What Trudeau’s Blackface Moments Can Teach Us about Bias

Recently, a number of CLAC directors went through Lean In’s 50 Ways to Fight Bias training program. The session helped us be aware of and create strategies for fighting bias, primarily toward women and minorities, and how our biases impact our decisions in the workplace. It’s a highly worthwhile program for anyone who may find themselves in a management role in their workplace, but also for all employees.

The program taught us that we all have biases and that these biases in and of themselves are not bad—that is, until they cloud our decision making and prevent critical thinking. It taught us that while it’s helpful to bring awareness to our biases, we cannot stop there. We have to roll up our sleeves and do the hard work of correcting our biases.

At around the same time that we received bias training, the Trudeau brownface/blackface scandal hit the news. First it was an image of him in brownface dressed up as Aladdin at an Arabian Nights-themed party at the private school where he was a teacher. Then a video emerged of him in blackface, and the pundits had a lot more to talk about.

The story dominated news and social media across the country and around the world for the next several days. And even now, two weeks after the news first broke, it still hasn’t completely died down.

The other parties have revelled at this newfound piece of political kryptonite, coming only weeks before the election. Surely this would drive the Liberals down in the polls while pushing their numbers up?

Whether you believe the scandal has impacted the polls might depend on your bias. But an objective view would suggest that little has changed, with polls consistently showing that this election is still a very tight race two weeks after the scandal broke. The CBC’s poll tracker, an aggregate of all publicly available polls, has the Conservatives holding a very slight lead.

I recently read that we tend to form our political views in our early- to mid-20s, and we tend to vote that way for the rest of our lives. So chances are that if you were voting Liberal at age 25, you will be at age 65 and beyond.

Reactions by the political parties to the scandal have been predictable. While the other parties renounced the ugly spectre of racism and raised the banner of justice and righteousness, Liberal MPs quickly came to Trudeau’s defense. Many excuses were made for his past bad behaviour, and Liberal supporters argued that he’s still the best choice to lead our country.

These reactions to the scandal from various sides of the political spectrum have taught me a lot more about my own biases. How many times have I used fuzzy logic to justify a decision that was made from my own preconceived bias? How many times have I seen bias pervade a group at work in its decision on difficult and important matters?

When biases concern a celebrity or prominent political figure, they gain huge attention in the media. But they are very much prevalent every day in our work communities yet often unnoticed.

That doesn’t mean they are not felt by those affected.

All members of a work community—from CEOs to front-line workers—have biases that impair their judgment and affect how they behave toward their colleagues, customers, and clients. And these biases, as Trudeau’s brownface/blackface moments demonstrated, can have a devastating impact on those around us.

We need to be on alert for our biases, bring awareness to them, and then do the hard work of correcting them. By doing so, we will be better able to live the values that we espouse to in our workplace. And ultimately, by doing so, we will make better decisions and create a more just and fair society.