Posted: Jan 08, 2021 1:00 AM PT | Last Updated: January 8
Comedian Ola Dada says a young woman repeatedly called him the N-word recently after he asked the group she was with to stop throwing firecrackers at his car. He says it s a sign of how much more work needs to be done to address racism.(Ben Nelms/CBC)
In late November, comedian Ola Dada and his girlfriend were visiting a family member at a hotel in Vancouver. While outside, they noticed a group of young people throwing firecrackers from one of the hotel balconies.
Dada says they were hitting his car, so he ran over to say something. The reaction he got from one of the hotel guests, a young woman, shocked him.
by Charlie Smith on December 24th, 2020 at 9:59 AM 1 of 7 2 of 7
(Warning: This article is far longer than what normally appears on media websites.)
The B.C. premier’s words were heard around the province during the only pre-election televised leaders debate.
After being asked to reflect upon how he, as a white political leader, personally reckoned with privilege and unconscious bias against people who are Black, Indigenous, and from other racial backgrounds, John Horgan replied with a tale from his youth.
He looked back to when he played lacrosse with people of Indigenous and South Asian ancestry.
“For me, I did not see colour,” Horgan declared. “I thought everyone around me was the same.”
Author Crawford Kilian talks about revisiting, updating and republishing his ‘Go Do Some Great Thing.’
Olamide Olaniyan is associate editor at The Tyee. Follow him on Twitter @olapalooza. SHARES Mifflin Gibbs arrived in 1858 to become a successful retailer, real estate speculator, Victoria city councillor and builder of BC’s first railway. Crawford Kilian’s account of BC’s ‘remarkable’ Black pioneers remains foundational.
Kilian photo for The Tyee by Amy Romer.
“The climate is most beautiful; the strawberry vines and peach trees are in full blow… All the colored man wants here is ability and money. It is a God-sent land for the colored people.” Wellington Moses, a member of the Pioneer Committee quoted in Crawford Kilian’s book
“Of all of our active cases in BC … about three-quarters of them are in the Fraser Health Authority right now, and the largest share of those are in Surrey,” stated Dix.
About 4,300 km away, the city of Brampton located in Ontario’s Peel Region has also been declared a hotspot in that province.
Last month, Brampton alone made up 66.5% of the Peel Region’s 11,822 COVID-19 cases.
Brampton-based consultant and advocate Jaskaran Sandhu says there are similarities between what is happening with the South Asian communities in these two cities.
Jaskaran Sandhu/Supplied
Both Brampton and Surrey have prominent South Asian populations. According to the 2016 census, about 44% of Brampton and 33% of Surrey’s populations identified as South Asian.