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Showing posts from February, 2020

Coronavirus, Discrimination and IRCC Special Measures

Filipiniana News –   February 2020                  by Maria Deanna P. Santos In the past few weeks, we have been inundated by news and other articles related to the coronavirus disease which started in Wuhan, Hubei Province in China and which has infected more than 45,000 and killed more than 1,000 people to date.   In Canada, there were only a handful of persons who were confirmed to have contracted the disease (4 in BC and 3 in Ontario).   Thankfully, all confirmed cases in Canada are on their way to recovery and there are no signs that the disease is spreading as rapidly as it is in Hubei province and surrounding areas in China. Nonetheless, the relatively low number of affected cases in Canada had not prevented the spread of misleading information and/or discriminatory treatment of people who are from China or who are at least perceived to be Chinese.   In fact, many Filipinos with perceived ‘Chinese physical features’ have also reportedly been the subject of discrimin