Amid a surge in cases of anti-Asian racism, a new grassroots group of Canadians has launched a campaign to fight back. Dubbed #HealthNotHate, the campaign’s message is that COVID-19 is the enemy, not our neighbours.
The group is calling on Canadians to speak out against racism. “We’re all in this together. Really the virus is something that affects all of us,” said Sonny Wong with Health not Hate. “We feel they’re misdirecting and misguiding their hatred towards a particular people when that hatred should be directed towards a virus.” On Friday, Vancouver police said they’d identified 77 hate-associated files in 2020, and have opened 29 investigations into anti-Asian crime so far this year, compared to only four by this time last year.