Queenie Choo and Nico Slobinsky: Canadians must unite against growing bigotry, discrimination and hate


Opinion: Education is central to solving the problem No one is born hating; haters are taught. Canadian schools must teach not just tolerance, but respect and the benefits of embracing diversity

Article content

The month of May in Canada marks both Asian Heritage Month and Canadian Jewish Heritage Month. It is the perfect time to celebrate the contributions our two communities bring to our Canadian family and the blessings that come with living in a country that, more than all others, accepts and embraces differences and diversity.

advertisement 2

Article content

However, all is not perfect in Canada. Here too, bigotry, discrimination, and hate are growing, a phenomenon we see online and in the streets.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made Asian-Canadians even more susceptible to hate incidents. According to a recent study, reports of racist incidents in Canada increased by 47 per cent in 2021 compared to 2020. Similarly, Statistics Canada’s most recent report, released in March 2022 and tracking incidents between 2019 and 2020, revealed the number of police-reported crimes motivated by hatred of a race or ethnicity increased an alarming 80 per cent — from 884 to 1,594. Canadians of East or Southeast Asian heritage were the targets of an increase of 202 incidents and the South Asian population of 38 incidents.

advertisement 3

Article content

The same Statistics Canada data show that Canada’s Jewish community, just one per cent of the Canadian population, was the target of 62 per cent of all hate crime targeting religious minorities. While there was a 16-per-cent decline in hate crime targeting religious groups overall, hate crime targeting Jewish-Canadians increased by five per cent.

Clearly, something must be done for Canada to live up to its promise.

Here are four policy suggestions we offer for consideration by our governments:

First, education. It is central to solving the problem. No one is born hating — haters are taught. Canadian schools must teach not just tolerance, but respect and the benefits of embracing diversity. We need to equip Canada’s youth with the tools to understand how culture and identity inform experience while rejecting harmful tropes, conspiracies, and preconceptions denigrating or dismissing one another.

advertisement 4

Article content

But education is not only for children. It applies to all, now and in the future. That is why the Day of Action against anti-Asian Racism, recognized by cities across Canada, and Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah) are important. Those days — and others like them — remind us to reflect on the impact that bigotry can have on individuals, communities, and on our entire country.

Another element in the fight against hate is the internet. While it offers us a world of positive possibilities, the internet has also contributed to a world of hate. And we know that what happens online carries real-life consequences.

We thus call on the federal government to introduce legislation to combat online hate, which would, among other things, create an independent regulatory regime, compel social media companies to serve as first responders, and increase the transparency of social media companies’ internal policies, procedures, and guidelines — including how artificial intelligence and algorithms are programmed.

advertisement 5

Article content

Hate symbols can have a powerful impact on vulnerable groups. Canadians flying Nazi flags or brandishing white supremacist emblems at the truckers’ convoy on Parliament Hill was shocking to many. We call on Parliamentarians to adopt MP Peter Julian’s Bill C-229: An Act to amend the Criminal Code (banning symbols of hate).

Regarding real-life hate crimes, we should build on the important review of hate crime policies, practices, and challenges following the example of that conducted by the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police. While we recognize that a number of municipal police departments in BC and the RCMP have established hate crime units that do very important work with limited resources, we urge police units across the country to emulate the Ontario example and to conduct a review of existing policies and establish dedicated hate crime units whose members are trained in identifying, recording, and investigating hate crimes to meet the needs of victims and successfully prosecute perpetrators of hate.

advertisement 6

Article content

Canada has offered our communities a wonderful place to raise our families and realize our dreams. In response and in gratitude, with their determination, commitment, and vibrancy, Asian-Canadians and Jewish-Canadians are striving to make Canada a better place for all Canadians.

As non-partisan community organizations, the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs and SUCCESS commit to continue working together and with other communities; to support initiatives that uphold human rights and fight racism and hatred in all forms. And to make Canada even better.

Queenie Choo is the chief executive officer of SUCCESS Canada. Nico Slobinsky is senior director, Pacific Region, at the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs.


Letters to the editor should be sent to [email protected]. The editorial pages editor is Hardip Johal, who can be reached at [email protected].

CLICK HERE to report a typo.

Is there more to this story? We’d like to hear from you about this or any other stories you think we should know about. Email [email protected].

advertisement 1

Comments

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notifications—you will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user follows comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your e-mail settings.


Leave a Comment