GRSJ224/Racismin

Multiculturalism in Canada

Canada is a multicultural country: Canada officially became a multicultural society in 1971 in which the Canadian government recognized the value and contribution of all ethnicities and races, and welcomed all languages and religions in Canada.

The idea of multiculturalism is to understand and accept the differences in other cultures and religions, to live in harmony and acceptance of people from different cultural and religious backgrounds. Most importantly is to discourage any acts of discrimination, hatred, and violence directed towards the difference in culture, race, and religion.

Canada has always been known for its acceptance of diverse culture and religion, especially in Vancouver and Toronto where there are historical context that contributes to the multicultural community in Canada. In Vancouver, the historical site of Chinatown is a heritage landmark that commemorates the historical contribution of the Chinese community in Canada.

• Historically, Vancouver Chinatown was one of the most culturally significant neighbourhoods, and it housed the Chinese Benevolent Association of Vancouver, however as time passed, due to several acts of government planning, Chinatown became known as part of the “skid row” of Vancouver, and many stereotypical labels of a dangerous neighbourhood was then associated with Chinatown.

Therefore, if Canada has been a country that has been largely associated with advocating the freedom of expression of all cultures and religions, then how is racism still apparent in Canada?

Air Canada made a 12 Year old Girl Remove Her Hijab

Fatima Abdelrahman was on board of an Air Canada flight wearing her hijab until she was stopped by an airline agent, asking her to remove her hijab prior boarding. Fatima refused to, and she was asked to stay behind for further instructions. The explanation given by the TSA’s official website does indicate that people may be asked to remove “head coverings, loose fitting garments” during security screening at the checkpoints, yet it was not indicated by Air Canada policy that head coverings were not allowed to be worn, or had to be taken off prior of boarding. A hijab is a religious head covering worn in public by some Muslim women, is it worn to maintain modesty and privacy. Therefore, it may be uncomfortable or unacceptable for some individuals to take off their hijabs in public.

Racist Incident in Richmond Parking Lot

During a shopping trip to Richmond, Chinese lady Amy Xu encountered an incident in which a woman lashed out at her, calling her out for her poor parking skills, and relating it to her ethnicity, before furthermore lashing out with several racist rants. The video captured disturbing racial language used, yelling out phrases such as: “Go back to China where you belong.” And “We don’t want you here.” Amy Xu later contacted the RCMP upon this issue, and explained her frustration with the incident, however the RCMP replied that such kinds of hate speech does not meet the guidelines of a hate speech crime, yet people that were commenting online upon the situation could faces charges for their actions online. This was a big issue in the multicultural community in Vancouver, as many people pointed out that there were no consequences of hate speech, and it was not a way of discouraging racism and hate crimes.

Xenophobia (COVID-19)

With the recent global pandemic of the COVID-19, spreading from the outbreak in the epicentre in China, many Chinese Canadians are afraid of the xenophobia and racism that they experienced during the SARS outbreak. Many people have noticed several online comments that were racist and xenophobic, such that states: “Quarantine all Chinese” and “Stop immigration from China because they carry this disease.” And giving the virus the name of “China virus” This has caused the Canadian Chinese community to fear that they may be victims of hate speech and hate crime.

Conclusion

Though Canada has been a historically multicultural country, and is known for its diversity in culture, ethnicity, and religion, there are still many cases of racism, hate speech, and hate crime happening in Canada, therefore we should all contribute to encourage love and peace within our communities despite coming from different cultural and religious backgrounds, we are all humans. We should all contribute to stopping hate crimes and hate speech in Canada.