Page - 397 - in VULNERABLE - The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19

397Spread of Anti-Asian Racism: Prevention and Critical Race Analysis in Pandemic Planning revival of the derogatory slur, “Chink.”10 People of Filipino descent, blamed for the spread COVID-19 in meat-packing plants, are subject to racist comments, and are being barred from entering grocery stores and banks.11 The pandemic has also brought awareness of the risks migrant workers take in working in Canada and the abusive treat- ment they are subject to.12 Since the virus emerged, there has been an increasing number of assaults of Asian people in Canada. For example, in Toronto, an Asian Canadian emergency room nurse was spat on, attacked with an umbrella, and told to “go home.”13 Toronto police decided not to treat this as a hate crime.14 In another example, in Vancouver, a white male yelled racist comments and shoved an elderly Asian man with demen- tia out of a store.15 A recent poll revealed that one in five Canadians think it is not safe to sit beside an Asian person on the bus.16 Even Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Tam, has not escaped racist abuse. Member of Parliament and Conservative leadership candidate 10. Rob Buscher, “‘Reality is Hitting Me in the Face’: Asian Americans Grapple with Racism Due to COVID-19” (21 April 2020), online: Whyy <whyy.org/articles/ reality-is-hitting-me-in-the-face-asian-americans-grapple-with-racism-due-to- covid-19/>. 11. Stephanie Babych, “Filipino Workers Face Backlash in Towns over COVID- 19 Outbreaks at Packing Plants”, Calgary  Herald (29 April 2020), online: <calgaryherald.com/news/filipino-employees-not-to-blame-for-meat-packing- plant-outbreaks-that-have-surpassed-1000-cases/>; Joel Dryden, “Filipino Workers at Meatpacking Plant Feel Unfairly Blamed for Canada’s Biggest COVID- 19 Outbreak”, CBC News (26 April 2020), online: <www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ calgary/cargill-high-river-jbs-brooks-deena-hinshaw-1.5545113>. 12. Max Martin, “COVID-19: Southwestern Ontario Outbreak Puts Migrant Farm Workers in Spotlight” (28 April 2020), online: Woodstock  Sentinel-Review <www. woodstocksentinelreview.com/news/local-news/covid-19-southwestern- ontario-outbreak-puts-migrant-farm-workers-in-spotlight/wcm/543d7fab-57d0- 4aab-9d39-094fbbd28f8a>; see also Babych and Dryden, ibid. 13. Phil Tsekouras, “‘It Happened Because I’m Asian’: Toronto ER Nurse Says She Was Spit on, Verbally Assaulted”, CTV News (9 April 2020), online: <toronto. ctvnews.ca/it-happened-because-i-m-asian-toronto-er-nurse-says-she-was-spit- on-verbally-assaulted-1.4890363>. 14. Ibid. 15. “Vancouver Police ID Suspect in Alleged Racially Motivated Attack Against Elderly Asian Man with Dementia”, CBC News (23 April 2020), online: <www. cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-police-id-suspect-racially- motivated-attack-elderly-asian-man-dementia-1.5542763>. 16. Wanyee Li, “One in 5 Canadians Think It’s not Safe to Sit Beside an Asian Person on the Bus, According to Recent Poll”, The Star (27 April 2020), online: <www. thestar.com/news/canada/2020/04/27/one-in-5-canadians-think-its-not-safe-to- sit-beside-an-asian-person-on-the-bus-according-to-recent-poll.html>.