A small but passionate group of people braved the rain and cold Sunday to take a stand against racism in Richmond.
Holding placards and Canadian flags, about two dozen supporters of the We Are One Community held a rally outside Brighouse Canada Line station in downtown Richmond Sunday afternoon in response to anti-Chinese flyers distributed to some homes in Steveston.
“We want to show people our commitment to the community, and reaffirm the fact Richmond (has been) a multicultural community for many decades,” said organizer Edward Liu.
The flyers — which encouraged recipients to “save Richmond” and “join the alt-right,” a term used to describe a faction of the extreme right associated with white nationalism that rose to the forefront during the divisive U.S. presidential election — “were meant to provoke and divide our community according to ethnic origins,” said Liu. “This is wrong.”
Richmond resident Lisa Descary believes the people who distributed the flyers have been emboldened by U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s rhetoric during the campaign and his subsequent victory. She said she has heard of similar notions surfacing in other parts of Canada, including Toronto, where her friend had organized a rally in response to racist sentiments there.
She attended Sunday’s rally to show solidarity for her community, noting “it’s important for all of us to have a society that’s accepting of all cultures.”
Descary said the flyer, which alluded to foreign home ownership and rising home prices, makes a “dangerous argument” that scapegoats another race.
“And it’s not true. It doesn’t matter what the race of the person is,” she said. “That’s a big mistake to start turning on each other because our skin colour is different.”
Richmond East MLA Linda Reid was adamant the people responsible for the flyers wouldn’t find fertile ground in Canada, despite the rise of right-wing populism in the U.S. and parts of Europe.
“There’s some permissiveness now that wasn’t there prior,” Reid acknowledged. “But I don’t think they’ll find a foothold here.”
Richmond as a community is stronger because of its diversity, said the long-serving Richmond MLA, who attended the rally with her husband and 12-year-old son.
“It’s 2016. The notion we would have anyone suggesting it’s somehow appropriate to pit one group against another is absolutely, fundamentally wrong.”
Richmond RCMP is investigating the flyers mailed to homes.
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