Horgan calls for national platform

VICTORIA — B.C. Premier John Horgan is calling on the federal government to lead an anti-racism program, saying fighting racism needs a nationwide plan to ensure the participation and support of Canadians.

The premier will lobby for a national anti-racism program during a conference call with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his fellow premiers.

Horgan said he’s horrified by the death of George Floyd in the United States and saddened by the unfolding situation as protests continue in cities across America.

“We are pretty clear in B.C. that again we are wanting to push as hard as we can for national approaches to these vexing problems,” he said at a news conference. “We have enough to deal with here in B.C. by ourselves, but if we are aided by a federal program and a federal initiative that has us all working together from coast to coast to coast, I think that lifts up all

Canadians.”

Horgan said a federal plan, supported by the provinces, will add strength to messages of antiracism in Canada.

Recently, Horgan denounced alleged racially motivated attacks against Chinese-Canadians in Metro Vancouver during the COVID-19 pandemic.

At Wednesday’s news conference, he said despite efforts to treat people equally there are blotches on the province’s past.

“Although we do our level best to address racism here in B.C., it exists here as well,” Horgan said. “We’ve had certainly challenges with racism going back to the head tax for Chinese-Canadians, the Komagata Maru when it comes to South Asians and Indigenous Peoples have experienced racism from the beginning of settlement here in B.C.”