Library and Academic Services: Anti-Racism Learning Toolkit: Racism and COVID-19

Racism and COVID-19

Seashia Vang (senior Asia associate at Human Rights Watch) in her opinion piece for The Diplomat, the website for the current affairs magazine focused on the Asian-Pacific region, wrote:

COVID-19 should not be dividing us, but rather bringing us together to work for the common good. We already have an epic health crisis; we don’t need a racialized social crisis as well.

There's a reason the World Health Organization stopped naming diseases after their place of origin, too many times it turned into an excuse to discriminate. The Chinese Canadian National Council has reported more than 600 incidents of anti-East Asian racism ranging from spitting to physical violence. Marginalized groups find themselves ravaged by the virus thanks to the very systemic barriers already in place making it hard to combat.

Picture: Passengers wearing masks inside a train during COVID-19. (Wikimedia Commons).

Web Resources

COVID-19 Beyond the Tangible
The overall goal of the project is to study the social consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on Canadians so that we can respond in a way that optimizes the overall resilience of our society. Our objective is to understand the impact of public policies on prejudice (e.g. towards people of Chinese origin) and behaviour in the context of the crisis.
First National Report on Anti-Asian Racist Incidents
A report released by the Chinese Canadian National Council says there have been more than 600 incidents of anti-Asian racism in Canada since the onset of COVID-19. The report says 83 per cent of the incidents were declared by people of east Asian descent and 45 per cent happened in public spaces. It also says 65 per cent of incidents were verbal harassment and 60 per cent of them happened to women.

Featured Articles

Blame, bullying and disrespect: Chinese Canadians reveal their experiences with racism during COVID-19 (Angus Reid Institute)
An article on the ways Chinese-Canadians have encountered racism during the pandemic. The keyfindings were conducted by Angus Reid of more than 500 people, giving a snapshot of a 'shadow pandemic.'
Chinese-Canadians aim to ease mask stigmatization (Business Intelligence for BC)
Chinese-Canadians were the first to wear masks before the move to make them a requirement. Business Intelligence outlines the reasons why and the pressures faced with early adoption,
Selective xenophobia: What COVID-19 is teaching us about who we target when it comes to racism (CTV News)
CTV looks at why some groups are targeted and how the COVID backlash spread to other Asian groups.
The virus of anti-Asian prejudice (The Star)
Gerald Chan writes about the denial of the 'Canadian' part of the 'Chinese-Canadian' identity during COVID.
Winnipeg's Asian community speaks about racism during COVID-19 (CBC News)
An article about local incidences of racism during the pandemic.
Winnipeg Filipinos sympathize with Hutterites after facing discrimination at start of pandemic (CBC News)
CBC's Austin Grabish writes about the COVID19 racism towards Hutterites and Filipinos.

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