Journey To Justice Film Analysis

Movie Review: Journey to Justice

“Journey to Justice” is a documentary about the issue of civil rights in Canada during the twentieth century. It focuses on the role of central people who took vital actions to end the issue of racial discrimination. The movie clearly portrays the experiences of black Canadians thorough interviews of key persons including Ray Lewis, Fred Christy, Stanley Grizzle, and Viola Desmond.

Throughout the twentieth century, key players in the black community continued to fight for their rights despite serious discrimination. Firstly, Ray Lewis was denied the job as a coach after he won a bronze medal in 1932 Olympics because he was Black, and had to satisfy himself with the job of a porter. Secondly,
Fred Christy, who was refused to be served in a bar, took the matter to Supreme Court.
However, the court ruled the matter against him and rhetorically, made racial discrimination legal. Thirdly, Stanley Grizzle was forced be a batman and a washroom cleaner when he joined the army during the second world war, until he fought for his rights with his commanding officer. This time however, he won and served as one of the best officers in the Canadian army. Moreover, when Hugh Brunette came to Dresden with his two American friends, he was not served in a restaurant, while his friends were. After this incident he created an organization called National Unity Organization to fight discrimination. In 1947, he challenged the local government to pass an equality law, which was passed on to the provincial government for voting, where the restaurant owner-a white, won the case once again. This created a controversy and the premier and a group of other minorities took this case to a higher level until the equality law was passed in 1950s. Lastly, Donald Willard, an immigrant fought with the government for three
decades along with Negro Citizenship association and the Labour congress of Canada to change the way in which they accept immigrants. He argued that using racial origin in accepting immigrants to Canada is unlawful and stated that they should be viewed according to their education, skills and work experience and won the case. This case played an important role in making it one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world.

The point that the movie is trying to make is that issues cannot be solved if they are simply accepted. If no one stands up to fight for it as it the issue will continue to become more tense leading to even more serious effects. As in the movie, the issue of racism continued to worsen until some key people stood up to fight against racial discrimination of the Blacks. Finally, in the end they got the desired results. Not only were they able to pass a law stating discrimination is illegal, but they were also able to change the way in which immigrants were accepted to Canada. The contribution of Blacks, particularly Donald Willard, changed the way in which Canada is viewed – “The land of opportunities.”

The movie is related to world issues in many ways.
Firstly, it provides useful information in understanding the foundation of the issue of discrimination. Racism is an issue that is making headlines these days. For example, the rising resettlement against immigrants in Quebec and the war on terrorism, which is taking hundreds of lives today had it basis in racism. Many individuals from Islamic countries are questioned heavily by officials at American Airports after the terrorist attacks. Secondly, it openly reveals the hidden truths of the Canadian government and its political system including the Supreme Court which itself promoted racism by favouring the whites regardless of the issue or the case. These days political corruption is a major issue in developing nation particularly in south Asia and many part of Africa. Thirdly, this movie portrays the issue of Canadian Civil Rights movement, which is a movement that only a few Canadian are aware of. This movement is directly related to human rights - a growing issue in Asian countries today. Low-caste children all over Asia, more particularly India are forced to do child labour, similar to how blacks were forced to work on the rail road a century ago. Blacks were not given any other jobs because of their race and these children are deprived from education and proper jobs because of their caste. It is amazing, to see these countries making the same mistake that Canada made a few decades ago. Lastly, this movie touches on the
issue of stereotyping. Even though it is not a big issue, individuals throughout the world use stereotyping to judge others, often in a negative way. This creates larger gaps between races.

Even though the movie shows us that the issue of racial discrimination has ended, it still exists. It is true that the magnitude and seriousness of racism has declined but many groups of people suffer from bullying because of their race and ethnicity. For example, many “Brown” and “Asian” people are regarded as immigrants and are the victims of bullying in both schools only because they cannot quickly assimilate into the western society. ( Weakness of argument