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Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, Montreal's Asian communities have been hard hit by the rise of anti-Asian racism. Chinatown, whose attendance has declined significantly, has been the scene of vandalism and attacks against Asians. Fearing for the safety of his community, Jimmy Chan decided to take matters into his own hands. In mid-April, with his friend Eddy Li, this leader of the Sino-Montreal community formed a security patrol, which protects the neighborhood several days a week.
Is this patrol really protecting the community? La Converse went to Chinatown to find answers. On June 29 at 8 p.m., Chinatown was teeming with life. Hard hit by the pandemic, this colorful neighborhood is gradually returning to its usual rhythm — people are sipping on bubble teas, enjoying Dim Sum in the Cantonese way and enjoy meetings with friends there. A lively atmosphere reigns there. On De La Gauchetière, the main pedestrian street, community elders greet each other with smiles, restaurant owners exchange the latest news about their businesses, and young people gather around their latest culinary discoveries.
You could almost believe that life in the neighborhood was back to normal, if it weren't for the two men in police uniforms present in Sun-Yat-Sen Park.
“If we don't do it, who will do it for us? ”
On the southwest corner of the park, Eddy Li and Jason, two professional security guards, stand up straight as pickets, ready to intervene if there is a problem. “In September, racism became serious. In total, we spent more than 500 hours on volunteer patrols,” said Mr. Chan. Dressed in an elegant jacket and perfectly ironed black pants, he proudly wears his title of leader of the Chinese community, sporting a Chinese brooch on his left buttonhole.
He is so well known and respected in the community that several passers-by greet him and ask him to take photos with him. According to him, the shopkeepers in the neighborhood are very grateful to him. “There are some who work until 11 in the evening, and our patrol accompanies them to the subway station. They are very happy, Mr. Chan is delighted. When they don't see us, they ask where I am. They thank us by giving us free meals.”
According to him, these traders were victims of several acts of vandalism and hate crimes. Along the way, Mr. Chan talks to several of them, who congratulate him on his work, including the owners of the Buffet Jade and the Restaurant Cuisine Cantonaise. They chat joyfully in Taishanese and Cantonese, talking about how the patrol helped businesses.
Mr. Chan also leads us past various shops that have had windows smashed and stolen, describing in detail what happened.
We stop for a long time in front of the big red sign of the Sammi & Soupe Dumpling establishment, a restaurant renowned for its Xiao Long Bao. “The windows in this restaurant have been smashed. Itinerant people made big holes there in broad daylight! ” he regrets. In front of the establishment, there is a small sign on a silver post that indicates that there is a security camera near the restaurant. However, you can't see any cameras. “I remember someone who did an interview on the news and said that there was no camera there and that one should be installed. There are still none! exclaims a young woman next door. Rebecca Ng could blend in with the evening crowds in Chinatown. However, this recent graduate in safety techniques came to receive training offered to the team's new patrollers.
A racist incident prompted her to join the team. “A racist gentleman on the subway turned to me and yelled, “F*** China! F*** Japan!” I took out my camera and took a video of him, she says, outraged. I filed a criminal court complaint against him. The criminal case is still under consideration in court. I really want to pursue this case to the end.”
This confrontation occurred last March around 9:30 p.m., when the young woman was leaving the pastry shop in Chinatown where she was working at the time. Ms. Ng was already considering a career change and moving into the security field, as her jobs in a pastry shop and a bubble tea store were not stable and did not allow her to make a decent living.
The incident reinforced her decision. “I want to join the patrol to mobilize for my community. If we don't do it, who will do it for us? I am lucky to have no children and heavy responsibilities so I can take the time to do that well,” she says. After some hesitation, she tells us that the desire to serve her community is not the only thing that motivates her. “I know that I am very lucky because I was not injured and that I managed to shoot a video. But I would have liked to defend myself more, because I just sat down and asked him to stop,” she adds with regret.
An effective solution?
Not everyone sees patrolling as an effective solution to industry security problems. On May 27, 2021, the blog mychinatownmtl published An article on the police presence in Chinatown, which had a shocking effect on the Chinese community. The blogger who wrote the post, who prefers to keep his name quiet for fear of harassment, does not believe that a patrol is the best solution to keep the community safe. According to mychinatownmtl, increased surveillance of the sector is not ideal, as the police are used against racialized people.
“They seem to be protecting us, but a lot of cases in the past have shown that it doesn't work. For example, during the Los Angeles riots of 1992, in the Korean Quarter, the presence of the police only made things worse,” he explains. The blogger also points out that the police are a problem for the large population of homeless people in the area. “The police are fining them more and driving them out of Chinatown. This kind of action is harmful to the development of a healthy relationship between our two communities, he says. I am really worried that they will put in place anti-loitering laws that target these populations.”
