In 2020, police-reported hate crimes targeting race or ethnicity nearly doubled from the previous year – the highest number since Statistics Canada began collecting data in 2009.

“The nexus of COVID conspiracies, overlaid with xenophobia, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and anti-Asian racism only serve to fuel existing social tensions and anxiety,” says Amira Elghawaby, journalist, human rights advocate and director of programs and outreach with the Canadian Race Relations Foundation.

Countering those hateful messages that deeply affect not only individuals but entire communities is no small task at the best of times, says Irfan Chaudhry, director of the MacEwan University’s Office of Human Rights, Diversity and Equity. That makes the crowdsourced, grassroots efforts of community groups across the country during a global pandemic even more impressive.

“Movements, programs and initiatives created by racialized groups who are living and experiencing these forms of hatred are bringing a different layer of solutions to the table – solutions that are ‘about us, by us’ and that empower people,” says Chaudhry. 

Highlighting some of those community responses to hate is the focus of this year’s Understanding Hate event, organized by MacEwan University’s Office of Human Rights, Diversity and Equity in partnership with the Canadian Race Relations Foundation. The panel discussion and Q&A on November 3 will share the experiences of community groups who are using limited resources to encourage and empower people to take action, including:

• Aisha Ali and Wati Rahmat with Sisters’ Dialogue, a group of diverse Muslim women in Edmonton fighting Islamophobia.
• Genling Chang with ACT2EndRacism, a coalition of concerned citizens and community groups of Asian descent focused on COVID-19-triggered racism.
• Dahabo Ahmed Omer with Black North Initiative, an organization that aims to end anti-Black systemic racism using a business-first mindset.
• Bernie Farber, former CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress and current Board Chair of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, an independent, nonprofit organization made up of Canada’s leading experts and researchers on hate groups and hate crimes.
• Leslie Varley with the BC Association of Aboriginal Friendship Centres that developed an app for Indigenous people to report mistreatment in health-care settings.

Shining a spotlight on people taking action is important, says Elghawaby, who will host and moderate the event on November 3. So is building empathy.

“Not everyone understands what it’s like to be treated with disdain or hatred when receiving a public service, or to worry when you walk out the door about someone yelling at you, throwing something at you or even hitting you with a car,” she says. “Empathy is necessary. It can help mobilize us toward taking action to make our communities safer, better, more inclusive and more welcoming.”

What can happen when you bring together a national organization, a university and five community-focused organizations from across the country?

“This work is difficult to do alone,” says Chaudhry. “Being able to partner and create a network of people we can all tap into and reach out to is an integral part of what we’re trying to do at MacEwan – to be convenors and leaders in equity, diversity and inclusion.”