By Marianne Lassonde
Special to The Record
Since the start of the pandemic, people of Asian descent have been spat on, verbally harassed, assaulted, and accused of bringing COVID-19 to Canada.
These incidents are anchored in a damaging and racist rhetoric against the Asian community and have been fuelled by comments declaring COVID-19 the “Chinese virus” from politicians, including former U.S. President Donald Trump.
But these racist incidents are far from being an American issue. According to Project 1907, Canada has a higher number of reported anti-Asian hate crime incidents per Asian Capita compared to the U.S. “I completely isolated myself because I was scared of what could happen to me if I left my house,” admitted Enola St-Amant, who was adopted by a Quebecois family at 13 months old.
