By Leanne O'Brien

Image: Snapshot from front page of The Philippine Reporter, June 21, 2021

This National Indigenous Peoples Day, MIREMS' highlights some of the conversation emanating from Chinese, Filipino, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Punjabi, and Spanish media that reveals their unique take and corresponding sentiment on Indigenous issues. Many of the comments are similar to those expressed in Canadian mainstream media, what is relevant is from where these are coming.

During National Indigenous History Month, varied voices from ethnic media sources have been speaking out in their communities on Indigenous issues, from raising awareness to providing poignant insight as fierce allies. The recent uncovering of the remains of 215 residential school victims by the Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School has spurred discourse in ethnic media, touching on some of the varied Indigenous issues in Canada. 
 
Filipino media draws poignant parallels

Downright calling out Canada for its hypocrisy, Filipino media asks, “Is it a double standard for Canada to recognize the Uyghurs and not Indigenous people?” Earlier this year, the House of Commons passed a non-binding motion to recognize China’s treatment of Muslim Uyghurs as genocide. A report of the crimes included “evidence of Uyghur children being forcibly removed from their parents,” placed in orphanages and mandatory boarding schools. It also said children “are deprived of the opportunity to practice their Uyghur culture… are sometimes given Han names, and are sometimes subject to adoption by Han ethnic families.” The report concludes there is enough evidence that their forced removal is carried out with the intention of “destroying the Uyghur population as an ethnic group.” Similar descriptions could be applied to what churches and governments in Canada did to Indigenous children who were sent to residential schools. 
(The Philippine Reporter, Toronto, 18/06/2021)

Punjabi media echoes truths by Indigenous voices 
 
OMNI TV’s Focus Punjabi illuminated for their audiences the work that is being done in the First Nations community by Carley Gallant-Jenkins, Coordinator of 'Save the Evidence' at Woodland Cultural Center in Brantford, to preserve evidence of the Mohawk Institute – the first residential school in Canada – demonstrating solidarity in Gallant-Jenkins’goal of making people see what happened to First Nations children and youth and to see where the community is today. In 1970, the Mohawk Institute closed its doors. Two years later, it reopened as a cultural centre to promote First Nations culture and heritage.
 
Headlines such as the Hamdard Daily’s “Genocide under the guise of residential schools in Canada” demonstrate further solidarity with Indigenous communities.
 
The Punjabi media is also acutely aware that Indigenous issues are varied, educating audiences on Canada’s Bill C-15, which seeks to align Canadian law with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), to issues on Indigenous women’s rights, such as forced and coerced sterilization, and being seven times more likely to be murdered and three times more likely to be victims of violence and sexual exploitation than white women. President of the Native Women's Association of Canada Lorraine Whitman is also  quoted as speaking on substandard living conditions, a lack of clean drinking facilities, and average income and life expectancy. 
(Hamdard Daily, Toronto, 20/06/2021)

Chinese media highlights just how much work needs to be done by the Canadian government 
 
Using the recent announcement that Indigenous people can now apply to use their traditional names on passports and other government identification documents, raising awareness is a mandate for some in the Chinese community. Statements such as, “In Canadian history, Indigenous people were renamed by different institutional systems, deprived of their original traditional names, and took European or Christian names,” by Ryan Beaton, a lawyer and jurist who specializes in Indigenous law quoted in Van People Daily, (Vancouver, 18/06/2021) are clear indicators.

One Chinese voice in the same issue of Van People takes a very personal approach, on a piece of Canadian history not commonly discussed: “White Canadians would …. purposely spread the smallpox virus through pelts to kill the Indigenous people, killing off almost all Indigenous people along the east coast.”
 
Italian media sheds some light on the education sector’s shortcomings 

Expanding on the residential school system topic, coverage on educational curriculum is the Italian media’s contribution to the conversation. Curriculum reform to teach the history of residential schools and of First Nations, as Natalka Pucan of the First Nations, Métis and Inuit Educators Association of Ontario is shown as saying she remembers looking at the history and social studies books at school, looking for her people, and they were erased from the map and from history. This piece on OMNI TV 8:00 PM Italian News (17/06/2021) highlights that one of the first things the Ford government did was stop the writing of curriculum that would have embedded the truth about Indigenous people in this country.

