Tracy Tang
Chinese Canadian Historical Society of B.C.

“Institutional racial discrimination can be anything, like policies that institutions intentionally or unintentionally enact that disadvantage an entire group of people. Politeness and acting appropriately in terms of racial equality are two different things. You can have someone who does say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ and ‘forgive me’…but they could still be a party to very racially discriminatory practices.”

Lindsay Marsh
Affiliation of Multicultural Societies and Service Agencies of B.C.

“There are still a lot of issues in communities around racism and hate, whether they’re overt acts of racism, or more subtle forms of racism. It is critical that we all work together to recognize the fact that B.C. needs people like newcomers, aboriginal youth, and other diverse community members.”

Lorene Oikawa
B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union

“We also have things like racial profiling and that whole terrorism spectre…We’ve got that no-fly list now in place, which is just horrific when you think that you could just show up at the airport and be told that you’re not going anywhere. It’s not just information that’s within Canada, but it could also be sent to the U.S.…It’s based on how you look and your religion, and that’s not right.”

Lawrence Santiago
PhD student, UBC department of geography

“It’s both embodied and in everyday practices. Racism is manifested through various ways. It could be a white bus driver asking you to speak without an accent if you’re asking for directions and you don’t sound like a typical Canadian, which I experienced personally. Or it could be institutional barriers to getting into higher positions…because they think you’re not good enough because you’re coloured.”