‘I’ve never experienced this kind of hate before’
In late January, a woman walked into a downtown Montreal Tim Hortons to order a bagel. When she noticed the employees behind the counter were Vietnamese and Filipino, she asked for the restaurant’s manager to make it instead, mentioning the coronavirus.
In mid-march, a Southeast Asian woman waiting in the pickup line at a Mcdonald’s in Côtedes-neiges could tell a woman was glaring at her. The woman then mockingly coughed in her face.
A few days later, a Chinese-canadian student was confronted in the Mcgill Ghetto by a woman hurling racial slurs at her. When the student asked if she was serious, the woman responded: “Yes, this is all happening because of you people.”
These examples are only a few of many collected by two Montrealers documenting instances of abuse or racism toward people of Asian descent during the pandemic. They’ve gathered testimonies from two dozen people, tracking incidents spanning the province and dating from January to as recently as last week.
Lily Maya Wang, a Mcgill University law student behind the project, began thinking about collecting people’s experiences after hearing about classmates of hers being targeted.
Wang connected with Kyungseo Kim, a 26-year-old Korean-montrealer who was looking to do the same. They first reached out to people they knew before using social media and chat rooms to find others.
It didn’t take long to confirm what they already suspected: in addition to the stresses brought on by the pandemic, many people of Asian descent in the province are living with the “extra burden” of facing racism and discrimination tied to fears over the virus.
“It creates a sense of isolation, beyond the social distancing everyone is going through,” Kim said of the hostility.
“It’s an added layer knowing that we’re not really considered part of the community any more — you’re singled out, you’re blamed, you’re scapegoated.”
Kim said she began hearing about smaller aggressions toward Asians in Montreal at the beginning of the year — people staring, pointing, not sitting next to them on public transit — but the incidents escalated to profanities and worse as the city became more affected by the pandemic.
Last week, two Taiwanese sisters, 29 and 32, went to get groceries in Montreal’s La Petite-patrie neighbourhood.
A car honked at them on their way into the grocery store. They ignored it. Then it happened again on their way out.
This time the people in the car yelled profanities at them in French, including “maudit Chinoise.”
“I’ve never experienced this kind of hate before,” one of the sisters, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Montreal Gazette. “Every time I have to leave my house I’m nervous. Not just because of the virus but because I’m not sure how people will react if I’m near them.”
Most of the people who shared their experiences did not report the incidents to the police, some due to language barriers, others over fears of not being taken seriously.
The Montreal Gazette asked the Montreal police department whether it has seen an increase in reported hate-motivated crimes or incidents since the beginning of the pandemic, but the police force did not respond by deadline Wednesday.
Both Wang and Kim said collecting the incidents has been a painful experience. They knew the anti-chinese rhetoric surrounding the virus persisted, but hearing the specific examples and talking to the victims brought it into sharp focus.
The scope and frequency at which it’s happening has felt overwhelming, they said.
Kim said the government keeps encouraging people to get outside for walks, but she no longer feels safe walking alone. Wang, for her part, said hearing of all the cases has brought back memories of when she has faced discrimination in her life.
They hope authorities are taking the situation seriously and are calling on elected officials to come out more strongly against the acts. They want them to recognize it’s happening and make sure it isn’t tolerated.
Many who shared their stories with them said it was the first time they’ve experienced hatred in Quebec. They hope the surge in anti-asian sentiment and hostility will go away once the pandemic ends, but fear it could linger.
As one person told them: “The hateful acts have become scarier for us than the COVID -19 pandemic itself.”