Statement on Anti-Asian Violence Across North America

TORONTO, ON (March 17, 2021)

The NAJC condemns the acts of violence that took the lives of eight people including six Asian women in Atlanta. We mourn their loss. Our hearts and minds are with their family, friends, and communities. 

“Whether these murders were intended to target the victims because of their work, gender, or their Asian ethnicity, they come at a time when our community is already feeling exposed and vulnerable. The impacts of the discrimination and outright racism that have been brought to the forefront by the Covid-19 pandemic have continued to wear us down, and while the motives behind this most recent attack still remain unknown, the implications are harrowing.”  (Japanese American Citizens League Statement on March 16th attack in Atlanta)

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Anti-Asian racism and violence has increased across North America. Japanese Canadians see historic parallels between the viral nature of the current rise and escalation of racism and hate – to that which saw our community dispossessed and exiled from British Columbia in the 1940’s.  

In 1905 the Asiatic Exclusion League (AEL) formed in the United States to target Japanese and Korean Americans and grew to include all Asians. A chapter was formed in Vancouver in 1907 and less than a month later the 1907 Vancouver Anti-Asian Riots erupted, lasting three days. Mobs of up to 8,000 marched through Chinatown and Powell Street vandalizing businesses and assaulting Asians with the Chinese community enduring the brunt of the devastation and aggression.

We call on our political leaders to continue to fight racism on all fronts, and for all peoples. This tsunami of anti-Asian racism in Canada is interconnected with all forms of racism and discrimination – fueled by home grown white supremacists and nurtured historically with 170 pieces of discriminatory anti-Asian legislation in the Province of British Columbia. We call upon all Canadians to speak out and act against racism and hatred – support legislation that outlaws’ white supremacists and measures that give substance to addressing hate crimes and hate speech in Canada.

Media Contact: communications@torontonajc.ca