Discrimination of South Asians During COVID-19

From UBC Wiki

Coronavirus (COVID-19) is “an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus,” which was initially discovered in 2019, and in March 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic[1]. Most COVID-19 infected people recover without special treatment, but it is damaging to immunocompromised people, such as individuals who are diabetic and have respiratory diseases[1]. During the COVID-19 pandemic, discrimination against South Asians has increased, specifically in the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. South Asians are one of the five largest visible minority groups in Canada, making up about 25% of the visible minority population[2].

During the COVID-19 pandemic, discrimination against South Asians has increased, specifically in the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec.

Discrimination

Discrimination refers to the actions of dominant groups that have a harmful impact on subordinate groups[2]. It can be based on a number of factors, such as age, religion, and health[2]. The Canadian Human Rights Act of 1977 protects people in Canada against discrimination “when they are employed by or receive services from the federal government, First Nations governments or private companies that are regulated by the federal government such as banks, trucking companies, broadcasters and telecommunications companies”[3]. It is illegal for federally regulated employers and service providers to discriminate against people in Canada based on the following grounds of discrimination, as listed in Section 3 of the Canadian Human Rights Act[4]:

  • Race
  • National or ethnic origin
  • Colour
  • Religion
  • Age
  • Sex
  • Sexual orientation
  • Marital status
  • Family status
  • Disability
  • A conviction for which you have been granted a pardon

In Canada, there are also provincial and territorial  human rights laws that are similar to the Canadian Human Rights Act of 1977 that protect people in Canada from discrimination in areas that fall under the provincial and territorial jurisdictions, such as schools, stores and housing[5]. British Columbia protects its residents from discrimination through the B.C. Human Rights Code. Alberta protects its residents from discrimination through the Alberta Human Rights Act. Ontario protects its residents from discrimination through the Ontario Human Rights Code.  Quebec protects its residents from discrimination through the Quebec Charter of Rights and Freedoms.  

However, discrimination does not require individual actions to continue because discrimination is maintained by society[2]. Therefore, the enactment of laws cannot erase discrimination from our culture because discrimination will continue to exist even with laws that protect people against discrimination, as can be seen in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically in the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec.

British Columbia

In March 2020, a directive that outlined the use of respirator masks for front-line officers was sent out by RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki. It required “front-line officers to wear properly fitting N95 respirator masks,” which is not always possible with a beard[6]. As a result, Sikh and Muslim RCMP members were removed from frontline policing duties and reassigned to desk duty and other non-critical roles on March 31, 2020[6]. In April 2020, the World Sikh Organization (WSO) was contacted by some Sikh RCMP officers, who were affected by this policy, and stated that no attempt was made to change the policy “to accommodate Sikh [RCMP] officers with alternative [personal protective equipment (PPE)] that would work with their religiously mandated facial hair”[7]. Although this policy affects Sikh and Muslim RCMP officers around Canada, the majority of these officers are in BC, and BC also has the most RCMP officers in Canada [8]. This has been described as a clear case of discrimination because Sikh officers in different police forces in BC are able to continue serving their community without a mask and beard issue[8]. However, the RCMP stated that since they are bound by the Canada Labour Code and Canada Occupational Health and Safety Regulations, they are different from other police forces in British Columbia. RCMP National Services Cpl. Caroline Duval wrote, “[u]nder the current legislation, the RCMP does not have the authority to allow members to be fit tested with beards or to select PPE that is not approved by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) … Specifically, the Canada Occupational Health and Safety Regulations require that we follow the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) Group standard for respirator-fit testing, which specifically requires a clean shave”[8].

Response by Federal Government

The federal government intervened in this matter on September 25, 2020, a day after the WSO brought attention to this issue to the public. When asked to comment on this issue, prime minister Justin Trudeau stated that “it shouldn't have happened in the first place… I was very disappointed to hear of this issue with the RCMP because I do know that many other police forces and other organizations have figured out ways of upholding health and safety standards, without needing to create discrimination against certain individuals because of their religion"[9].

