CANADA IS OFTEN THOUGHT TO BE A PLACE WHERE WE ALL GET A FAIR SHAKE, regardless of our cultural background or the colour of our skin. And around the world, our country has a reputation for being a welcoming new home for a steady stream of immigrants hoping to carve out a better life.

But is there truth to it all? Is racism really dead – or is racial equality a myth?

A growing number of scholars at U of T have been grappling with these questions, and have discovered that the answers are not simple. In the process, research centres and programs have begun to form across the university, including the Ethnic, Immigration and Pluralism Studies Program; the Anti-Racism, Multi-Culturalism and Native Issues Centre at the Faculty of Social Work; and the Centre for Integrative Anti-Racism Studies at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, to name a few. And researchers have come to play a key role in assessing Canada’s treatment of immigrants and cultural minorities in all aspects of Canadian life. The diversity of this research is reflected in these five profiles. click to continue