Anti-Asian racism: when voices are raised
A first took place last Friday in the history of Montreal and Asian communities.
In fact, it was announced at a press conference that a motion would be presented to Montreal City Council to unanimously denounce the rise of anti-Asian racism in Montreal in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Several groups joined the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations (CRARR) to support the resolution, including the Concordia Student Union (which has 37,100 members), the McGill University Student Association, the Philippine Association of Montreal and its Suburbs, the Philippine Association of Montreal and its Suburbs, the Progressive Chinese of Quebec, and the Montreal Chinatown Economic Development Council.
“Faced with the resurgence of hateful acts against people of Asian origin or appearance and the inaction of the Montreal authorities and the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM), CRARR proposed a draft resolution asking the City of Montreal to condemn anti-Asian racism, explained Marvin Rotrand, independent municipal councillor of Côte-des-Neiges—Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. I immediately accepted, because history shows that silence is the worst answer, and is even an encouragement for the spread of racial hatred.”
This motion calls for all measures to be taken to protect these Montrealers from all forms of harassment and violence on the island. A vote on this resolution will take place on 15 June.
Fo Niemi, CEO of CRARR, is optimistic without wearing rose-colored glasses. “What's happening in the United States, with the police and black communities, is helping to wake up a lot of people, but you always have to be careful, you have to stay alert, you have to stay alert,” he said. In debates about racism or what is called anti-racism, there is still a lot of resistance. Many people refuse to believe that Asians can be victims of racism. If there was an arson attack in Chinatown or if someone was stabbed there, then some would wake up, but unfortunately, it would be a bit late.
We have a lot to do.” Criminal acts targeting Asian communities have, however, occurred in Montreal since February. In particular, a Korean man was stabbed in March on Décarie Boulevard. According to information collected from the Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Montreal, he decided to return to Korea with his family. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, CRARR received an average of two or three complaints each month for hateful acts against people of Asian origin. In the last 3 months, he received 18. Vancouver police have counted 29 in the last 3 months. The SPVM has only vague information on hate crimes.
The provincial is slow to react
On the federal side, the issue is also gaining ground. A few weeks ago, the Minister of Diversity and Inclusion and Youth, Bardish Chagger, held a virtual roundtable with a hundred people from Asian communities to discuss the pan-Canadian plan to combat anti-Asian racism. And Prime Minister Trudeau spoke out against this type of racism in one of his statements. It is therefore rather the way in which the provincial government deals with the issue of racism, that is to say by advocating a “peaceful evolution”, that is shocking to many Asians in Quebec.
They see this as a denial of systemic racism that can only harm the government's credibility in recognizing racism, especially racism aimed at a group considered to be well integrated. Contacted on this subject, François Legault's office said that Mr. Arruda mentioned it during a press briefing at the start of the pandemic. However, an official statement on the subject is still pending. Fo Niemi deplores this slowness. “In British Columbia, the Prime Minister and the Chief of Police have taken concrete measures; in Alberta, it was the president of the Alberta Human Rights Commission who spoke out in favor of anti-racist action, but in Quebec, we have almost nothing. Yes, there is a plan to fight discrimination and racism, the government promises to “take action,” but without recognizing systemic racism.”
Women who are more at risk
Vandalized pagodas in the Rosemont neighborhood and in Côte-des-Neiges, a door on which the words “COVID-19 Chinese” have been sprayed in Ahuntsic-Cartierville, verbal attacks against Asian women when they go out to do errands — these are some examples of the xenophobia that has reigned in Quebec in recent months. “You should think about returning to your country rather than being carefree, and come to us all contaminate”, was told an Asian woman on March 19 in a pharmacy in Alma, Saguenay —Lac-Saint-Jean, according to a report listing the testimonies of the numerous victims of anti-Asian racism in the province. This study was conducted by a Montreal woman of Korean origin, Kyungseo Min, in collaboration with a McGill law student, Lily Wang.
Kyungseo says, “What we found in this study was that it was mostly Asian women who were verbally assaulted, perhaps because we are an easy target.
We are more vulnerable, less likely to respond, to file a complaint... we tend to distance ourselves, ignore or flee unpleasant situations. Hence the ease for attackers to threaten us,” explains the 26-year-old writer, who was born in South Korea and immigrated to Calgary with her family at the age of 6. Gathering stories that none of the victims, for one reason or another, reported to the police; gathering voices that would otherwise have been lost — this is what Kyungseo and her colleague Lily have been doing for months to show that anti-Asian racism is not an isolated incident: it is spreading sneakily in society, whether on social networks or in the street. It has existed for hundreds of years in the country, but coronavirus has revived it. And while a new generation of Asians is now the target, it does not intend to remain silent.
The silence of the elders
Collecting data on the basis of ethnicity is difficult for Asian communities, especially among the elderly. Police services do not contact community services to offer assistance and encourage people to collaborate in the prevention of hate crimes. There are also the stereotypes that most Asian people have, according to which it is almost unthinkable that they would be victims of racism. They are in fact considered docile, obedient, hard-working, silent.
They represent a model of integration based on humility and discretion, two traits that almost all Asian families pass on to their young people, which in no way helps with denunciation. “Since always, [...] our parents have told us to be quiet, to ignore and to move forward despite the insults. But we are at a point, especially with COVID, where we no longer have the choice to stop pressing the “ignore” button, but to learn with our Quebec values to express ourselves, to protect ourselves and to defend ourselves from injustice,” says Laura Luu, administrator of the Facebook page entitled Groupe d'entraide contre le aux Asians au Québec.Racism experienced by people born in Quebec and with Asian roots., like Laura Luu, is a relatively recent phenomenon for many of these Quebecers who have never been victims of this plague before. The Facebook page Group for Assistance Against Asian Racism in Quebec has more than 5,000 members and is a place where you can denounce reprehensible acts, but also find solutions to deal with the fear associated with these verbal and even physical attacks.
“For me, what worried me the most was whether my mom, my family, or older generations would talk about it if it happened to them. Because they are not going to talk about it, and I wonder what they are going to do with it,” laments Laura, a woman of Vietnamese origin who recently became a mother. The same goes for May Chiu, a lawyer and anti-racist activist for decades, who is also a member of the progressive Chinese in Quebec. She is worried about elderly people of Asian origin who don't speak French or English. “Are they in a position to understand the extent of this crisis?
My father did not understand why no one had come to visit him for several weeks,” explains May Chiu, who has only been able to start communicating with her 89-year-old father, who has been living at the Jean-De La Lande Shelter Center, for only a few weeks. The establishment did not follow up with her.
“May was Asian Heritage Month in Canada, and with the COVID crisis, people are looking for their place as well as ways to mobilize and protest without having to leave the house. Many members of our communities think that we are on the defensive and that the spread of hate prevents victims from sharing their stories and feeling empowered. There is a great deal of diversity within Asian communities. So an intersectional approach is needed to tackle the root problem,” says May Chiu, who is currently working on preparing a guide to provide resources to Asian people.