https://www.dailyubuntu.com/Stories and verified facts on Ubuntu and systemic racism.en-CAhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/digital-solitude/holding-the-doorhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/digital-solitude/holding-the-doorHolding a door, smiling at the cashier, offering a coffee: research shows these small gestures matter far more than we think, for others and for ourselves.Digital Solitudehttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/war-and-reconciliation/jordans-principle-the-child-firsthttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/war-and-reconciliation/jordans-principle-the-child-firstJordan River Anderson died in 2005 while two governments argued over who would pay for his care; his name became a simple principle: the child first.War and Reconciliationhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/climate-and-the-land/redlined-neighbourhoodshttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/climate-and-the-land/redlined-neighbourhoodsIn the 1930s, maps decided which neighbourhoods deserved credit. Their red lines still weigh on the land we live on.Climate and Our Relationship to the Landhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/digital-solitude/in-the-picture-but-not-in-chargehttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/digital-solitude/in-the-picture-but-not-in-chargeSeeing more diverse faces on screen is not enough: in Canada, newsrooms and boards of directors remain barely open to racialized people.Digital Solitudehttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/digital-solitude/the-other-who-enlarges-ushttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/digital-solitude/the-other-who-enlarges-usHundreds of studies confirm it: meeting one another reduces prejudice, above all because it calms the fear of the unknown.Digital Solitudehttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/digital-solitude/when-our-discomfort-takes-up-all-the-roomhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/digital-solitude/when-our-discomfort-takes-up-all-the-roomThe concept of "white fragility" describes our defensive reflexes when faced with racism; useful and debated, it invites us above all to listen better.Digital Solitudehttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/economy-and-inequality/a-score-is-not-a-personhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/economy-and-inequality/a-score-is-not-a-personBetween 300 and 900, a credit score opens or closes doors. It measures a history, never a person's worth.Economy and Inequalityhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/economy-and-inequality/at-the-crossroads-of-injusticehttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/economy-and-inequality/at-the-crossroads-of-injusticeIn 1989, Kimberlé Crenshaw named intersectionality: some forms of discrimination only appear when we look at the whole person.Economy and Inequalityhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/economy-and-inequality/merit-never-arrives-alonehttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/economy-and-inequality/merit-never-arrives-aloneThe R score measures a rank, not a journey. And in the Toronto area, data show that Black students are suspended far more often.Economy and Inequalityhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/economy-and-inequality/naming-the-invisible-wallshttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/economy-and-inequality/naming-the-invisible-wallsSparked by a citizens' petition, the OCPM consultation led Montreal, in 2020, to recognize the systemic nature of racism and discrimination.Economy and Inequalityhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/economy-and-inequality/the-invisible-knapsackhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/economy-and-inequality/the-invisible-knapsackWhite privilege is neither wealth nor an easy life: it is everyday advantages we don't see, because they seem normal.Economy and Inequalityhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/exile-and-migration/making-the-other-a-strangerhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/exile-and-migration/making-the-other-a-strangerOthering turns a difference into a border. From everyday glances to dehumanization, it follows a slope we can learn to climb back up.Exile and Migrationhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/exile-and-migration/saint-jerome-first-stop-after-the-camphttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/exile-and-migration/saint-jerome-first-stop-after-the-campIn December 2008, the first Bhutanese refugees welcomed by Canada arrived in Saint-Jérôme. Their story raises a question: how do we make people want to stay?Exile and Migrationhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/exile-and-migration/the-weight-of-four-wordshttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/exile-and-migration/the-weight-of-four-wordsA harmless-sounding question can draw a border. Even people born in Canada are often reminded that they supposedly come "from somewhere else."Exile and Migrationhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/racialized-but-human/invisible-gears-pain-bias-in-medicinehttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/racialized-but-human/invisible-gears-pain-bias-in-medicineFalse beliefs about Black people's bodies still circulate in medicine. They change the way their pain is measured.Racialized but Humanhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/racialized-but-human/slav-curiosity-and-cultural-appropriationhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/racialized-but-human/slav-curiosity-and-cultural-appropriationIn 2018, the show SLĀV divided Montreal. An opportunity to ask how to borrow from a culture without erasing its history.Racialized but Humanhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/racialized-but-human/staying-with-discomfort-young-black-people-and-justicehttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/racialized-but-human/staying-with-discomfort-young-black-people-and-justiceIn