The Case of Nerene Virgin

We were sent a message concerning the case of Nerene Virgin, a former CBC journalist and candidate in Hamilton for the Liberal Party of Ontario. Since our lead writer has very fond memories of Ms. Virgin from her time on, "Today's Special" we were very interested in what she has been happening in her life:

Nerene Virgin ran for the Ontario Provincial Liberals in the 2007 election.  Her main reason for doing so was to provide a positive role model for her race and thus undermine some of the racist attitudes that still exist in our country and particularly in Ontario.  She comes from a family who have been fighting for civil rights for over a century.  Her father has both the Order of Ontario and the Order of Canada for his efforts.  

Unfortunately, when Nerene ran for public office in 2007 she was attacked by the local media in Hamilton not on policy but because of the colour of her skin.  Se was called a "Tar Baby" twice in an article and it was stated that the Liberals were running her only because they didn't want to run a "bland, white male"!  Naturally, she had no choice but to take legal action when a belated apology basically stated that unintended ignorance of the author led to this hate speech.  When the case goes to court I am confident that malice will be proven.

Nerene has stood alone since these racist attacks.  The Liberal Party has shunned her.  As they stated, "We need the paper on our side!"  The governing Liberal Party, who are the gate keepers of Human Rights in this province, would rather allow hate than stand by an African Canadian.

Currently her case should be coming before mandatory mediation.  The Metroland lawyers, from my point of view, appear to be in a stall tactic.  Metroland finds it difficult to agree on a mediator so this should last a while.  Eventually, I believe that Nerene will win her case.  That being said, there is still the question of what is the long term result.  You can see the overall representation of Blacks on City Councils and as Members of both Provincial and Federal Parliaments. Some people wonder why this lack of representation exists but from my point of view it could very well be regarded as a type of "Political Apartheid".  It is systemic racism at its worst.

Nerene was a journalist with CBC for over a decade so she was well versed on what is legal and what isn't when reporting.  She knew her case was nothing short of outrageous from the onset.  Yet the Liberals disappeared like rats from a sinking ship after the first day she objected to the attack.  Pressure from the paper could be a likely culprit.

We managed to find a copy of the article that the above commentor is referring to:

While the newspaper did apologize, it seems that the damage had been done.


We focus mainly on the thugs on the streets who promote racism as well as their, "suit and tie" enablers like Paul Fromm, however we should be reminded that the struggle for equality still needs to be fought for at much higher levels as well.