the standard for judgement, and the tendency to see one’s group and customs as the best.

Genocide:

Deliberate decisions and actions made by one nation or group of people in order to eliminate, usually through mass murder, the entirety of another nation or group. The term has also been used to refer to the destruction of the culture of a people, as in cultural genocide.

Harassment:

Persistent, on-going communication (in any form) of negative attitudes, beliefs or actions towards an individual or group, with the intention of placing that person(s) in a disparaging role. Harassment is manifested in name calling, jokes or slurs, graffiti, insults, threats, discourteous treatment, and written of physical abuse. Harassment may be subtle or overt.

Hate Propaganda:

Ideologies and beliefs transmitted in written, verbal or electronic form in order to create, promote, perpetuate or exacerbate antagonistic, hateful and belligerent attitudes and action against a specific group or groups of people.

Holocaust:

Widespread destruction and loss of life, especially by fire. The term (with a capital "H") specifically refers to the murder of over six million Jews in concentration camps during World War II.

Immigrant:

One who moves from one country to another with the intention of settling. This may be for a variety of personal, political, religious, social or economic reasons. The word is sometimes used incorrectly to refer, implicitly or explicitly, to people with color or with non-dominant ethnicities.

Inclusive Language:

The deliberate selection of vocabulary that avoids accidental of implicit exclusion of particular groups and that avoids the use of false generic terms, usually with references to gender.

Institutions:

Fairly stable social arrangements through which collective actions are taken (e.g., government, business, unions, schools, churches, courts, police).

Integration:

The process of amalgamating diverse groups within a single context, usually applied to inter-racial interaction in housing, education, political and socio-economic spheres of activity, or the incorporation of children, defined as disabled, into neighborhood schools and classrooms. Integration is the policies and action that end segregation. It may be differentiated from desegregation on the basis of interaction as opposed to technical conformity to desegregationist laws and policies.

Intercultural Communications:

Information exchange where the sender and receiver are of different cultural, ethnic or linguistic backgrounds.

Majority:

Refers to the group of people within a society that is either largest in number or that successfully shapes or controls other groups through social, economic, cultural, political, military or religious power. The term suggests superior social position. In most parts of Canada, the term refers to White, English-speaking, Christian, middle to upper income families.

Marginalization:

With reference to race and culture, the experience of persons who do not speak the majority group’s language, cannot find work or gain access to social services and therefore, cannot become participating members of society.

Mediation:

The intervention into a dispute or negotiation of an acceptable impartial and neutral third party, who has no authoritative decision-making power, to reach voluntarily an acceptable settlement of issues in dispute. In a race relations context, its aim is to reach a signed agreement setting out specific steps to be taken by each side to restore racial harmony and peaceful relations.

Minority Group:

Refers to a group of people within a society that is either small in numbers or that has little or no access to social, economic, political or religious power. The term may imply inferior social position. In common use, Racial or Visible Minority describes people who are not White; Ethnic Minority refers to people whose ancestry is not English of Anglo-Saxon; Linguistic Minority refers to people whose first language is not English (French in Quebec).

Multiculturalism:

An ideology within one society that endorses cultural pluralism where all cultures have equal status. A policy announced by the federal government in 1971, acknowledging that many Canadians with non-dominant ethnicity experience unequal access to resources and opportunities.

Oppression:

The subjugation of one individual or group by a more powerful individual or group, using physical, psychological, social or economic threats or force, and frequently using an ideology to sanction the oppression.

People of Color:

A term which applies to all people who are not seen as White by the dominant group. The term is an attempt to describe people with a more positive term than non-White or minority which frames them in the context of the dominant group.

Persons with Disabilities:

Refers to persons who identify themselves as experiencing difficulties in carrying out the activities of daily living or disadvantage in employment, and who may require some accommodation because of a long term of recurring, physical or developmental condition.

Pluralism:

A state in society where some degree of cultural, linguistic, ethnic, religious or other group distinctiveness is maintained and valued. Pluralism is promoted by policies of multiculturalism and race relations, the Human Rights Codes and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Prejudice:

A state of mind; a set of attitudes held by one person or group about another, tending to cast the other in an inferior light, despite the absence of legitimate or sufficient evidence; means literally to "pre-judge"; considered irrational and very resistant to change, because concrete evidence that contradicts the prejudice is usually dismissed as exceptional. Frequently, prejudices are not recognized as false or unsound assumptions and, through repetition, come to be accepted as common sense notions and, when backed with power, result in acts of discrimination and oppression against a group or individual.

Race:

A social and political rather than a scientific construct, used to classify people according to common ancestry or descent. It differentiates by physical characteristics such as skin and eye color, hair type, stature, facial features, etc. Race is sometimes socially defined based on religion or language.