Montreal, as elsewhere in Canada, young Black people are more often arrested and suspected. Numbers that disturb us, and that ask us to listen.Racialized but Humanhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/racialized-but-human/the-mirror-one-human-specieshttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/racialized-but-human/the-mirror-one-human-speciesScience confirms it: human races do not exist in biology. Racism, however, invented categories that still wound.Racialized but Humanhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/racialized-but-human/the-unspoken-internalized-racismhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/racialized-but-human/the-unspoken-internalized-racismThe Clarks' doll test showed how children end up believing the prejudices held about them. Naming this internalized racism helps free us from it.Racialized but Humanhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/racialized-but-human/the-weight-of-microaggressionshttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/racialized-but-human/the-weight-of-microaggressions"Where are you really from?" One by one, microaggressions seem harmless. Added up, they weigh. Research confirms it.Racialized but Humanhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/technology-and-dehumanization/a-shared-breathhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/technology-and-dehumanization/a-shared-breathFrom Morton's skulls to spirometers "corrected" by race, science long served hierarchy; today it is learning to undo it.Technology and Dehumanizationhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/war-and-reconciliation/forgiving-without-forgettinghttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/war-and-reconciliation/forgiving-without-forgettingForgiveness erases neither the wrong nor the memory. Where it has taken root, the truth first had to be told.War and Reconciliationhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/war-and-reconciliation/more-than-our-worst-momenthttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/war-and-reconciliation/more-than-our-worst-momentA memorial in Alabama names the victims of lynching. Telling the truth without reducing anyone to their worst act: a path toward shared humanity.War and Reconciliationhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/war-and-reconciliation/the-garden-with-two-soilshttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/war-and-reconciliation/the-garden-with-two-soilsRacism cannot be reduced to a hateful act. A gardener's fable helps us see its three levels, and where to start repairing.War and Reconciliationhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/war-and-reconciliation/arrested-at-a-wedding-on-dante-streethttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/war-and-reconciliation/arrested-at-a-wedding-on-dante-streetIn 1940, Italian Canadians were interned without charge. In 2021, the prime minister offered an official apology in the House of Commons, beginning with a Montreal story.War and Reconciliationhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/technology-and-dehumanization/robodebt-when-the-machine-accuseshttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/technology-and-dehumanization/robodebt-when-the-machine-accusesIn Australia, an automated calculation wrongly claimed hundreds of thousands of debts from welfare recipients. A royal commission found it cruel and unlawful.Technology and Dehumanizationhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/digital-solitude/the-fridge-that-doesnt-ask-your-namehttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/digital-solitude/the-fridge-that-doesnt-ask-your-nameIn Montreal, community fridges set up on sidewalks let people give and take without forms or screens, while demand for food aid soars in Quebec.Digital Solitudehttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/climate-and-the-land/aamjiwnaang-breathing-next-to-chemical-valleyhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/climate-and-the-land/aamjiwnaang-breathing-next-to-chemical-valleyIn 2024, benzene spikes led Aamjiwnaang, near Sarnia, to declare a state of emergency, then to a pilot project against environmental racism.Climate and Our Relationship to the Landhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/climate-and-the-land/bill-c-226-naming-environmental-racismhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/climate-and-the-land/bill-c-226-naming-environmental-racismSince 2024, a federal law has required Canada to study environmental racism and build a national strategy, expected in the fall of 2026.Climate and Our Relationship to the Landhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/climate-and-the-land/boat-harbour-returned-to-the-seahttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/climate-and-the-land/boat-harbour-returned-to-the-seaFor 53 years, a mill discharged its wastewater into a Mi'kmaw estuary; the community won an end to the discharges and a major cleanup.Climate and Our Relationship to the Landhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/climate-and-the-land/drinking-water-first-nationshttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/climate-and-the-land/drinking-water-first-nationsDozens of First Nations still live under long-term water advisories; a historic settlement shows that change is possible.Climate and Our Relationship to the Landhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/climate-and-the-land/environmental-racism-right-herehttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/climate-and-the-land/environmental-racism-right-hereWho breathes the smoke, who lives next to the dump? Environmental racism raises the question of "us" on the scale of a whole territory.Climate and Our Relationship to the Landhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/climate-and-the-land/grassy-narrows-the-poisoned-riverhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/climate-and-the-land/grassy-narrows-the-poisoned-riverAt