moved:
That, in the opinion of the House:
(a) the government should
(i) condemn anti-Asian hate and all forms of racism and racial discrimination,
(ii) ensure all anti-racism policies and programs address the historical and present-day racism, discrimination, stereotyping and injustices faced by people of Asian descent,
(iii) highlight the lived realities of racism and barriers to inclusion experienced by people of Asian descent in national consultations on issues of anti-Asian racism; and
(b) the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security should conduct a review of anti-Asian hate crimes and hate-motivated incidents across the country. (Private Members' Business M-63)
Mr. Speaker, today, I am privileged to rise in the House to introduce Motion No. 63 on anti-Asian racism, stemming from the alarming surge in hate and discrimination against people of Asian descent.
On May 8, 2020, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said, “the pandemic continues to unleash a tsunami of hate and xenophobia, scapegoating and scare-mongering” and “We must act now to strengthen the immunity of our societies against the virus of hate.”
Over the past two and a half years, increasing violence against Asians has been reported around the world. Targeted, taunted and threatened, Asian peoples have experienced being punched in the face, beaten into a coma and, in the worst cases, murdered.
The spa shootings in Atlanta, Georgia, on March 16, 2021, took eight innocent lives, including six Asian American women. Two weeks later, on March 29, 2021, an anti-Asian attack at a café in Richmond, British Columbia, included racial slurs and coffee hurled at a shop manager. These instances of hate are underpinned by the arduous conditions that Asians have suffered, including experiences of exploitative labour conditions and overrepresentation in precarious low-paying jobs.
Canada is not immune to the global virus that is anti-Asian racism. One year into the COVID-19 pandemic, a federal government-funded report, published by the Chinese Canadian National Council Toronto Chapter, detailed a disturbing increase in anti-Asian hate across the country.
Among the 643 documented racist attacks from March 10 to December 31, 2020, are seniors being coughed or spat on and physical assaults against children, who were most likely to experience significant mental and emotional trauma. The report notes that those perceived to be the most vulnerable, namely adolescents and older adults, were subjected to greater instances of physical abuse, while women reported the majority of incidents overall. As for where these racist attacks took place, 49% were in public spaces such as parks and sidewalks, while 17% occurred in businesses, especially in the food sector like restaurants and grocery stores.
In 2021, the situation only worsened. A follow-up report showed that between January 1 and December 31, 2021, 943 instances of anti-Asian racism were logged, representing an increase of 47% over the previous year. While women continued to report the majority of cases, attacks against children increased by a staggering 286%, and cases reported by the South Asian community shot up by 318%.
Together, these two national reports paint an increasingly dire picture of the harsh realities of racism faced by Canadians of Asian descent today.
Allow me this opportunity to acknowledge the organizations that supported this research: Anakbayan Canada, Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice, Chinese Canadian National Council Toronto Chapter, Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic, Council of Agencies Serving South Asians, Elimin8Hate, Project 1907 and Viet Collective for Community Justice.
That being said, the lived experiences of differential treatment are not new for Asian Canadians. The stories unfolding today rest on the backdrop of a longer history of structural and institutional racism in Canada. Whether it was the Electoral Franchise Act of 1885, which barred Chinese Canadians from voting in federal elections, or the internment of 21,000 Japanese Canadians during the Second World War, Asian Canadians have endured harmful stereotypes and discriminatory laws throughout the centuries.
Chinese Canadian veterans who served in World War II returned home to Canada only to then have to fight for their right to vote. Their efforts paid off in 1948, when Canadians of Chinese and South Asian descent were finally granted the right to vote in Canadian federal elections, followed by Japanese Canadians in 1949.
Blatant or less overt, deliberate or subconscious, the treatment of Canadians of Asian descent has been that of the perpetual foreigner, despite their generational roots and immense contributions to building this country.