Polish media outlines their obligations
 
Journalists in two Polish newspapers declare their audiences have an obligation to learn the history of residential schools and know the truth; the subject of such recent history should be well known. The act of cultural genocide lasted over 100 years, and in its shadow, Canadians lived peacefully. One journalist points a finger in the mirror: “Why, as a Canadian citizen, did I not become interested in the history of people who were deprived not only of their country, but also of everything that makes up their identity, including their children?”
(Zycie, Toronto, 16/06/2021; Gazeta, Toronto, 20/06/2021)

Portuguese media highlights a critical point in moving forward 

Although a less emotional and more matter-of-fact tone than other ethnic media, Portuguese sources have opted to include one of the most critical points of the entire conversation on Indigenous issues: Indigenous-led initiatives. While reporting on Ontario earmarking $10 million in funding over a three-year span to identify, investigate and commemorate residential school burial sites, it was mentioned that the funds would be paid over three years as part of an “Indigenous-led” effort.
(Correio da Manha, Toronto, 17/06/2021)
 
Spanish media reminds us there is still much to learn

In reporting that Ontario NDP MPP Sol Mamakwa, a member of the Kingfisher First Nation, called on local administrations to work with First Nations at each residential school site to “search for our lost children,” one journalist posits that the current situation of First Nations communities differs greatly from what was done against their families and settlements decades ago. This assumption could be controversial, given that the harmful effects of residential schools is inter-generational, as evidenced by the term “inter-generational residential school survivor”.  Nevertheless, the journalist goes on to remind the audience that all of us in this country, and in the world in which we live, form a human community, with all the rights the laws confer on us, regardless of our origins and beliefs.
(Correo Canadiense, Toronto, 03/06/2021)
 
Cross-cultural communication is more important now than ever

While the mainstream media can attempt to highlight Indigenous voices, in contrast, ethnic media aims to explain Indigenous issues to their audiences thereby integrating them into the conversation. As part of the role to educate Canadians, the ethnic media relates Indigenous issues to those of their own history as a community in Canada or in the homeland, such as with the Chinese head tax, the Komagata Maru incident.
 
In the spirit of inclusivity, for the discussion and education on Indigenous issues to be truly national, it must have ethnic media voices. As showcased by the ethnic medias’ contributions above, every group shares the desire to be heard and listened to by other groups. 
 
At MIREMS, we feel that the inclusion of Indigenous perspectives and voices is a critical aspect of ethnic medias – which is why we will do our best to follow up with a piece next week on more of what is being said post-National Indigenous Day in Canada by ethnic medias, including Indigenous medias’ voices.

​By Marielle Francisco

​This month’s third instalment of the Speaker Series for 2021 by the Canadian Ethnic Media Association (CEMA) featured guest speaker Dan Kelly, President, Chief Executive Officer and Chair of the Board of Governors of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB). With many parts of Canada going back into yet another lockdown as the COVID-19 variants make their way across the country, Kelly discusses the impact of the pandemic on small businesses within the larger framework of economic and societal disruptions.
 
CFIB is a non-profit, non-partisan organization devoted to creating and supporting an environment where businesses can succeed and advocate for small businesses with politicians and decision-makers. Kelly states that CFIB expects 1 out of 6 businesses are at risk of permanent closure due to the pandemic, with business owners shutting down not knowing if they will ever reopen. This claim is based on almost 100,000 calls to CFIB in the last year, suggesting that more than 180,000 businesses are expecting to close despite the economy recovering post-pandemic. This claim also supports the idea that 2.4 million jobs will be taken away from Canadians, leaving the country in one of the worst economic downfalls in our lifetime. But what does this mean for society?
 
With the closure of small businesses, Canadians are left to shop for all their essentials, and then some, at big box stores – resulting in the lining of the pockets of those who need it the least. A large part of these small businesses is a lifeline for the ethnic community, for both business owners and consumers, creating a larger divide in equitable means. When the first lockdown was announced a year ago, Kelly points out that most business owners willingly killed their businesses to comply with safety rules and were understanding of government restrictions as we were all dealing with an unprecedented situation. Yet, as the restrictions evolved and big box stores remained open, policies began to stop making sense and the government gradually lost the public’s confidence in the systems they had put in place. Not only were they implementing restrictions that deemed only big box stores “essential”, but they even suggested that it may be beneficial for individuals to purchase “non-essential" items there as well. By promoting “one stop shopping”, this approach directly hurt local small businesses while attempting to decrease the spread of the virus. Despite numerous outbreaks in distribution centers and factories delivering to these big box stores, major corporations remain open including malls, shopping centres and grocery stores that continue to sell more than just food or health care products.
 
