Press Release
For Immediate Release
June 18, 2020
Calgary-AB – Act2endracism applauds the unanimous decision of city council in Montreal and Calgary to denounce and act upon anti-Asian racism. And we urge other municipalities in Canada to explicitly protect all residents from harm.
The declaration in Montreal was made after a motion was proposed by Marvin Rotrand, an independent city councillor. City officials unanimously and vigorously denounced acts of hatred, discrimination, and violence directed against Montrealers of various Asian origins and agreed to undertake to provide all Montrealers of diverse Asian origins with safety and effective protection.
This reassures Asian Canadians hate, discrimination and violence directed toward their community is utterly unacceptable.
This week, Calgary also unanimously passed an anti-racism strategy to tackle systemic racism. The motion included requiring councillors to take anti-racism training and it also required police to update city council on its anti-racism strategy. Act2endracism is heartened by these developments and urges all municipalities in Canada to implement similar commitments to promote safe communities.
Former Alberta MLA and founder of ACT2endracism, Teresa Woo-Paw stated, “Cities are the place to create an inclusive environment for everyone. It’s where we build our homes and families and it’s where leaders must implement real strategies and action to tackle racism making it safe for everyone. We urge all municipalities in Canada to follow Montreal and Calgary’s lead and to act.”
Fo Niemi, of the Center for Research-Action on Race Relations, added, “This is historic for city council to speak unanimously against hate and racism against the Asian community in Montreal. It speaks to the need for the city to stand together against hate and violence. This is a powerful message from council to everyone in the city, but also to other Canadian cities. I hope this will encourage other cities to do the same.”
For information and to arrange an interview:
Serena Mah/Media & Communications Consultant
E: serena@serenamah.com
W: www.ACT2endracism.ca
Twitter: @ACT2endracism
Instagram: @Acttoendracism
FB: @AsianCanadiansTogether