Black Habits - Ontario leader apologizes for ''ghetto dude'' e-mail

OTTAWA (Reuters) - The premier of Ontario has apologized to a young black man who received an e-mail from a government worker referring to him as a "ghetto dude", officials said.

Evon Reid, a political science student living in a part of Toronto where levels of black joblessness are high, had sent a message to the bureaucracy of the Canadian province of Ontario asking about a job application.

He then received an e-mail from a government worker -- a message meant for colleagues but mistakenly sent to Reid -- saying, "This is the ghetto dude that I spoke to before". Premier Dalton McGuinty called Reid on Sunday to apologize and "denounce this kind of statement and behavior as completely unacceptable," said spokesman Chris Morley.

Unemployment levels in parts of Toronto's black community are well above the national average. Victor Wong of the Chinese Canadian National Council wrote to the Toronto Star to say the incident reflected the "systemic racism that visible minorities face in the Ontario public service". The head of the public service also apologized.