Unlike most Canadians, on Sunday February 24th I wasn't perched in front of the TV watching the Canada-US Olympic hockey final. Instead I was going from establishment to establishment putting up posters for the Humane Society. In every bar I visited, crowds of people were fixated on the TV screen, applauding when Team Canada scored and groaning when the Americans made a goal. These crowds included men and women, children and adults, and blacks, whites and Asians. It struck me as ironic that as blacks, Asians and other non-whites cheered on Team Canada, I, the white bread Canadian, remained relatively uninterested in the game (I've never been one for hockey). But it was touching to see Canadians of all races come together to support the country's hockey team.

A white friend told me that the following morning a Southeast Asian-born colleague of his loudly proclaimed, "We won!" upon arriving at the office.

"She obviously considers herself Canadian," my friend said with a certain pride.

All this might give the impression of Canada as a racism-free paradise where people of all colors, creeds and ethnic origins live in harmony with one another. Indeed, the Canadian government has adopted an official policy of multiculturalism, which encourages immigrants to keep their own ethnic traditions rather than automatically adopt the dominant Anglo-Saxon (or in the province of Quebec, French Canadian) culture. This policy stands in contrast to the United States' melting pot approach. From this and other things, many people have concluded Canada is a less racist country than the United States.

Outsiders as well as Canadians themselves have reached this conclusion. My mother, who was raised in an extremely segregated area of the Western United States, finds it hard to admit racism even exists in Canada. A black friend from Michigan noted how little racial segregation there seemed to be in Toronto compared to most American cities of its size. An Irish acquaintance told me that while she and her black boyfriend were treated like a novelty item in New York City, in Montreal nobody paid any special attention to them.

Yet as a Canadian myself, I'm sceptical of labeling my country a racial utopia. Canada's history is sadly tarnished with more than a few racist instances. For example, one past piece of legislation prohibited white women from working in Chinese-owned stores for fear that they might be raped or "seduced" by Chinese men. A lawyer in Quebec in the early twentieth century referred to Jewish men as "corrupters of our women," a remark that doesn't sound that different from Hitler's rant about the black-haired Jewish youth lying in wait for the German girl. Though today such sentiments are more muted, that doesn't mean they've disappeared. A study as late as the 1970s found Canadian employers were more likely to hire whites than blacks with similar qualifications.

Nonetheless, Canadians do appear more accepting of interracial relations than Americans. According to a poll in the mid-1990s, 87% of Canadians approved of marriages between whites and minorities. While this survey didn't specify the respondents' race, another conducted ten years earlier with French Canadian whites showed 88% to be in favor of black-white marriages. In contrast, the figure for white Americans was only 61% in a 1997 Gallup poll. A survey in Alabama revealed an even lower number, with just 31% of white respondents endorsing miscegenation.

The disparity between Canadian and American attitudes may been seen in an article on sexual tourism in the Caribbean first printed in the publication Transition (and later in Utne Reader). Author Klaus de Albuquerque says wealthy attractive Canadian women are particularly popular among the local "beach boys" (young Caribbean men who provide so-called "services" to female tourists) on account of these women's "prodigious sexual appetites and corresponding inexhaustible supply of gifts." American women, on the other hand, rank fairly low on the beach boys' list because "their racial hang-ups are said to translate into sexual inhibitions."

I must admit to a certain elation at the thought of my countrywomen being so appreciated and so seemingly open-minded. Sometimes I wonder, though, whether Canada is really a less racist country than the United States or simply a less conservative one. Evidence exists showing Canadians are in fact more liberal in sexual matters. According to a 1997 Gallup poll, for instance, nearly twice as many respondents in the United States as in Canada disapproved of unmarried couples having children (47% versus 25%). Even extramarital affairs, which are still frowned upon in progressive and conservative circles alike, are usually not the stuff of political scandal in Canada. Former President Bill Clinton's dalliance with Monica Lewinsky became the obsession of a nation. When Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman admitted to fathering two children by a former employee (a married woman), he barely caused a ripple in the Canadian media. In addition, practically nobody suggested Lastman's less than stellar personal behavior in any way reflected his ability to run the city.

Nor does openness to miscegenation necessarily signal greater racial tolerance. As I've said in previous essays, the '60s ideal of miscegenation as a panacea against racism didn't hold water. And it's hard to believe all the white plantation owners in the Old South who slept with their female slaves were racial egalitarians.

I often remind American friends and relatives that Canada is not a color-blind utopia. Sure, it may be flattering to think so, but the fact is it's not. Whether there is more or less actual racism in Canada than in the US I don't know. I do believe however that in terms of interracial relations Canadians are more liberal than Americans. And I'm happy the rest of the world seems to recognize this. With that in mind, I think I'll fly down to the Caribbean and take advantage of my status as a wealthy, attractive Canadian woman…

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