According to a new study by the Canadian Labour Congress, experts are predicting social tension in Canada will rise if a persistent wage gap between people of colour and the general population is not closed.

In addition to confirming a wage gap, Hassan Yussuff of the CLC says the new study made a starling find. "Workers of colour who were born Canadian, who were educated here, are doing just as bad as those who immigrate to Canada. I think that is a significant recognition that racism is deeply rooted in the economic system of the country."

Yussuff says this is not good for the social well-being of Canada. "If you are going to continue to have these gaps – and they exist to a large extent in urban centres (where) most new immigrants are going to come and settle ... – I think the social inequality and social tension is going to continue to take place and manifest itself."

Grace-Edward Galabuzi is one of the delegates at the National Aboriginal, Workers of Colour Conference being held in Toronto this weekend.

He says the wage gap problem needs to be addressed because it is getting worse.

"It is a reality that people live with on a day-to-day basis. If it's not them it's their relatives, their friends, people in their communities, and we need to do something about it. There's a real undercurrent of a need for some sort of a political campaign to respond to some of the structural problems that make that gap inevitable."

Galabuzi says the government has an important role to play in terms of regulating the labour market to ensure there's employment equity.