The Model Minority Myth

Model Minority Myth – Act2End Racism

[Music]

(Text: We acknowledge the history of colonization that has introduced our community to this land. As treaty people and as settlers on unceded lands, it is our continuing responsibility to understand our role in our relationship with Indigenous peoples)

(Text: “Where are you from? Where are you really from?” is written repeatedly)

(Image of cartoon Asian man)

Narration: Where are you from? No, no, no, what I mean is where you from? Where you originally from?

(Text: Nancy Ng. Author & Educator | Edmonton AB. 1^st Generation Chinese-Canadian)

(Video of Nancy Ng speaking)

Nancy Ng: And it’s asked over and over again and it can be like a hamster in a wheel. It’s like a wheel I never got off.

(Text: Anne-Marie Pham. Workers’ rights advocate | Calgary AB. 1^st Generation Vietnamese-Canadian)

(Video of Anne-Marie Pham speaking)

Anne-Marie Pham: It’s that sense of I am not one of you, I am the other person, I don’t belong.

(Video montage of Asian Canadians)

Narration: For Asian Canadians, being seen as an outsider is part of our reality. We call this the Perpetual Foreigner Stereotype.

(Text: The Perpetual Foreigner Stereotype)

(Video of Nancy Ng speaking)

Nancy Ng: When you say the word Perpetual Foreigner, I think of the word ‘other’.

(Text: Kevin Chong. Author & Educator | Vancouver BC. 2^nd Generation Chinese-Canadian)

(Video of Kevin Chong speaking)

Kevin Chong: No matter how long you’ve lived in, North America, in Canada, you’re always from away.

(Text: Ahalya Satkunaratnam. Choreographer | Vancouver BC. 2^nd Generation Sri Lankan-Canadian)

(Video of Ahalya Satkunaratnam speaking)

Ahalya Satkunaratnam: Never considered part of the fabric of the culture, the society, the country, the government.

[Music]

(Text: Murielle Chang-Chu. Author & Educator | Montreal QC. 1^st Generation Chinese-Canadian)

(Video of Murielle Chang-Chu speaking French)

Murielle Chang-Chu (translated from French to English): I find in Quebec, and similarly across Canada, a systemic racism that is ‘normal’. That is as simple as the question of: “Where are you from?” The question of representation…

(Text: The Perpetual Foreigner Stereotype definition: The false belief that no matter where you were born or raised, whatever your history, as a visible minority you will never be fully Canadian)

Narrator: The Perpetual Foreigner Stereotype is the false belief that no matter where you were born or raised, whatever your history, as a visible minority you will never be fully Canadian.

(Video of Anne-Marie Pham speaking)

Anne-Marie Pham: Because they visibly look different from perhaps the automatic assumption that one may have that Canadians should look like a white person.

(Video of Ahalya Satkunaratnam speaking)

Ahalya Satkunaratnam: Even though that’s a constructed belonging, right? They actually don’t belong here they were migrants, too, to this place.

(Video montage of Canada’s indigenous peoples and Asian Canadians)

Narrator: Not only does this completely ignore the history and presence of Canada’s Indigenous peoples but it judges someone’s right to belong based on their looks, rather than where they were born or their participation or contribution to society.

(Video montage of drawn individuals and war propaganda stating ‘They Menace Canada on Both Coasts)

Narration: This is a continuation of a long history of exclusion and fear of Asian Canadians, like the labeling of Japanese Canadians in World War II as enemy aliens and spies.

(Text: Kenji Ohashi. Retired educator | Edmonton AB. 2^nd Generation Japanese-Canadian)

(Video of Kenji Ohashi speaking)

Kenji Ohashi: Japanese living in the West Coast, we were a threat to the federal government. The kind of thinking at the time was that the Japanese were going to come and invade Canada.

[Music]

(Photo montage of Asian-Canadians during the war)

(Text: 22 000 Japanese Canadians were forcibly displaced from the west coast of Canada. 4000 citizens and Canadian born Japanese exiled to Japan)

Narrator: By the end of the war, 22,000 Japanese Canadians were forcibly relocated and sent to internment camps, with nearly 4,000 of them eventually exiled to Japan, a country that was completely foreign to them.

(Photo montage of Asian-Canadians)

(Text: 1949: Japanese Canadians gain the right to vote)

Only after having been wrongly interned did Japanese Canadians get the right to vote in 1949.

(Text: 1947: Chinese Canadians gain the right to vote)

Similarly, it was only after risking their lives to fight for Canada in World War II that Chinese Canadians were granted full citizenship and the right to vote in 1947.

The attitudes that labeled Asian Canadians as second-class citizens still persist to this day.

(Text: Monica Batac. Community worker | Montreal QC. 2^nd Generation Filipina-Canadian)

(Video of Monica Batac speaking)

Monica Batac: Regardless of our citizenship we’re also then deemed like not always Canadian, like we’re expected to kind of justify our belonging here.

