Page - 399 - in VULNERABLE - The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19

399Spread of Anti-Asian Racism: Prevention and Critical Race Analysis in Pandemic Planning then, restrictions have both increased and loosened for various per- sons travelling from the United States.22 Déjà vu: Restrictions Based on Fear The racist reaction to the pandemic is not surprising. Public health researchers have noted, “During the SARS outbreak, some persons became fearful or suspicious of all people who looked Asian, regard- less of their nationality or actual risk factors for SARS, and expected them to be quarantined.”23 Further, “[o]ther infectious disease epi- demics have been associated with specific ethnic groups,” such as the bubonic plague and the Chinese community in 1900, and the hantavi- rus infection dubbed the “Navajo disease” in 1993.24 Historically, immigration law in both Canada and the U.S. used public health reasons to restrict immigration of Asians.25 The listing of contagious diseases alongside requirements for detailed reports of passengers on ships not only acted to exclude racialized migrants, but contributed to the conflation of racialized persons with disease. Racism has led to, and has been encouraged by, a number of exclusion- ary policies toward racialized persons in Canada.26 The first example is the tragedy of the Komagata Maru in 1914, a ship carrying 376 Sikh passengers fleeing India.27 Canada refused entry of the passengers on the ship and when the Komagata Maru returned to India, 19 persons news/6711597/temporary-foreign-workers-travel-rules/>; see Minimizing  the  Risk  of  Exposure  to  COVID-19  in  Canada  Order  (Prohibition  of  Entry  into  Canada  from  the United States), PC 2020-0161; Minimizing  the  Risk  of  Exposure  to  COVID-19  in  Canada  Order  (Prohibition  of  Entry  into  Canada  from  Any  Country  Other  Than  the  United States), PC 2020-0162. 22. See Minimizing  the  Risk  of  Exposure  to  COVID-19  in  Canada  Order  (Prohibition  of  Entry  into  Canada  from  the  United  States), PC 2020-0185, which imposed greater restrictions on persons coming from the U.S. in general, including refugee claim- ants; Minimizing  the  Risk  of  Exposure  to  COVID-19  in  Canada  Order  (Prohibition  of  Entry  into  Canada  from  the  United  States), PC 2020-0263, which loosened restric- tions so that some persons coming from the U.S. can make refugee claims. 23. Person et al, supra note 1 at 358-59. 24. Ibid at 361-62. 25. Erika Lee, “The ‘Yellow Peril’ and Asian Exclusion in the Americas” (2007) 76:4 Pacific Historical Rev 537. 26. This essay acknowledges there are many other examples, including the intern- ment of Ukrainian and Japanese people, and the refusal to allow the St Louis to dock, a ship carrying Jewish refugees. 27. “The Incident” (last visited 29 May 2020), online: Komagata  Maru:  Continuing  the  Journey <komagatamarujourney.ca/incident>.