Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science / Revue canadienne des sciences du comportement, Vol 58(4), Oct 2026, 263-277; doi:10.1037/cbs0000480
Racism is often considered to be less severe or pervasive in Canada compared with the United States. The present study is a comparative analysis of racial microaggressions experienced by people of colour (POC) in these two countries. The study also compared the association between microaggression exposure and adverse mental health outcomes for POC as well as compared White individuals on behavioural tendencies of microaggression commission and racial allyship. Participants from Canada (n = 991) and the United States (n = 919) completed validated self-report measures of microaggression exposure, racial trauma, depression, microaggression commission and allyship. Mean comparisons using multiple regression and factorial analyses of variance, controlling for relevant demographic variables, revealed that POC in Canada had greater microaggression exposure than POC in the United States and that Black people in both countries experienced more microaggressions than the other ethnic/racial groups examined. Microaggression exposure emerged as a significant predictor of racial trauma and of depressive symptoms. POC in Canada reported worse mental health than POC in the United States. Our findings also indicate that White Canadians were more likely to commit microaggressions but also more likely to engage in allied behaviour. These findings challenge the notion of ‘Canadian niceness’ by illuminating the subtle yet existing forms of everyday racism that persist in Canadian society and their associated psychological distress for POC. At the same time, evidence of heightened racial allyship among White Canadians indicates that there are important opportunities to harness allyship as a conduit for meaningful change. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)