(Photo of Dr. Tam, an Asian woman, and Derek Sloan, with the tweet “Dr. Tam must go! … Does [Tam] work for Canada or for China?” – Derek Sloan, Twitter)

(Video montage of Asian Canadians at work)

At work, Asians may be seen as being less qualified or competent based on their appearance and accent. Speaking with an accent becomes a hurdle to overcome and gives the false impression of being uneducated and unintelligent.

(Video of Ahalya Satkunaratnam speaking)

Ahalya Satkunaratnam: It would only be when I was an adult did I learn what my father’s salary was. And seeing how he was treated at work and how his skill set was diminished was something that we had to process after he was forced into retirement.

(Video of Anne-Marie Pham speaking)

Anne-Marie Pham: Stereotypes will reinforce the belief that Asian people are just good workers.

(Text: Cesar Cala. Community organizer | Calgary AB. 1^st Generation Filipino-Canadian)

(Video of Cesar Cala speaking)

Cesar Cala: And the irony is that although they are seen as cheap labour force, many temporary foreign workers are actually educated. They have to take on this work but many of them actually have education; like some of them have a post-secondary education. But again, because they’re occupying that rung in, in the economic hierarchy they’re seen as cheap and also disposable labour.

(Text: Monica Batac. Community worker | Montreal QC. 2^nd Generation Filipina-Canadian)

(Video of Monica Batac speaking)

Monica Batac: We are here, most Asian communities are here by virtue of taking up places in the economy. Because slavery was abolished right?

(Photo montage of Asian Canadians working in the past)

And because we can be deemed as folks who can work for minimum wage, less than humane wages…It’s historically grounded but it’s also seen evident in the everyday about who works the menial jobs that no one you know the regular white Canadian does not want to work.

(Text: ‘Covid-19 Fueling Anti-Asian Racism and Xenophobia Worldwide’ and ‘Racist Attacks Against Asians Continue to Rise as the Coronavirus Threat Grows’)

Narrator: During the pandemic, the Perpetual Foreigner Stereotype has contributed to the increase in racist attacks on Asians.

(Text: 600-700% rise in number of reported anti-Asian racism related incidents in 2020)

(A TikTok video is played from the user @silly.elie with the caption ‘My friend got harassed on public transit tonight’. The video shows her friend being harassed in French by a masked individual on public transportation)

(A TikTok video is played from the user @mmarooco)

TikTok script from @mmarooco: My roommate and I were attacked during broad daylight on the main street in the city of Montreal. A man approached us from behind and started to strangle my roommate and was saying something like, ‘It’s your fault.’ I knew what this was about and that’s exactly why I’m making this video today. It’s because we have to stop this new hate, hate against Asians.

(Text: Emily Jan. Visual artist & Educator | Edmonton AB. 2^nd Generation Chinese-Canadian)

(Video of Emily Jan speaking)

Emily Jan: In the first time in 10 years that I felt like oh like I would maybe watch my back a little bit if I had to go out.

(Text: Andre-Anne Cote. Healthcare worker | Montreal QC. Chinese-Canadian adoptee)

(Video of Andre-Anne Cote speaking French)

Andre-Anne Cote (translated from French to English): Just the fact that we ask the question: “Should I hide myself or not?” indicates that there is a problem.

(Text: What can you do?)

Narrator: How do we put an end to the stereotype of the Perpetual Foreigner?

(Text: Put in place inclusive practices and encourage equity in the workplace)

Narrator: As a society we need to put in place more inclusive practices and encourage equity in the workplace.

(Text: Betty Valenzuela. Hospital Employees’ Union | Vancouver BC. 1^st Generation Filipina-Canadian)

(Video of Betty Valenzuela speaking)

Betty Valenzuela: Workers rights and human rights, they’re intertwined.

(Video of Anne-Marie Pham speaking with a video montage of clips of previous speakers)

Anne-Marie Pham: This impact of marginalization, not being given equal opportunities, being seen as ‘the Other’ or ‘the Foreigner’, those are impacts that are significant in our day-to-day life and our ability to contribute to society in the best way – to you know fill our potential.

(Text: Establish a dialogue within our own communities as well as with others)

(Text: Teresa Woo-Paw. Community organizer | Calgary AB. 1^st Generation Chinese-Canadian

(Video of Teresa Woo-Paw speaking)

Teresa Woo-Paw: We should be working together to collectively and collaboratively address our common concerns. Because we are actually seeking the same thing – equity and equality for all people

(Text: Educate yourself and your community)

(Video of Betty Valenzuela speaking and video montage of protests against Asian hate)

Betty Valenzuela: Education, education is so, so, so important and you know it’s a continuing education from both sides. And then of course, communication…Education and then communication, they go hand in hand.

(Text: If we don’t start the discussion who will?)

Narrator: If we don’t start the discussion who will?

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(Text: Act 2 End Racism. www.act2endracism.ca. ACCT Foundation. Funded by the Government of Canada. Canada. Canadian Red Cross.)