Racism against Chinese Canadians now commonplace during pandemic, survey finds, June 22The abuse suffered by East Asians in Canada as reported in the Star tells only a small part of the story. According to the report, “Eight per cent of respondents said they have frequently been physically attacked by strangers.”However, according to the Angus Reid and University of Alberta study, another 21 per cent said they’ve faced “infrequent” physical abuse from strangers since the start of the pandemic. Indeed, in a story on the Canadian Anti-Hate Network website, Kimberly Knowles, a professor of psychology at the University of Alberta who worked on the report, noted “the data is indicating that 29 per cent of those surveyed have experienced at least some kind of physical altercation during the COVID-19 crisis.”In other words, almost a third faced some form of physical abuse at the hands of their fellow citizens simply because they were perceived as Chinese Canadians. It’s important in recognizing the hatred and racism endemic in Canadian society that we get the story right.

Source: thestar June 28, 2020 01:52 UTC