Spike in anti-Asian hate crimes prompts Province to launch racist incident hotline
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To combat ongoing racist activities across B.C. and support future anti-racism initiatives, the Province is gearing up to launch a racist incident hotline.
In Vancouver alone, it notes anti-Asian hate crimes spiked over 700 per cent in 2020 compared to the previous year.
And when comparing B.C. with communities across North America on a per-capita basis, Attorney General David Eby says we’re a “major hot spot for anti-Asian racism.” He says this is “unacceptable and more action is needed.”
The hotline is intended to be a multilingual service – not delivered by police – for B.C.’ers to report racist incidents and receive support and referrals, the Province explains.
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The hotline is intended to be a multilingual service, not delivered by police, for British Columbians to report racist incidents and receive support and referrals. Government has a moral and ethical responsibility to tackle discrimination in all its forms, said Rachna Singh, parliamentary secretary for anti-racism initiatives. That s why we re taking action to tackle racism. We ve done a lot already, like recently quadrupling funding for community-based anti-racism projects. But we know there s more to do and a hotline will support British Columbians if they witness or are the victim of a racist incident. The hotline is not intended to replace emergency response services in situations where a person’s safety is in danger. However, the hotline will provide a culturally safe venue for racialized British Columbians to report incidents and obtain support services.
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by Craig Takeuchi on April 25th, 2021 at 11:00 PM 1 of 11 2 of 11
During the pandemic, numerous concerns and reports have chronicled and raised concerns about the rise in hate crimes, particularly those directed against people who appear to be Chinese, East Asian, or Southeast Asian.
In addition, Indigenous community members in B.C. have also experienced COVID-19-related racism.
The Vancouver Police Department has previously reported a 717-percent increase in anti-Asian hate crime cases from 2019 to 2020, and now Burnaby RCMP are reporting a similar trend.
Delta police are reporting an escalation of hate crime incidents but, in contrast, these cases do not involve Asian targets.