Response by BC’s Health Officer: Bonnie Henry

The RCMP’s explanation for its mask policy is also at odds with Bonnie Henry, BC’s Health Officer, who said that her office was not contacted by anyone from the RCMP[8]. She further stated that bearded police officers should be able to carry out their typical duties without any issue using other types of masks because they are not involved in resuscitating people[8]. Therefore, there are only a few cases where police officers would need to wear a respirator.

Mask Policy Reversed

After pressure from the federal government and activists like the WSO, the RCMP policy was reversed. Gail Johnson, RCMP’s chief human resources officer, in a statement wrote that “impacted bearded members across Canada may return to operational duties with appropriate PPE … Calls for service will be triaged from call centres, with bearded members being assigned to respond operationally only if the risk of exposure is low or multiple responding officers will be present … Should they prefer to be assigned to other policing duties as a safety precaution, we will continue to make that accommodation… Each case will be assessed on an individual basis”[10]. This policy was in effect for 6 months, before an accommodation was presented by the RCMP.

Ontario

In the province of Ontario, there have been over 311,000 cases of COVID-19[11] recorded so far. As COVID-19 numbers began to rise in Canada, so did cases of racism and discrimination against Asian-Canadians. In 2020 the city of Ottawa's Police Service Hate and Bias Crime Unit[12] had received 15 reports of hate crimes toward Asian members of the community; this is an immense increase compared to previous years. As of 2019, there were two reported cases of hate crimes against members of the Asian community in Ottawa. As the panic of COVID-19 began to set in on Canada, racially motivated attacks began to increase. On Thursday, April 9th, 2020 Katherine Cheung, a resident of Toronto and ER nurse fell victim to one of these racially motivated attacks. A woman in her 60’s approached Cheung yelling racial slurs, attacking her with an umbrella, and spitting in her face[13]. This attack was motivated only due to the fact that Cheung was of Chinese descent. Though a police report was filed no further investigation took place and the police decided to not pursue this incident as a hate crime. Unfortunately, these cases are not uncommon in the downtown Toronto area, where more than a quarter of Asian hate crimes in Canada have taken place since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Province Response

Due to the increase of racially motivated cases in Ontario Brad Lee launched the #FreeRace Campaign[14]. This online resource provides users with similar stories, tips on what to do when in a situation similar to Cheung, and a support system. This government-funded project was shared and run by the Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice (CCNC-SJ) and the Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic (CSALC).  

Quebec

As the participation of racially motivated crimes has increased across Canada since the beginning of COVID-19, Quebec has been no exception. Dozens of reports have been filed by people of South Asian heritage but particularly those of Chinese descent. These reports included the use of slurs, spitting, unprovoked physical and verbal attacks, bullying, death threats, and much more. All of these incidents were non provoked but occurred due to the victim's heritage. During a single week of March 2020, there was a 300% increase in Twitter hashtags that supported and encouraged violence against Chinese people. Hashtags contained messages along the lines of "NukeChina", “BombChina”, and “DeathToChina”. These messages online further motivated the negative actions of Canadian citizens. In Montréal as Asian Heritage Month began in May 2020, an increase in both hate messages and physical attacks occurred within the province of Quebec[15].

Province Response

In response to the anti-Asian racism due to COVID-19, the province of Quebec launched multiple campaigns to raise awareness and attempt to prevent further racial attacks. CRARR, Centre for Research Action on Race Relations, launched a new campaign to fight against racial discrimination against Asians and race-based violence. CRARR can achieve its goals through online forums, support stories, and activities that involve representation and advocacy. The Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice launched its “Stop the Spread” campaign. This campaign intended to provide facts to prevent the common misinformation found on the internet and the prejudice towards the Chinese community.

Alberta

Alberta's South Asian and East Asian population represent 11% of the overall population but accounts for just under 20% of total COVID-19 cases. A specific scenario triggering Asian-Canadians all across the nation has added to the country’s rising discriminatory cases. [16]On November 25th, Premier Jason Kenney was interviewed by Calgary's radio station, Red 106.7FM, where he made multiple, subtle attacks towards certain ethnic backgrounds. “We see a very high level of spread of COVID-19 in the South Asian community. And I don’t say that to blame or target anyone,” Kenney expresses. He followed his statement up by insisting that the traditions of having big family gatherings at home are one of the reasons there’s been a higher spread of COVID-19 compared to other parts of the population. These statements brought frustration upon many Asian-Canadians as Kenney’s comments singled out certain groups. Dr.Mukarram Ali Zaidi, a spokesperson from the Calgary-based Canadian Muslim Research Think Tank group demanded an apology from the Premier as his comments were clear indications of systemic and direct racism.

