China News Service, Toronto, May 23 Question: Increasing crimes of racial hatred in Canada have angered the Chinese, calling for "headaches"
China News Agency reporter Yu Ruidong
"Hate, violence and discrimination have no room in Canada," Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the media on May 22 local time in Ottawa. "This is not the nature of Canadians."
Trudeau's remarks are in response to the recent sharp increase in racist behavior against Asians across Canada. He said that in the past few weeks or even months, businesses, buildings and statues have been damaged, and some people have been attacked by words and limbs. "This is unacceptable."
In Vancouver, where Chinese are concentrated, since the emergence of the new crown epidemic, attacks against Chinese and Asians have increased. In April, someone wrote words of hatred and intimidation of Chinese on the doors and windows of the Greater Vancouver Chinese Cultural Center in Chinatown, Vancouver, and destroyed the glass windows of the building. Recently, the iconic stone lion of Chinatown has been maliciously graffiti.
"Discrimination has been around for a long time. But in the past month or two, there has been a marked increase in hatred and consequent panic." Guo Yinghua, chairman of the Chinese Culture Center in Greater Vancouver, told reporters from China News Service that US President Trump had accused the new crown virus In order to increase the discrimination and hatred for the "Chinese virus", certain Canadian media and individual politicians have echoed, urging some people to take action.
Recently, Chinese or Asians have been physically attacked in public. Guo Yinghua said that most of the victims were Asian women and the elderly, and it was even more disgusting to see such evil acts. He believes that the police should release law enforcement information on related cases as soon as possible to enhance the warning effect and deterrence. The government and politicians should make their positions clear.
He said that the Chinese are not indifferent to the psychology. However, in the face of discrimination and hatred, we should dare to speak up to let the political circles and the public realize the seriousness of the problem and respond in a timely manner.
Vancouver police admitted at the press conference on the afternoon of the 22nd that local hate crimes and hate-related incidents against Asians have further increased. Since this year, the Vancouver police have confirmed 77 hate-related cases, an increase of 26 compared with the same period last year. The police have filed 29 anti-Asian crimes, compared with four similar cases last year.
Vancouver Vice Police Chief Zhou Weiyi said that the smearing of culturally significant landmarks and buildings in Chinatown is also painful and uneasy, and the public should not be dumb.
The police said they have taken countermeasures, such as increasing patrols in Chinatown, strengthening liaison with the China News Agency, adding monitoring equipment, and developing systems that can report non-emergency incidents in Chinese.
The mainstream TV media "Universal News" at the end of April slanderd the Chinese government in its fight against the epidemic in the Chinese government, instructing Chinese Canadian communities to snap up medical supplies, resulting in a shortage of medical supplies in Canada. Chinese in many places have criticized and protested the media reports in different ways.
The chairman of the Vancouver Chinese Association Yao Chongying wrote an open letter and wrote to the media that the epidemic does not distinguish between race, color, politics and nationality. In this difficult period, we should focus on fighting the epidemic together, rather than blaming others and provoking racial hatred. In fact, in order to overcome the new coronavirus epidemic, everyone in the world needs to become an anti-epidemic warrior. If "Global News" wants to help Canada win this battle, it must report based on the facts with an accurate and unbiased attitude, so that the people can unite rather than provoke differentiation.
Prime Minister Trudeau emphasized that no matter where racism exists, it must be shouted to contain it. He also said that he would like to thank the people who stood up to resist the violence and exposed the status of the community. BC Governor John Horgan and some mayors and leaders of different parties have recently expressed their respective condemnations of hate crimes and discrimination. Representatives of different ethnic groups in the province's business community, community, etc. recently signed and published an open letter condemning hate behavior and racist violence.
Many Chinese federal senators, deputies and politicians at various levels in Canada have also recently expressed their criticisms of bad behavior and called for confronting the issue of discrimination. Kang Anli, director of the BC Citizenship Service with a background of Taiwanese immigrants, issued a multilingual statement in mid-May condemning hate crimes and reprimanding social behavior.
The founding president and scholar Ding Guo of the Canadian Chinese Hundred People Association recently warned in a newspaper article that the current anti-Asian and anti-Chinese wave is quite similar to the wave of anti-Asianism and the tragedy that discriminated against Japanese Canadians in wartime. Office. The repetition of history is not a "fantasy". He issued an open letter calling on immigrant groups from Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan to form an anti-discrimination consensus under the common status of "Chinese Canadians", to jointly voice, actively lobby, and face anti-Asian and Take action against the wave of China.
"The Chinese community is well aware that anti-Asian political viruses are more lethal than the new crown virus," Ding Guo said. "In the face of the crisis of racial discrimination, the Chinese do not have the capital to split and divide, nor have a way to escape. Bash. "(End)