VANCOUVER—Just under half of Canadians have reservations about sitting next to a Chinese or Asian person on a bus if the person was not wearing a mask, according to an advocacy group.

One in five Canadians asked in a poll taken in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal don’t think it is safe at all and 24 per cent of respondents said they were uncertain about the idea, according to a poll conducted by the Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice.

The group asked Corbett Communications to conduct the poll after several high-profile attacks against people of East Asian descent in Vancouver and Toronto, said Amy Go, president of the organization. The poll was conducted April 24 among 1,130 adults living in Canada’s three largest cities. Its margin of error is plus or minus by three per cent.

Go, a long-time advocate, said the results were disappointing but reflect what many Chinese Canadians have experienced since the pandemic started making headlines in January.

“It’s disheartening and disturbing,” said Go in an interview.

“We knew it was bad, but it’s far worse than we had anticipated.”

When asked whether they believed all Chinese or Asian people carry the COVID-19 virus, four per cent of respondents answered yes and 10 per cent responded that they were uncertain.

“It is just simply mind-boggling to me to have even one person think that,” said Go.

About one in five respondents believe it isn’t safe to eat at a Chinese restaurant.

The poll was conducted just days after Vancouver police reported what it described as a “racially motivated and despicable” attack on a 92-year old man who was assaulted and shoved to the ground outside a convenience store.

That incident is only one in a long list of examples of coronavirus-related racism in Canada, said Go.

In March, Canadian actor Russell Yuen said he was accosted by a man who yelled, among other things, “You and your f---ing virus, go back to where you came from.” In April, a Toronto nurse said she was spat on and called racial slurs. Last week, a woman wrote that she was waiting to buy eggs at Whole Foods in Markham when the person in line in front of her yelled at her to “stay away.”

Go, who has done advocacy work for more than 30 years, acknowledged most Canadians are tolerant and that much progress has been made. After all, according to her organization’s own poll, about half of Canadians have no problem sitting next to an Asian person on a bus.

And in a poll conducted in mid-March, Research Co. found three in five Canadians believe it is unacceptable to refer to COVID-19 as the “Chinese virus.”

But there are signs anti-Asian sentiment has become less taboo since the pandemic started, even in mainstream politics, said Go.

Last Tuesday, Conservative MP Derek Sloan published an open letter that questioned the loyalties of Canada’s chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam. “Does she work for Canada or does she work for China?” said Sloan in a video posted to Facebook.

Go said political leaders should instead be setting an example by denouncing racism and taking action against it.

Toronto police have repeatedly said they are not experiencing any “notable increase” in hate crimes since the pandemic started. But spokesperson Meaghan Gray acknowledged hate-related incidents often go unreported.

“I’m not sure our numbers would accurately reflect the possible lived experiences for some members of the community,” said Gray.

Meanwhile, Vancouver police have seen a spike in reports of anti-Asian hate-motivated incidents and criminal behaviour. Out of 11 hate crimes reported to police in March, five of those reports (45 per cent) had an “anti-Asian element.” So far in 2020, there have been nine anti-Asian hate crimes reported to police, in comparison to 12 cases in all of 2019.

“We know that hate crimes and hate-motivated incidents are generally under-reported. We believe the increase in March is indicative of a larger issue,” said Vancouver police spokesperson Const. Tania Visintin.

Go said racism against people of Asian descent in Canada has existed since Chinese labourers worked on the Canadian Pacific Railway in the late 1800s.

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“This whole portrayal of Chinese as a disease carrier, as dirty, as responsible for spreading germs, is not new,” she said.

Go is calling on bystanders and allies to speak up if they witness a racist incident.

“Let’s openly discuss this; we need every one of us to fight this,” she said. “The burden should not be on the shoulders of just Asian people and people of colour.”

With files from Joanna Chiu

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