Montreal’s cultural communities are calling for action against hate crimes following the the Atlanta shooting on Tuesday that appeared to target Asian women. They say a similar thing could happen in the metropolis.
The violent shooting killed eight people. Asian Montrealers say there’s been an increase in hatred towards them.
“We did have a hate crime in Quebec City in a mosque, so could it happen here? With all the online hate in particular that doesn’t respect borders: yes,” said Marvin Rotrand, an independent city councillor.
“There have been too many stories of Asian persons being pushed, punched or worse,” said Luzviminda Ogerio-Mazzone, president of the Federation of Filipino Canadian Associations of Quebec.
She also added that “the situation has been aggravated by a cultural trait where many in our community do not want to be viewed as complaining.”
There have also been cases of vandalism, like the defacing of a Buddhist temple.
Other ethnic communities have also experienced hate crimes, not all of which are physically violent.
Kemba Mitchell said her organization, the West Island Black Community Association, was verbally attacked with racial slurs during an online AGM on Zoom where hackers also displayed sexually explicit content.
“Considering the increase of Zoom bombings right here in Montreal, we are extremely disappointed by the lack of a more vigorous response and follow-up by the SPVM,” Mitchell said.
She and other community groups are supporting a motion which Rotrand will table at city council on Monday. It calls for the creation of a hate crimes unit within the Montreal police.
The SPVM has hate crime investigators and is recruiting more visible minorities, but Rotrand wants Montreal to instate the New York model.
“They have a hate crime unit now approaching 50 officers; 25 of them are Asians who specialize in dealing with the Asian community,” he said.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante said she will wait until the debate to say whether she supports the motion or not, but “our political will actually is definitely in this direction,” she said.