These fears are not unfounded. After an hour of patrolling, we return to Sun-Yat-Sen Park. This park is a place where Mr. Li has had a lot of problems.
“If there are people sleeping here, it's just loitering. Loitering is when people are in one place and doing nothing. Sleeping in the park is a stroll because the park is not made for that,” he explains. When he sees people sleeping in the park, he directs them to the nearest shelter, which is further down the same street. If they need medical attention, Mr. Li calls emergency services. Another popular spot for the homeless population of Chinatown is the back alley of the Kam Fung restaurant. We stop in front of a dark place surrounded by cement blocks. The space inside the perimeter formed by the blocks is occupied by white mattresses, blankets and pillows.
There is no one in this camp yet. Mr. Li points his index finger to a square heat vent located on the wall of the building that borders the camp. “Homeless people and people with drug addictions like to stand here because they can be warm near this vent,” he explains. The problem is that they leave lots of rubbish and it ends up spilling onto the street. In addition, it is not safe for them to be there, because if they lie down in the alley, they can be injured by passing cars.” For these reasons, the police tried to move them to shelters over and over again. She came with big trucks to pick them all up. “It doesn't sound great that the authorities are moving them, but at the same time, it's going to help the homeless get to a better place.
They will be able to receive the medical and social assistance they need, Mr. Li reasons. I understand that they have nowhere to go, so I tell them to go to the shelter. They have free seats. Homeless people just don't want to go there. I don't know why, maybe they just have something against the system or they've had a bad experience.” The homeless people who frequent this camp don't seem to be of the same opinion. Mr. Chan confirms to us that many were shocked that their homes were no longer there. Not wanting to go to the shelters, they came back to the same place and rebuilt their camp.
For them, it is a community gathering place. They often have parties and barbecues there. mychinatownmtl believes they know why homeless people are wary of shelters. “Since last year, homeless people no longer want to go to shelters because there are COVID-19 outbreaks there. So they are always on the streets, in the middle of the hostile architecture. One of the only places they can sleep is in Chinatown.”
More sustainable solutions
Many members of the Chinese community believe that patrolling is not a sustainable solution and only worsens relationships between the Chinese community and the homeless community in the neighborhood. These people are looking for more lasting solutions that address the roots of the problem and make it possible to build bridges between the two communities. “Personally, I take a social approach, because, in my opinion, the elements of crime are social elements,” says Me May Chiu, a member of the Chinese Progressives of Quebec. Punishing people for being criminals, as the patrol does, means there is no hope of reintegrating them into society.”
Instead, Ms. Chiu defends a preventive approach, which aims to directly address the social causes of crime. In other Montreal neighborhoods where retailers have similar anxieties about crime and homeless people, solutions that work for everyone have been implemented. “If they see someone stealing inside, these retailers say, “Sir, madam, I'm not going to call the police, I'm not going to call the police, but I can pay you $10 if you clean up here.” This approach allows these people to meet the needs of life”, underlines Me Chiu. Other businesses also offered free meals to people who tried to steal them.
The lawyer believes that this solution makes it possible to create links between traders and itinerants who can help fight crime. According to her, if relationships of trust are created between an itinerant person and a business that often offers them food, this person will be more likely to alert those around them when the business is vandalized to protect them.
Toronto's Chinatown has adopted a similar strategy to fight crime. Friends of Chinatown Toronto (FOCT), an anti-gentrification organization in Toronto's Chinatown, has partnered with Community Fridges Toronto to ensure food security for the population in the area. At the corner of D'Arcy Street and Spadina Avenue, in the heart of Chinatown, they installed a refrigerator where everyone can have access to healthy food.
“We wouldn't want to encourage people to call the police or depend on the state. We have more community measures. They're not directly linked to the prevention of hate crimes, but when the community is more connected, there's more trust between people, says FOCT member Florence Yee. There is more than one aspect to community safety. When we started, during the pandemic, it was a question of distributing masks, food safety and housing security.” One of the measures that were put in place to build these relationships of trust is the Phone Tree.
Two members of FOCT are responsible for this hotline service, which meets the urgent needs of the community. Currently, the Phone Tree serves as an information resource on COVID-19 and vaccination. This measure is complemented by two vaccination ambassadors in the field, who disseminate information in English, Mandarin and Cantonese. “Community safety is not only a matter of preventing hate crimes, but also a health issue in general,” explains Florence.