Race Relations:

The pattern of interaction, in an inter-racial setting, between people who are racially different. In its theoretical and practical usage, the term has also implied harmonious relations, i.e., races getting along. Two key components for positive race relations are: elimination of racial intolerance arising from prejudicial attitudes; and removal of racial disadvantage arising from the systemic nature of racism.

Racial Discrimination:

According to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (to which Canada is a signatory), racial discrimination is any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, color, descent, or national or ethnic origin, which nullifies or impairs the recognition, enjoyment or exercise of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.

Racial (or Visible) Minority:

A term which applies to all people who are not seen as White by the dominant group. These people include Aboriginal, Black, Chinese, South Asian, South East Asian and other peoples. The term that many Black and Brown people prefer is "people of color".

Racism:

Racism stems from a set of implicit or explicit beliefs, erroneous assumptions and actions based upon an ideology of inherent superiority of one racial or ethnic group over another. It is evident within organizational or institutional structures and programs as well as within individual thought or behavioral patterns. Racism is any action or institutional practice, backed by institutional power, which subordinates people because of their color or ethnicity. Racist slurs are insulting or disparaging statements directed towards a particular racial or ethnic group. Racist incidents express racist assumptions and beliefs through banter, racist jokes, name calling, teasing, discourteous treatment, graffiti, stereotyping, threats, insults, physical violence or genocide. The term racist refers to an individual, institution or organization whose beliefs and actions imply or state that certain races have distinctive negative or inferior characteristics.

Sexism:

Sexism stems from a set of implicit or explicit or implicit beliefs, erroneous assumptions and actions based upon an ideology of inherent superiority of one gender over another and is evident within organizational or institutional structures and programs as well as within individual thought or behavior patterns. Sexism, like racism, is a discriminatory act backed by power. Sexism is any act or institutional practice, backed by institutional power which subordinates people because of gender. While, in principle, sexism may be practiced by either gender, most of our societal institutions are still the domain of men and usually, the impact of sexism is experienced by women. Sexism is also any action by an individual (usually male) supported by the threat of physical power which seeks to subordinate another individual (usually female).

Sexual Harassment:

Sexual harassment is persistent or abusive sexual attention by a person who knows or should know that such attention is unwanted; or implied or expressed promise of reward for complying with a sexually-oriented request; or implied or expressed threat or reprisal, in the form of actual punishment or the withholding of opportunity for refusal to carry out a sexually-oriented request; or sexually-oriented remarks and behavior which may create a negative psychological and emotional environment.

Social Justice:

A concept premised upon the belief that each individual and group within society is to be given equal opportunity, fairness, civil liberties and participation in the social, educational, economic, institutional and moral freedoms and responsibilities valued by the community.

Stereotype:

A false or generalized conception of a group of people which results in an unconscious or conscious categorization of each member of that group, without regard for individual differences. Stereotyping may be based upon misconceptions and false generalizations about race, age, ethnic, linguistic, geographical or natural groups, religions, social, marital or family status, physical, developmental or mental attributes, or gender.

Systemic Discrimination:

The institutionalization of discrimination through policies and practices which may appear neutral on the surface but which have an exclusionary impact on particular groups, such that various minority groups are discriminated against, intentionally or unintentionally.

White:

A social color. The term is used to refer to people belonging to the dominant group in Canada. It is recognized that there are many different people who are "White" but who face discrimination because of their class, gender, ethnicity, religion, age, language, and geographical origin. Grouping all these people as "White" is not to deny the very real forms of discrimination that people of certain ancestry, such as Italian, Portuguese, Jewish, Armenian, Greek, etc. face because of these factors.

Glossary Adapted From The Following Sources

Chartrand, P., "Terms of Division: Problems of Outside-Naming for Aboriginal People in Canada" (1991) Journal of Indigenous Studies.

Council on Interracial Books for Children, New York.

Endicott, Fran and Mukherjee, Alok, A Glossary of Terms developed for a workshop on anti-discriminatory organizational change.

Lee, E., Letters to Marcia: A Teacher’s Guide to Anti-racist Education, Cross Cultural Communication Centre, (1985), Toronto.

Lockhart, A. R., Human Rights Training, Ontario Ministry of Correctional Services, (1986).

Mock, Karen R., Race Relations Training: A Manual for Practitioners and Consultants, Ontario Race Relations Directorate, Ministry of Citizenship, (1988).

Ontario Ministry of Citizenship, Intercultural Communications Workshop, (1988).

Thomas, B., Multiculturalism at Work, YWCA of Metropolitan Toronto, (1987).

Wood, D., Cultural Heritage… Your Neighbourhood, Alberta Educational Communications Corp, (1983).

Contact: Julie Borst, Education Officer 416-633-6224 ext. 145 or
e-mail jborst@bnaibrith.ca

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