United we stand: Combatting anti-Asian racism in the GTA
Credit to Author: Ramya Ramanathan| Date: Tue, 06 Dec 2022 21:43:46 +0000
How can communities be empowered to come together and stand up against racism? While the pandemic did bring with it many incidences of anti-Asian racism, it also opened the door to more discussions about racism in Canada.
On November 29, 2022, United Way Greater Toronto (UWGT)’s Chinese Community Advisory Council (CCAC) created a platform to discuss the important topic of racism at “United we stand! An anti-Asian racism forum.”
CCAC has been active in the community on how to handle anti-Asian hate. Canadians are encouraged to report incidents through covidracism.ca or calling 211 for non-emergency situations. In addition to working with the community, the Council has been making connections with policy makers and fostering discussions about change.
At the event, keynote speaker Hong Kong-born Canadian Olivia Chow, a former Toronto city councillor and former member of parliament, shared her personal experiences dealing with systemic racism.
Chow acknowledges that is very difficult to deal with. “And this”, she says is “one of the reasons why I do what what I do now. I run the Institute for Change Leaders [at Toronto Metropolitan University] because I want to train people, both on how to deal with individual racism by practicing, by being prepared, by role playing, by getting a support group around you, by naming it, calling it, dealing with it and confronting it; and two, cultural racism or systemic racism or racism that it inflicted by a power that’s much bigger than we are.”
“I find it is really important that we learn how to do it,” says Chow.
A panel discussion featured community leaders including Alfred Lam, Executive Director, Centre for Immigrant and Community Services; Gen Ling Chang, anti-racist educator & former Associate Director, TDSB; Justin Kong, former Executive Director, Chinese Canadian National Council (Toronto); and Weiguo Zhang, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Toronto.
The event recording will be available on United Way Greater Toronto’s YouTube channel.
The post United we stand: Combatting anti-Asian racism in the GTA first appeared on Canadian Immigrant.
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