Starting in 1881, over 17,000 Chinese men were brought to Canada to help construct the transcontinental railroad. Immediately upon the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the Chinese Immigration Act, 1885, was passed into law, imposing a head tax of $50 on all Chinese immigrants entering Canada. The new law represented the first piece of legislation in Canada to exclude immigration on the basis of race and ethnicity in order to preserve the dominant white settler colonial state. The Chinese head tax would increase, reaching its peak in 1903 of $500, equivalent to two years of income for an immigrant worker at the time. In the 38 years that the tax was imposed, 82,000 Chinese immigrants paid nearly $23 million, an amount estimated to be worth $354 million in 2021.
It appears that from the government’s point of view, the discriminatory head tax was not enough to halt Chinese immigration. As a result, an updated Chinese Immigration Act, 1923, came into effect on July 1, 1923. Now called Canada Day, July 1 was referred to by the Chinese community as “humiliation day” in the decades that ensued. The Chinese Exclusion Act, as it now commonly referred to, banned virtually all Chinese immigrants from entering the country. Until it was repealed 24 years later in 1947, people of Chinese descent were the sole demographic singled out for full exclusion.
This was just one of over 100 different policies that systematically denied equal rights to Chinese people, viewing them as inferior and reducing them to second-class citizens. They were barred from being able to vote, to hold public office or to own property. Additional laws were passed in provinces where Chinese immigrants lived that limited their employment and housing options, as well as imposed many other restrictions, including subjugation to random police checks for immigration documents.
Perhaps most difficult of all is that a generation of predominantly Chinese men were unable to reunite with their families, resulting in a gender imbalance of 28 Chinese men to every Chinese woman in Canada. While Europeans were enticed to immigrate to Canada with promises of free land, the Chinese head tax and Chinese Exclusion Act inhibited the reunification of Chinese families.
Collectively, these policies severely impacted the social and economic development of the Chinese community in Canada for decades to come, leaving a lasting impact and enduring generational trauma. The repeal of these xenophobic laws, the gaining of the right to vote and the passing of the Canadian Citizenship Act, 1947, were the first steps in righting the historical wrongs that Canadians of Asian descent endured. Restrictions based on race and national origin were not fully eliminated in Canada’s immigration system until 1967. The liberalization of immigration policies marked a turning point for advocates of a more equitable vision for our country.
Next year marks the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Exclusion Act, a stain on our country’s history that reminds us to reflect on the lived realities of anti-Asian hate that remain and thrive today. The motion I am introducing is a concerted call for action to condemn the rising prevalence of anti-Asian racism that has been commonplace throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since the global health crisis began, Canadians of Asian descent have now, more than ever, been subjected to xenophobic harassment, racist stereotypes and hateful slogans, parroted even by public figures. In response, protests have taken place across the country, including the rally I attended in Nathan Phillips Square at Toronto City Hall last year, held in support of the movement against these odious forms of hate.
The diversity of attendees demonstrated the strong message that Asian Canadians do not stand alone against the rising tide of anti-Asian racism and that there is solidarity to enact lasting change through equity programs, initiatives and hate-crime prevention. Canadians are recognizing our joint responsibility to speak up and do something about the anti-Asian racism that is taking hold in Canada and around the world. That is why it is important to stand together with all Canadians against all forms of discrimination, hate and xenophobia.
Racist acts and terminology that flame distrust and division have no place in an inclusive society. For many in the Asian community, displays of solidarity like these recent gatherings are liberating moments to express the newest fears that they carry. There is comfort in allies joining the call for action to confront racism.
Through Motion No. 63, I am asking this Parliament to agree:
(a) the government should
(i) condemn anti-Asian hate and all forms of racism and racial discrimination,
(ii) ensure all anti-racism policies and programs address the historical and present-day racism, discrimination, stereotyping and injustices faced by people of Asian descent,
(iii) highlight the lived realities of racism and barriers to inclusion to inclusion experienced by people of Asian descent in national consultations on issues of anti-Asian racism; and
(b) the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security should conduct a review of anti-Asian hate crimes and hate-motivated incidents across the country.
In all of its ugly forms, anti-Asian racism is undoubtedly a part of Canada’s history, but Canadians have a choice today as to whether hate will play a part in our collective future. I ask this Parliament to join me in supporting this bold but necessary motion at this critical moment for Canadians of Asian descent across the country.
