Coronavirus – The Untold Story of Racism and Discrimination

Many Albertans follow the daily Coronavirus updates religiously and keep record of the total number of cases; 6,345 as of May 12, 118 deaths, and 4,866 recovered after 191,330 tests. What most Albertans don’t know or have not heard enough are the secondary impacts, cases of prejudices, and discrimination of front line workers in the Coronavirus battle, or call them essential workers of the Coronavirus pandemic in Alberta and beyond. This has been growing along side the cases of Coronavirus and now poking its ugly face in Coronavirus hot spots in Brooks, High River, Calgary, Toronto and many other places.

The other day, a paramedic who tested positive for Coronavirus was celebrated as a hero as she shared her story on TV to warn others of new Coronavirus symptoms – wonderful.

In the same line, the community takes time everyday to celebrate healthcare workers; nurses and doctors – Police car parades, fire truck sirens, residents banging pans and pots on the balcony and many many more.

Contrary to the Corona heroism, an even bigger group of essential workers go un-celebrated in this Coronavirus heroism – grocery store workers, janitorial workers, garbage collection workers, and meat plant workers. It this another coincidence? What if we add that these are mostly visible minority workers who do these low paid, if not underpaid, front line, at times dangerous work that no one wants to do.

Over a third of Alberta’s 6,000 plus Coronavirus cases has come from continuing care facilities (632), and meat plants (1550). Coincidentally, the workers in these facilities are mostly visible minorities – mostly Filipinos and Black Africans to be precise. In the continuing care facilities; workers were blamed for doing multiple jobs, even though they did it as a way to survive as the pay in these jobs were not up to living wage standard.

In the meat plant communities of Brooks and High River, workers were blamed for the outbreaks as they share cars and homes, once again, a survival technique. It is important to also add that the meat plant communities, these Alberta un-celebrated champions were not celebrated as the healthcare workers, but rather, stigmatized and refused services and entry into some businesses such as banks for fear of bringing the virus into the businesses.

“They are being treated like they are the virus that needs to be removed from the community,” Marichu Antonio, Executive Director for ActionDignity told Global TV.

New data from UK Office of Statistics shows that Blacks are 4 times more likely to die of Coronavirus in the UK. The statistics is equally devastating for other ethnic minorities most of whom do not have the luxury to work from home, and mostly have to do low paid front line jobs with no option but to go to work even when the conditions are unsafe. This situation is exemplified right here in the Cargill Meat Plant in High River, Alberta, Canada.

Born in Hong Kong, she is the Chief Medical Officer of Canada, her name is Dr. Theresa Tam. He is the Director General of the World Health Organization, Ethiopian born, his name is Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. What do they have in common? They are all great at what they do and have risen to the summit of their careers but that has attracted its own share of problems not for their work but for their heritage. They have all come under a lot of racial attacks during this pandemic under the cover of their handling of the pandemic. Another coincidence? You bet! This racial attacks on Dr. Tam prompted a response in Canada – a new national group formed to combat racism against Asian Canadians – Asian Canadians Together to End Racism (ACT2endracism).

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has consistently condemn all racial attacks during his daily Coronavirus updates. He announced Canada’s contribution of 850 million to the World Health Organization (WHO) led research on a global COVID-19 vaccine efforts.

On April 23, “…Intolerance and racism have no place in Canada…,” Prime Minister Trudeau hits back at Coronavirus related racism towards Asian descent Canadians.

“I’ve heard stories of discrimination against newcomer families with assumptions being made that any worker at Cargill and JBS and their families are at risk to others…we should be supporting people in this situation and not stigmatizing them…employees at these plants should not be blamed or shamed for outbreaks…we are all in this together…,” Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta Chief Medical Officer warns at press conference today on May 6.

On the same May 6, before Dr. Hinshaw’s Coronavirus briefing, Alberta Premier, Jason Kenney, who have been hostile to Dr. Tam, added his voice, supported by some members of the Filipino community. He shared a video on his personal Facebook page, criticized the discrimination faced by visible minorities in Alberta.

“…this is un-Albertan…” He added in the video summary, “Now, more than ever, Albertans need to stand together, as one community, in fighting this COVID-19 pandemic…”

Cesar Cala, who leads the Filipino Emergency Response Task Force told Global TV that the pandemic is bringing to light stereotyping that has existed for a long time.

One organization that has been active in advocacy, with an online training on how to identify hate speech and support to meat plant workers is ActionDignity, based in Calgary,

“…Stories I gathered from friends of Hiep Bui (Cargill worker who died from Coronavirus) in the workplace. Cargill has been remiss in its responsibility to ensure safety in the workplace. That has always been our advocacy not just yesterday but throughout this crisis…,” Marichu Antonio, Executive Director for ActionDignity shared on the organization’s Facebook page.

Earlier this week, the Alberta NDP Opposition called for removal of all barriers to healthcare created by immigration status, provincial residency, or insurance coverage. The Cargill Plant re-opened on May 4 after a temporary shutdown despite calls from the union UFCW Local 401 president Thomas Hesse and NDP Opposition Leader, Rachel Notley to keep it closed until safe to open.

Dr. Hinshaw said, “…Alberta Health Services and Occupational Health and Safety are both visiting each outbreak site regularly to ensure control measures are implemented, and to provide ongoing advice and support. All meat processing facilities in Alberta with outbreaks underway have implemented safety controls that meet requirements identified by AHS, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Occupational Health and Safety legislation and my orders…”

On May 7, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced an agreement with Canadian provinces to top up wages of essential workers. Who is an essential worker will be determined by the provinces and hopefully these un-celebrated Coronavirus champions will get much more than a couple of Dollars for their front line status, and bring to end end all these coincidences.