From the US to the UK, France and Germany, Western countries have been crippled over by bitter divisions of race, immigration and anti-Muslim sentiment. We can even see currently in the United States, where racial tensions have risen exponentially due to the tragic deaths of several Black and people of colour due to police brutality. Amidst all of this, Canada seems to be the only western country holding out. It is seen as a liberal multicultural utopia where everyone is free and happy. Canada condemned the police brutality happening in the US very quickly and seemed proud to be nothing like our southern neighbour.

Yet with the recent killing of Ejaz Choudhry, a 62-year-old Pakistani Canadian man with schizophrenia and physical illness, and Regis-Korchinski-Paquet, an Indigenous-Black Canadian woman who suspiciously fell 24 stories from a balcony during a private encounter with the police, it's becoming more and more apparent that Canada too has a problem of systemic racism and police brutality. The question is, why do we treat it as if there is none?

A CBC News investigation found black people made up 36.5 percent of fatalities involving Toronto police, despite accounting for just 8.3 percent of the city's population, in the period from 2000-17. But do you know what's scarier? There is no official national record of the number of people who have died during their encounters with police. Detailed statistics about the use of force incidents are barely or not routinely released. And if they do, it is not based on race, ethnicity or other factors, making it impossible to understand or prove what happened during tragic police encounters.

Another example is the Indigenous people. From the beginning of colonialism, residential schools and poor communities, and a racist/stereotypical outlook on Indigenous people, they have been much more vulnerable to police brutality. In Winnipeg, Indigenous people made up about 10.6 percent of the city's population. But more than 60 percent of the people who died in police encounters were Indigenous. (In April, Winnipeg police officers shot and killed three Indigenous people in 10 days.) You can see the systemic racism through Canada's healthcare as well. Indigenous people have the highest chance of having chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease.

Even if one argues that it is "worse" in the United States, at least such widespread outrage and outcries are happening in the United States, acknowledgement is happening, and people are standing up for what is right. As Canada moves forward as a "progressive and tolerant" leader in the Western world, we cannot put our racial issues on the backburner and cover it with a nice stereotype about Canadians being friendly and welcoming. No matter how progressive we seem to be or are, there always has to be room for reconciliation, improvement and action to lead to a more just society and country.