Grassy Narrows, mercury dumped upstream poisoned fish and families; decades of struggle have won commitments to repair.Climate and Our Relationship to the Landhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/climate-and-the-land/heat-wave-2018-the-heat-that-isolateshttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/climate-and-the-land/heat-wave-2018-the-heat-that-isolatesThe 2018 heat wave caused 66 deaths in Montreal, mostly among people who were alone or ill: neighbourly solidarity saves lives.Climate and Our Relationship to the Landhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/climate-and-the-land/montreal-canopy-whose-shadehttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/climate-and-the-land/montreal-canopy-whose-shadeIn Montreal, tree shade is unequally shared between neighbourhoods; new plantings now target the hottest areas.Climate and Our Relationship to the Landhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/climate-and-the-land/paix-des-braves-as-equalshttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/climate-and-the-land/paix-des-braves-as-equalsIn 2002, Quebec and the Cree replaced years of lawsuits with a nation-to-nation agreement on the territory and the forest.Climate and Our Relationship to the Landhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/digital-solitude/a-law-against-online-hatehttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/digital-solitude/a-law-against-online-hateIn 2024, Ottawa tabled a bill on online harms. It died on the order paper, but the question remains wide open.Digital Solitudehttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/digital-solitude/january-29-remembering-togetherhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/digital-solitude/january-29-remembering-togetherAfter the 2017 attack on the Quebec City mosque, neighbours' solidarity helped a wounded community get back on its feet.Digital Solitudehttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/digital-solitude/loneliness-a-public-health-issuehttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/digital-solitude/loneliness-a-public-health-issueScreens promise connection and often deliver isolation. Ubuntu reminds us that we become someone in the presence of others.Digital Solitudehttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/digital-solitude/ministers-for-lonelinesshttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/digital-solitude/ministers-for-lonelinessThe United Kingdom in 2018, then Japan in 2021, gave loneliness to a minister. A strong signal: isolation is everyone's business.Digital Solitudehttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/digital-solitude/recess-regainedhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/digital-solitude/recess-regainedSince 2024, cellphones have been banned in class in Quebec. Since September 2025, they have been banned throughout the school, to leave more room for one another.Digital Solitudehttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/digital-solitude/the-hate-that-goes-unreportedhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/digital-solitude/the-hate-that-goes-unreportedPolice-reported hate crimes have more than doubled since 2018, but most hateful acts are never reported.Digital Solitudehttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/digital-solitude/the-phone-that-rings-on-mondayhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/digital-solitude/the-phone-that-rings-on-mondaySince 1962, Les Petits Frères has matched isolated elders with volunteers, in person or on the phone, so that no one grows old alone.Digital Solitudehttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/digital-solitude/tired-of-the-newshttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/digital-solitude/tired-of-the-newsNearly one person in two sometimes or often avoids the news. In Canada, it's 45%. What if we learned to follow the news together?Digital Solitudehttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/digital-solitude/when-young-people-talk-about-screenshttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/digital-solitude/when-young-people-talk-about-screensA National Assembly commission listened to more than 500 students and 7,075 citizens about screens. The young people also talked about their parents.Digital Solitudehttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/economy-and-inequality/a-public-service-that-looks-like-ushttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/economy-and-inequality/a-public-service-that-looks-like-usIn Quebec public bodies, visible minorities rose from 2.7% to 11.2% of the workforce between 2009 and 2022.Economy and Inequalityhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/economy-and-inequality/equity-is-the-lawhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/economy-and-inequality/equity-is-the-lawIn 2023, a task force chaired by a McGill professor proposed adding Black workers to the Employment Equity Act.Economy and Inequalityhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/economy-and-inequality/strength-in-numbershttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/economy-and-inequality/strength-in-numbersIn 1900, in Lévis, the first caisse populaire was born to free modest families from usury: an Ubuntu idea before its time.Economy and Inequalityhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/economy-and-inequality/the-answer-that-never-comeshttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/economy-and-inequality/the-answer-that-never-comesA CMHC experiment showed that in Montreal, rental inquiries from Black, Indigenous or LGBTQ+ tenants received fewer replies.Economy and Inequalityhttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/economy-and-inequality/the-cv-and-the-namehttps://www.dailyubuntu.com/stories/economy-and-inequality/the-cv-and-the-nameIn 2012, a test run in Montreal with fictitious résumés showed that, with equal skills, a name weighed heavily on who got an interview.Economy and Inequality