Members of Saskatoon’s Chinese community are organizing a parade on Sunday in response to the racism and prejudice they say they’ve seen as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stories of unprovoked attacks on Asian-Canadians have made the news across the country, including Saskatoon where a 15-year-old boy was allegedly attacked in late May.
Members of the Chinese community say they, too, have faced incidents of racism in Saskatoon.
“There are many other cases. Many are subtle and not so serious, but still, it is a kind of racism,” said Xianming Zhao, one of the parade organizers, adding that people blame Chinese people for the virus.
Zhao moved to the city from the Chinese province of Shandong about five and a half years ago.
He said early into the pandemic, he noticed he was being treated differently while he was out shopping — before grocery stores had installed barriers to separate customers and cashiers, he said.
In April, he said he faced another incident when he tried to get in touch with a man he had bought a car from last year. The deal included the first oil change for free, but when Zhao called him this spring, the man allegedly got mad.
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“He yelled at me and said that ‘I got laid off two jobs because of the Chinese virus and you still want the free oil change?’” Zhao said, adding after he hung up the man texted him saying “people are getting sick, stay home.”
“He [acted] like it’s my fault that he got laid off.”
While he says he was offended, Zhao says he also understands this is a stressful time.
“I don’t think they’re bad people, but they don’t get the accurate information — the facts about this pandemic,” he said.
Fellow parade organizer Justin Zhong has lived in Canada for 20 years. While he has not personally experienced incidents like this, he has friends who have.
He said he hopes this weekend’s parade helps reinforce the message that everyone is in this together.
Organizers say that for many Chinese people in Saskatoon this will be their first parade, something they said they didn’t get to experience in China, another reason they wanted to hold the event.
Along with organizing the parade, Zhong and Zhao said Saskatoon’s Chinese community has raised around $100,000 for donations of masks and other protective gear for the city’s essential workers like police officers and bus drivers.
The parade is scheduled for Sunday at Kinsmen park starting at 2 p.m. About 100 people are expected to attend.
Questions about COVID-19? Here are some things you need to know:
Symptoms can include fever, cough and difficulty breathing — very similar to a cold or flu. Some people can develop a more severe illness. People most at risk of this include older adults and people with severe chronic medical conditions like heart, lung or kidney disease. If you develop symptoms, contact public health authorities.
To prevent the virus from spreading, experts recommend frequent handwashing and coughing into your sleeve. They also recommend minimizing contact with others, staying home as much as possible and maintaining a distance of two metres from other people if you go out. In situations where you can’t keep a safe distance from others, public health officials recommend the use of a non-medical face mask or covering to prevent spreading the respiratory droplets that can carry the virus.
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