Province Response

In response to the outcries, Kenney only made further condescending remarks insisting that “awareness is key in reducing the spread.” The micro-aggression is visible in all of the statements made towards ethnic minorities by the Premier. As [17]Alberta’s Human Rights Commission states: “COVID-19 is not isolated to people of any particular ethnic origin, place of origin or race-”  these subtle comments are deemed discriminatory and have brought inevitable, unnecessary shame to ethnic groups. At this time, no further assistance or statements have been made by upper authorities and Kenney’s accusations were merely tolerated. [18]Additionally, further cases across Alberta were not held accountable for and Dr.Thomas Cheuk and Norman Poon (co-chairs of the Calgary Chinese Community Service Association) expressed their concerns about the growing racism and xenophobia.

Overview

As of February 2021, Canada has hit its total of 813, 982 confirmed COVID-19 cases. As the number of cases continues to rise, so do the number of discriminatory reports regarding ethnic minorities and the Coronavirus. [19]In a statistic study performed by Stat Canada, the most commonly reported form was based on race and skin colour (34%), followed by age (30%), physical appearance (26%), ethnicity and culture (25%) and sex (22%).

Government responses continually vary from province to province and on a case by case basis. Certain solutions arise per province- in cases such as Jason Kenny on Red 106.7FM, no consequential action was mobilized. As per BC, Ontario and Quebec, multiple campaigns and policies have been established to ensure peace within the communities. To date, there has only been an increase in racial discrimination in regards to COVID-19. Many Canadians have profiled the virus as an Asian virus, contributing to the growing rates of hate crimes. The government of Canada continues to push its Canada Anti-Racism Strategy amongst the stages of COVID-19.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "Coronavirus". 2021.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Little, William (2016). Introduction to Sociology: 2nd Canadian Edition. pp. 426–469.
  3. "Human rights in Canada". Retrieved February 10, 2021.
  4. "Your guide to understanding the canadian human rights act". Retrieved February 10, 2021.
  5. "Provincial & TERRITORIAL human rights agencies". Retrieved February 9, 2021.
  6. 6.0 6.1 Bains, Meera (September 24, 2020). "RCMP mask policy for BEARDED front-line officers 'must BE RECTIFIED': OTTAWA".
  7. "RCMP refusal to ACCOMMODATE SIKH officers Is discrimination". 2020.
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Daflos, Penny (September 25, 2020). "'Unacceptable Discrimination': Some BEARDED Mounties in B.C. put on desk duty during pandemic".
  9. Daflos, Penny (September 25, 2020). "Feds step in AS B.c. Mounties allege beard discrimination During COVID-19 pandemic".
  10. Ling, P (October 1, 2020). "RCMP reverses Mask policy for BEARDED officers".
  11. Google News (2021). "Coronavirus (COVID-19)".
  12. Ottawa Police (2020). "Hate Motivated Incidents".
  13. Tsekouras, Phil (April 9 2020). "'It happened because I'm Asian'". Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. Vincent, Donovan (January 24 2021). "Online forum launched to fight racist backlash Chinese Canadians face during the pandemic". Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. The Canadian Press Staff (May 4 2020). "Quebecers unite to denounce racism toward Asian communities amid COVID-19 pandemic". Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. Villani, Mark (November 30, 2020). "Community Demands Premier Apologize After Wake Up Call Comments". CTV News. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
  17. "COVID-19 and Human Rights". Alberta Human Rights Commission. November 23, 2020. Retrieved February 13th, 2021. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  18. Franklin, Michael (February 1, 2020). "Calgary Chinese Community Speaks Out Against Racism and Xenophobia over Coronavirus". CTV News. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  19. Neustaeter, Brooklyn (September 17, 2020). "What StatCan Learned by Asking 35,000 Canadians About Pandemic Discrimination". CTV News. Retrieved February 28, 2021.