On Friday a 15-year-old boy was attacked in a park in Saskatoon while riding his bike. Nelson Chen, the boy’s father, told Global News the man pushed the boy to the ground, punched him in the head and accused him of bringing the novel coronavirus to Saskatchewan. “He yelled racial slurs at my son and said things like ‘you’re spreading the virus,” he said.
It’s the latest in a string of incidents across the country in which Asian-Canadians have been blamed for the COVID-19 pandemic and targeted.
In Vancouver a 92-year-old man was assaulted and a young woman was punched in the face. Manuela Valle-Castro, the coordinator of the Saskatoon Anti-Racism Network, said the attacks are caused by a mix of anti-Asian beliefs, anti-lockdown sentiment