A Chinese international student said an incident of anti-East Asian hate she experienced on a Toronto subway affected her for a long time.
Guanchen Ye, 24, said she was targeted during the pandemic by another rider on the TTC.
“Two years ago, my friend and I were taking the TTC subway to North York when a random guy shouted at us because we were wearing masks,” Ye said. “He said, ‘There is no need to wear any masks. Only you Asians wear masks, go back to your country.'”
Ye said she was shocked when facing that situation.
“I did not think it was a weird thing to wear masks, there were people wearing masks in classes in my school at that time, I assumed it was a protection to people’s health.”
She said she thought there were a lot of Asian people who encountered similar situations during the pandemic.
“I am still taking the TTC now because I do not have a car,” Ye said. “But I always recalled this memory and felt very nervous in the subway. I try to avoid eye contact with strangers.”
Hate crimes on the rise
Anti-Asian racism refers to historical and ongoing discrimination, negative stereotyping, and injustice experienced by people of Asian origin.
Based on the 2021 Annual Hate Crime Statistical Report from the Toronto Police Service, there was an increase in hate crime incidents with a total of 257 cases. East and Southeast Asia, with 41 occurrences, 16 per cent in total, was the most victimized group in the ethnic or national origin category that year, and the third most victimized group in general.
According to the 2021 Toronto Census, 351,625 people, 12.7 per cent of Toronto’s population, are East Asian, including 10.7 per cent Chinese, 1.5 per cent Korean and 0.5 per cent Japanese.
In response to the incidences of anti-East Asian hate, the City of Toronto launched in November 2023 an educational campaign to help citizens recognize and shut down anti-East Asian discrimination.
Created by Toronto for All, the team designed three posters and displayed them at Toronto City Hall, Metro Hall, Etobicoke Civic Centre, Scarborough Civic Centre and in more than 180 community centres in various areas in Toronto.
“In a world and city where stereotypes and discrimination persist, we believe that education is a powerful tool to combat biases and promote understanding,” said Amy Go, the President of the Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice, which collaborated with the City of Toronto to introduce the educational campaign to citizens.
Ye said she liked the designs of these three posters.
“The colour and design are very attractive, compared to other ads on TTC and public transportation. The colour is very bright so it is easy to catch people’s attention.”
Sinan Liu, 21, another Chinese student living in Richmond Hill, thought the campaign would be a good start to disseminate Asian culture and help people realize the problems of racism.
Liu immigrated with her parents from China to Canada in 2017 at age 15, and attended Grade 9 in a local high school in Richmond Hill.
During that time, she said, she faced the challenges of adapting to a new learning environment and also faced discrimination because of her foreign background and language problems.
“The teachers and classmates would not favour me,” Liu said. “They wouldn’t say anything [overtly racist] to me though, but they just wouldn’t be nice to me.”
“It’s like emotional abuse,” she said. “Although my classmates didn’t say it, I could still feel their emotions.”
‘Not allowed to speak Chinese’
Liu said she felt not only her classmates but also some teachers were excluding her at that time.
“I remember during my high school, my teacher in gym class was a white lady who was almost retired. She yelled at me every time when I spoke Chinese with my classmates and said we were not allowed to speak Chinese in Canada because this is an English-speaking environment.”
Liu said she felt sad and disappointed when facing that situation, “She was definitely being discriminating. I tried to report her with a bunch of Chinese students, but the principal didn’t say much about that because she was about to retire.”
Liu wished Asian people could be more confident in expressing and fighting for themselves in this situation.
“I understand that people are always quiet because of our cultural background, but I realize we have so many Asian cultural elements and popular trends here that we should be proud of.”
According to Toronto City Council, this campaign is ended on Jan. 24.