Anti-Asian discrimination on the rise in Canada, says UTM sociologist
Anti-Asian discrimination is on the rise in Canada, with reports of discriminatory incidents more than tripling over the last year, according to a new study from U of T Mississauga.
Social demographer and associate professor of sociology Weiguo Zhang is part of a research team studying the experiences of Chinese Canadians during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Zhang’s co-researchers include epidemiologist and professor Dr. Peizhong Peter Wang, of Memorial University and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health; Dr. Xiaolin Wei, an associate professor at U of T’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health; and Professor Lixia Yang, of Ryerson University’s Department of Psychology.
The idea for the study took form in early 2020 as the research team, who are all of Chinese descent, noted emerging news of a virus in Wuhan, China. By February, when Canada had just eight confirmed cases of COVID-19, the Canadian Chinese community was already taking precautions by staying home from restaurants and cultural gatherings like Lunar New Year and wearing face masks and self-isolating after returning home from trips abroad.
“At that time the Chinese community was taking action to isolate themselves and provide mutual help to each other,” Zhang says.
The researchers saw a unique opportunity to study the experiences of Canada’s Chinese community. The greater Toronto area is home to one of the largest Chinese communities in the world outside of China. With a grant from the Canadian Institute of Health Research the researchers launched a two-year study of a group they felt would ‘bear the brunt’ of impacts from the virus.
The two-year study will assess the prevalence of racial discrimination against Chinese immigrants and the likelihood of experiencing discrimination across social groups. Researchers also hope to learn more about the relationship between racial discrimination and psychological distress in the context of COVID-19.
The study launched in April 2020 with an online survey of 700 Chinese respondents living in Canada. About 11 per cent of respondents indicated that they had experienced incidents of discrimination since the start of the pandemic.
Preliminary results from a second survey conducted in early 2021 revealed a sharp rise in discriminatory experiences. Reports more than tripled over the past year, up from 11 per cent in April 2020 to more than 35 per cent in early 2021.
The reported incidents may seem low at first, especially in light of the anti-Asian stories that grab the daily news headlines, but Zhang notes that older respondents to the survey were less likely to label an experience as discriminatory.
Qualitative interviews with 60 respondents, conducted in the summer of 2020, revealed differing attitudes about what constituted discrimination split along age demographics. Younger and middle-aged respondents (aged 18 to 25, and 25 to 64, respectively) were more likely to identify incidents as discriminatory, while seniors (aged 65 and up) were reluctant to use that label.
Zhang notes one experience recounted by an older interviewee who visited a big-box store early in the pandemic and was asked to remove their mask. They didn’t view the incident as discriminatory, but Zhang notes that they might not have been asked to remove the mask if they weren’t Asian.
Zhang, who started to wear a mask in the early days of the pandemic, recalls visiting a medical clinic where he was bumped to the front of the line. He wonders now if it was because an Asian person wearing a mask made people uneasy. “Sometimes, it’s difficult to judge what is discrimination,” he says.
Older respondents also sometimes used different words to describe their experiences, referring to “unfriendly gestures” when describing discrimination.
Zhang notes that older community members may be less likely to experience discrimination because they are not working or going out of the house during lockdowns. They may also cope with discrimination by ignoring it or trying to avoid situations where they might experience trouble. In contrast, the middle-aged demographic was more likely to suggest finding solidarity with other racial groups experiencing discrimination.
“We think that some people are trying to mitigate the impact by playing down the discrimination, so they don’t get hurt as much or avoid thinking about it,” Zhang says. “Sometimes they say, ‘If you see discrimination everywhere, you will be troubled all the time.’”
Whether the incidents are labelled as such, discrimination during the pandemic is affecting the community psychologically. Respondents to the April survey reported feeling higher levels of anxiety, depression and fear since the pandemic began.
Zhang was surprised to find that self-reported experiences of discrimination crossed all socio-economic demographics within the Canadian Chinese community.
“People with high income or low income, people who speak English or don’t speak English, people who come earlier or new arrivals—there’s no difference,” Zhang says. “Nobody is protected by money, gender, disability or language abilities.
“It’s not because of status—it’s because of our appearance and racial background.
“The Chinese community has disproportionately experienced discrimination because of where the COVID-19 virus originated from,” Zhang says. “We are trying to understand the impact of discrimination on well-being, and how we can help as individuals and community members.”
Zhang says it could be that the racism was always here, but better hidden before the pandemic brought racist attitudes to the surface.
“In normal years, discrimination is less apparent, but never totally gone. It is a continuous and never-ending work for all of us to work together to end it.”
“Chinese people have experienced historical systemic discrimination. Being aware of it, and how to fight it is important.”
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