Question Period Note: Anti-Asian Racism and COVID-19

• Our government vehemently condemns all forms of racism and discrimination and agrees that action is required to counter the pernicious effects of systemic racism.
• We recognize the unique challenges Asian Canadian communities face, and understand the importance of combating racism and discrimination, including systemic racism, in all of its forms.
• Our Government established the Anti-Racism Secretariat in October 2019 in order to engage provinces and territories, civil society, and stakeholders from diverse communities, including Asian Canadian communities, to identify and develop further areas for action.
• The Anti-Racism Secretariat also set up the Equity-Seeking Communities & COVID-19 Taskforce, an interdepartmental forum to ensure the federal response to COVID-19 aligns with the needs of these communities.

• The Government of Canada announced in the Speech from the Throne that they are committed to combatting systemic racism. Systemic Racism is defined as patterns of behaviour, policies or practices that are part of the social or administrative structures of an organization, and which create or perpetuate a position of relative disadvantage for racialized persons. These appear neutral on the surface but, nevertheless, have an exclusionary impact on racialized persons.
• According to the Vancouver Police Department's third key performance indicator report for the year, which looks at crime statistics for the first nine months of 2020, there's been a 116 per cent increase in hate crime incidents compared to the same time period in 2019.
• More recently, collaboration amongst multiple grassroots Asian organizations reported 600+ anti-Asian incidents since March. Canada has a higher number of anti-Asian racism reports per capita than the United States, while BC has the most reported incidents per capita of any sub-national region in North America, followed by California, New York and Ontario.
• PCH responded to this when the Anti-Racism Secretariat established the Equity-Seeking Communities & COVID-19 Taskforce (ESACT). In addition, the COVID-19 Social and Economic Impacts Research Working Group was established to facilitate the coordination and exchange of information about any insights and projects related to the impacts of the pandemic vis à vis PCH mandates.

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