Examining Asian Canadian labour history and challenging white supremacy (Part 1)

It’s Asian Heritage Month in Canada – and this month, we’re very excited to bring you a two-part discussion on the history of Asian labour in Canada. 

Over the next two weeks, we’re sharing a conversation between rabble’s own labour reporter Kiah Lucero, and Patricia Chong and Karine Ng from the Ontario and BC branches of the Asian Canadian Labour Alliance. The three discuss the history of the Alliance; key moments of Asian labour in Canada; and how racism, systemic discrimination, and “othering” still shows up in Canada today. 

About our guests 

The Asian Canadian Labour Alliance (ACLA) is a national organization that represents the voice of Asian Canadian trade union members, Asian Canadian workers and the Asian community at large. Through educational events, organizing and strike support, the ACLA hopes to establish a wide network of labour and community activists in Canada.

Patricia Chong holds a MA in Labour Studies from McMaster University and a Masters in Labour Policies and Globalisation from the Global Labour University (Germany). She is a short documentary film maker and a member of the Asian Canadian Labour Alliance Ontario Chapter. She has worked as an organizer for both public and private sector unions and has successfully unionized workers in Ontario, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and the Yukon.

吳珏穎 Karine Ng (she/her) is an immigrant-settler on Turtle Island, a spore blown across the Pacific from then British colonized Hong Kong, with ancestral roots in what is known today as China. Her work is anchored in education, spanning across diverse ages and socio-cultural settings in the ancestral lands of the Musqueam, Squamish and the Tseil-Waututh people and elsewhere. 

For additional information on the organizations mentioned please visit: 

• ACLA Ontario 

• Canadian Sikh Heritage 

• Challenging Racist “British Columbia”: 150 Years and Counting

• Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC

• Chinese Canadian Museum

• Coalition of Black Trade Unionists 

For reading and watching materials: 

• Addressing Anti-Asian Racism: A Resource for Educators A Resource for Educators

• White Riot: The 1907 Anti-Asian Riots in Vancouver

• Toronto Solidarity Rally Against Anti-Asian Racism (2021) 

More about Emmie Tsumura, the artist who worked on the Asian Canadian Labour History banners:

• Asian Heritage Month designs

• Follow her on Instagram here 

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