Dear Editor:
Recently, video footage of a verbal, racist assault on a South Asian individual by a white man in an Abbotsford parking lot began showing up on our local news stations.
When that story broke, I had been celebrating Ending Violence Association of B.C. and the B.C. Lions’ anti-violence campaign “Be More Than a Bystander,” and supporting the team’s message to speak up and be part of the solution.
As the executive director of MOSAIC, and as an immigrant and refugee to Canada myself, I find this incident highly disturbing. The blatant display of racial discrimination and the use of a fist of hate combined with a “white power” slogan are troubling behaviours with the potential to create a serious divide between people and at the same time threaten the core value of the many freedoms offered in our great country. At MOSAIC, we work with more than 25,000 immigrants and refugees every year and we know that some form of discrimination and racism is one of the challenges they face while integrating into Canadian society. Systemic discrimination does exist in Canada, but I believe we are empowered enough and civil enough to openly express our views with each other about this issue and discuss it openly.
I applaud the many people who quickly took to social media and other forums to condemn the attack. And while we try to make sense of such attacks, we also need to stay vigilant and hold each other accountable to do all we can to end racism, along with sexism, homophobia, xenophobia and other forms of discriminatory hatred.
We all need to take individual responsibility, and we need all levels of government to continue championing the fight against all forms of bigotry. We need more of us to “be more than bystanders” to ensure that the Canadian virtue of respecting differences does not become eroded through indifference or apathy.
Eyob Naizghi, executive director, MOSAIC
