Yanhua Ghulam Abidin, the president of the Chinese Jewish Association of Canada, said while the recent violence will not stop the organization’s efforts, the community has a different approach to dealing with the problems and the hate crimes.
He attributes the recent increase in the number and frequency of hate crimes, to recent attacks and incidents on members of the community. He called on the government to do more to prevent hateful incidents, especially in the aftermath of last week’s hate attack in London, Ont.
Abidin said his organization has done a lot to work together with community members to provide cultural exchange and provide a community meeting space.
“We also provide training and education, which is really crucial because there might be some young people who want to make some change, to go after hate,” said Abidin. “Sometimes we can get some young boys who might be young, maybe not ready for those discussions that are very difficult for them.”
Abidin said the organization is also looking at ways to help identify and eliminate hate speech online and has started a pilot program where students, teachers and parents can work together to identify hateful language or speech on their own through text or computer programs.
“We’re trying to create some dialogue in our community on ways to help children and adults recognize hateful language and not actually to let them use anti-Semitic themes and language, but for them to recognize what’s actually racist and hateful language and actually respond to that,” he said.
Some communities of Chinese descent have moved to Canada after Chinese immigration became restricted from certain parts of the country in the late 1800s. Abidin said his organization helps to make that transition easier for people of Chinese descent who have been in Canada for over a century.
The group’s current office space in Hamilton is open to clients who have recently moved to Canada as well as those who have been in the community for a long time.
For now, they’re looking at other options, including finding a location in Montreal or Saskatchewan.