Minorities in Canada Report an Upswing in Racism Since Covid-19

(Bloomberg) -- Non-white Canadians report facing increased incidents of racism amid the global response to Covid-19.

One in five visible-minority participants in a Statistics Canada survey said they felt race-based harassment or attacks have increased since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, according to the data released Tuesday. That compares with just 6% of non-visible minority Canadians.

The crowdsourced online survey of more than 43,000 people between May 12 and May 25 also shows nearly a third of Chinese Canadians said they felt harassment or attacks based on race, ethnicity or skin color had increased since the Covid-19 crisis began to spread from Wuhan, China early this year.

Tuesday’s report from the national statistics agency comes as Canadians confront societal inequalities of their own amid violent protests in the U.S. against police brutality and systemic discrimination. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who took a knee at a solidarity march in Ottawa last week, has been speaking out against racism almost daily.

Perception of increased race-based attacks or harassment was highest in British Columbia, where 15% of respondents said incidents were on the rise since the coronavirus began. That’s double the national average.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.