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Progress in the discourse on redress and reparations |
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Most recently, this topic has received extensive support within the international community and the Canadian setting. Specifically, the UN World Conference Against Racism held in Durban, South Africa, August - September, 2001 achieved historic resolutions recognizing redress and reparations as appropriate remedies for injustice. Subsequently, the UN Special Rapporteur on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in his report on his mission to Canada, endorsed the call on the Federal Government, and the Nova Scotia Provincial Government to pay reparations to the Chinese Canadian Community and the Africville Community of Nova Scotia, respectively. These latest international developments have signaled a renewed fervor among discriminated communities who have been historically victimized by the unjust policies and actions of government and corporations.
It is important to note that while redress and reparations is an important remedial vehicle through which governments and corporations can acknowledge their past racist practices and the injustices they (the practices) caused and continue to cause for the victims in present day, it can have a more profound impact in setting standards for a more just society - one that protects against the occurrence of such racist acts and human rights violations. This is possible because redress and reparations carry critical opportunities for creating and enabling a more just society through the measures that government and corporations can take to remedy the continuing effects of the historical injustice, and to develop and implement measures to prevent such injustices from repeating. For example, through the debate on redress and reparations, governments, are able to examine and change institutions that perpetuate the effects of the historical injustice.
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Resources and Publications 
