By C.Haag (FSWC Educator)

This date is, sadly, based on real events, because it was on March 21, 1960, that police in Sharpeville, South Africa, opened fire on a peaceful protest against apartheid pass laws. This notorious legislation required non-whites to carry documents authorizing their presence in restricted areas, a main instrument of exclusion until the government ended it in 1986.

During the demonstration, police killed 69 people, many of whom were shot in the back as they fled. The event shocked the world. Six years later, the United Nations declared March 21 the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

The date is not symbolic in an abstract way. It is based on a specific moment when state power was used to enforce racial hierarchy. The Sharpeville massacre became a turning point in the global struggle against apartheid, leading to international sanctions and a broad anti-racism movement. In Canada, churches, labour unions, students and Members of Parliament debated sanctions and supported the global boycott movement. By the 1980s, Canada was one of multiple countries publicly opposing South Africa’s apartheid regime.

But March 21 is not only about South Africa. It serves as a reminder that racial discrimination has taken many forms — including in Canada. The Chinese Head Tax, the internment of Japanese Canadians, and restrictions on Jewish refugees during the 1930s are all part of our national story. These were not accidents. They were policies.

For educators, this day provides a powerful classroom question: What does discrimination look like when it is written into law? Students often think of racism as individual prejudice. Sharpeville shows something else — how systems can enforce inequality.

At Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, we focus on the roots of hate, not only its most extreme expressions. March 21 invites students to examine how discrimination begins, how it becomes normalized and how societies respond. It also challenges them to consider their own role in shaping a Canada that learns from its past rather than repeating it.