Madam Speaker, this past Sunday a CTV reporter tweeted a photo of himself next to an Asian barber wearing a surgical mask. He has now deleted and apologized for a tweet that read, “Hopefully ALL I got today was a haircut”.
Yesterday, walking down the street here in Ottawa, I heard a conversation in passing. One man said to another, “Yeah, we're going to a restaurant in Chinatown for lunch”, and the other guy said in response, “You mean coronavirustown.”
I gave him an earful. At a time when many Chinese Canadians are struggling with these concerns for the welfare of friends and family in China, we must stand against the normalization of xenophobic mores against people of Asian descent. They are our brothers and sisters and they deserve nothing other than support, compassion and understanding.
Today I call upon all of us here to stand in solidarity with Chinese Canadians and to all those around the world affected by the coronavirus.