Caste discrimination impacts the lives of many people in Canada, but human rights scholars and advocates are working to change that.
Most Canadians might think of a caste system as something that happens somewhere far away, a brutal vestige of times past, and certainly unrelated to life in this country. But while it’s invisible for many, it’s very real for many others. Its impacts are life-changing – and Canada’s legal system is paying close attention.
What is caste?
Caste is a system of social hierarchy that has existed for millennia. The term comes from the Portuguese word casta, referring to race or “breed.” While we can trace its use back to Portuguese traders in 16th century India, the practice of caste had already existed for thousands of years as a way to maintain social control through oppression and discrimination. Caste is usually associated with Hinduism, but also exists in some Christian, Muslim, and Sikh cultures. The Sanskrit term “Dalit” (meaning crushed or broken) refers to those on Indian society’s lowest rung, historically assigned to “impure” jobs like menial labour or sanitation. More recently, “Dalit” has been repurposed to represent empowerment against historical oppression.
According to the Dalit Solidarity Network, caste is “a form of social and economic governance that is based on principles and customary rules” involving “the division of people into social groups (castes) where assignments of rights are fixed by birth … You inherit your caste and it cannot be changed.”
Isabel Wilkerson, author of Caste: The Origins Of Our Discontents, calls caste “the granting or withholding of respect, status, honor, attention, privileges, resources, benefit of the doubt, and human kindness to someone on the basis of their perceived rank or standing in the hierarchy.” Ontario’s Human Rights Commission (OHRC) says caste identifiers include names, dialects, rituals, foods, and sometimes skin colour, with several groups considered “untouchable” and ranking lowest on the social scale.
Recognition of caste
Recognized as illegal in Canada and elsewhere, caste is studied in depth by academics, legal experts and human rights groups. Scholarly work focuses on how caste affects individuals in schools, workplaces and at public events. The United Nations has cited the devastating effect of caste on diasporic communities. It stated in a news release that “caste-based discrimination and violence goes against the basic principles of universal human dignity and equality, as it differentiates between ‘inferior’ and ‘superior’ categories of individuals, which is unacceptable.”
People facing caste discrimination have found it challenging to get legal relief. However, according to OHRC, Ontario’s Human Rights Code offers “necessary protections to deal with any potential form of discrimination related to a person’s caste or descent” and human rights laws can manage issues of caste discrimination in most cases. Section 1 of the Code says:
Every person has a right to equal treatment with respect to services, goods and facilities, without discrimination because of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, family status or disability.
The OHRC further states that organizations “have a legal obligation under the Code to make sure their environments are free from discrimination and harassment, bullying or a poisoned environment based on caste and the related grounds.”
B.C. caste-based human rights case
Like Ontario’s Code and those of other provinces across the country, British Columbia’s Human Rights Code promotes full and free participation in society, ensures understanding and mutual respect, and is designed to identify and eliminate patterns of inequality and resolve complaints from those experiencing discrimination.
A 2023 human rights case applies these principles. The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal awarded $9,000 to Manoj Bhangu over a claim that two men slurred him with the name of his Dalit caste at a company Christmas party in 2018. Bhangu’s claim centred on the humiliation he felt, as well as the physical violence and threats of death during the encounter. CBC reporter Arrthy Thayaparan said Bhangu spoke at the tribunal of his experiences in India, from “being kicked out of temples and playgrounds to having parents of his friends throwing out glassware he had used … Bhangu clearly established during the hearing the outcomes and experiences of lower caste groups.” These experiences led him to move to Canada to hopefully live free of caste-based discrimination. Tribunal member Sonya Pighin decided in Bhangu’s favour after hearing clear evidence of the altercations.
A paper, Caste-based Discrimination as a Developing Ground of Human Rights Law, by B.C.-based Gita Keshava, Jitesh Mistry and Satkaran Sandhu, written for a November 2024 human rights law conference, noted that in many cases like Bhangu’s, “place of origin, ancestry, race, and religion” intersect with one another, and “how they are treated depends on the context.” The intersectionality of these aspects of a person’s life may make it difficult for human rights tribunals to make decisions relating to caste, as there are many elements to consider. Added to this is economic status, write Keshava, Mistry and Sandhu. “The similarities of caste to class also present some difficulties in that it may open the door to economic status as a form of human rights discrimination, which courts and tribunals have historically resisted.”
Education and advocacy
Chinnaiah Jangam, a history professor at Carleton University and author of Dalits and the Making of Modern India, is currently completing an extensive study of caste in Canada. Jangam says in a telephone interview that in Canada, “the caste system is invisible, particularly to white people. It’s not invisible to the South Asian community, particularly from India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan,” and Sri Lanka. He adds:
It’s very visible because all the last names indicate the caste they come from, so the moment I introduce myself to an Indian, particularly if you belong to the Hindu religion, they immediately identify which caste you come from. So that becomes a primary indicator of what kind of social interaction you’ll be having with that person in future.
In the past, most Indian immigrants to Canada were high caste. Stereotypes of Indian newcomers perpetuated “a multicultural view of a homogenous, peace-loving, vegetarian community,” says Jangam. In the last 10 years, immigration from caste-oppressed and South Asian Indigenous groups increased, and these groups faced “discrimination, both in housing and social interactions.” Caste discrimination is also prevalent in schools, something the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) takes seriously. In 2023, the TDSB became Canada’s first school board “to recognize that caste discrimination exists in the city’s schools…The move addresses an issue important to the area’s South Asian diaspora, particularly the Indian and Hindu communities,” according to a Reuters report.
“This is something that exists, but people don’t talk about it because they are very scared about the stigma,” adds Jangam. His work to change attitudes includes workshops, research and writing. “We are trying to do educational advocacy as an important strategy because once people know there are legal means through which they can be protected, they will be confident to talk about their experiences.”
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DISCLAIMER The information in this article was correct at time of publishing. The law may have changed since then. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of LawNow or the Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta.
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