After voting day, it may be tempting to file away those headlines about Justin Trudeau wearing blackface and brownface. Elections are wild and someone’s always going to dig up some dirt, right? To think that way would be to miss this prime opportunity to dive deep to understand the roots of racism in Canada and become agents of positive change.

If you’d like to study up, may we suggest Crawford Kilian’s review of a biography of Calixa Lavallée, who wrote Canada’s national anthem — and performed in blackface for a decade. Read Professor Cheryl Thompson’s “complicated history” of Canadian blackface. View the stereotyped Simpsons character of Apu through the eyes of a South Asian. And consider the actions Ritika Goel proposes we take if we’re really serious about addressing the “disease” of racism instead of just playing gotcha.