This decision by the government has not only allowed some of the biggest corporations to flourish amidst an economic downfall, but Kelly claims that it has significantly affected the wellbeing of small business owners. One of the most alarming indicators of this impact is shown through the numerous calls CFIB has received from business owners having suicidal thoughts; Kelly states that their phone lines are resembling more and more those of a crisis helpline. This issue highlights the systemic inequalities that have always defined our society and which the pandemic has made impossible to ignore. Although many can argue that the virus does not choose its victims and the government may not be intentionally affecting ethnic communities through the closure of small businesses – these decisions are inevitably creating a larger economic gap that many may never recover from. 

​By Marielle Francisco

In my role as ethnic media analyst at MIREMS (Multilingual International Research and Ethnic Media Services), I attended the Canadian Ethnic Media Association’s (CEMA) first two instalments of their Speaker Series for 2021. The featured guest speakers were Jack Jedwab, President and CEO of the Association for Canadian Studies (ACS), and Mark Hayward, Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at York University, and author of Identity and Industry: Making Media Multicultural in Canada.
 
The two sessions increased my interest in attending the next one, featuring Dan Kelly, President, CEO and Chair of Canadian Federation of Independent Business on “Helping Small Businesses Navigate the Covid-19 Crisis” on April 1!
 
Jack Jedwab presented extensive weekly surveys implemented by ACS at the national level focusing on various ethnic groups and how they were being affected. Attitudes, perceptions and behaviours of Canadians were observed and discussed by Jedwab, during the worst pandemic to hit the world in over a century. Not only was this information valuable to MIREMS in our mission to connect companies, organizations and opinion makers with diverse ethnic communities across borders and language barriers, but it proves critical for society in addressing arising issues as the world carries forward.
 
What lingering fears surrounding the pandemic will Canadians have? What assessments could be made regarding the societal impact on mental health? What issues were overlooked at the beginning of the pandemic that are seen as critical now? And what could we do to support society at this crucial time? Inevitably, many of these crucial questions were left unanswered despite Jedwab presenting the findings that their research uncovered within the last year. From my perspective as a communicator, I hope these findings are published by ethnic media outlets across Canada. The answers to these questions may well lie in feedback from the community.
 
Much of the research aligned with the trends MIREMS had observed from monitoring thousands of COVID- related stories in the ethnic media. From mask wearing, travel restrictions, mental health resources, and vaccination concerns – the opinions expressed in the communities’ native languages have led to a better understanding of diverse ethnic audiences and the media in which they are communicated. Like Jedwab and his team’s findings, much of the information MIREMS gathered by analysing the ethnic media is an asset for policymakers to make informed, evidence-based decisions in response to this ongoing crisis. Yet, many of these glaring issues remain overlooked.
 
How to begin to address these overlooked issues? With his book, Mark Hayward shares insight on the  conversation regarding policy frameworks for diversity that manifest into multiculturalism, and argues how society must shape how we live and work in order to better understand others. This book aims to evaluate multicultural policies originating from the post-World War II era and the shift that occurred since then. As Hayward points out, the Canadian government shifts away from the model of censorship and oppression, and strives to reap the benefits of engagement and connection. The author  provides the opportunity to examine the importance of history which in my view includes that of the ethnocultural media in communities across the country.
 
Though the opinions and voices of these multilingual communities are often ignored by decision makers – mainly because they cannot hear or understand them - Hayward’s book effectively complements the work we do at MIREMS and advocates for the idea that communicators should look and listen before disseminating their message.
 
Hayward also notes that diversity in Canadian media has been “won and not given” and that the struggle is not over. He makes an important point concluding that multiculturalism cannot be measured in the same capacity that the CDC measures the prevalence of COVID-19 cases, however, there are metrics: recognition for multicultural media has recently become more evident in Canadian mainstream media. Although Canada may be regarded as a multicultural nation, the struggle to establish what that means continues to be a work in progress and ultimately, it is a journey we all must go through together – similar to the one we are enduring with the pandemic.
 
To learn more about how marginalized communities are affected by COVID-19, the role of ethnic media in the fight against pandemic fake news and what you can do to recognize Canadian diversity as an asset, take a look at our White Paper on Ethnic Media Lessons from 2020 for an Inclusive Recovery: http://www.mirems.com/covid-19-white-paper.html
 
Hope to see you at the next CEMA event!
​See https://canadianethnicmedia.com/project/cemas-april-speaker-series-to-feature-dan-kelly/

​By Silke Reichrath

 Executive Summary
​

• Minority populations in Canada are over-represented among COVID-19 cases because of their high proportion of frontline workers, inability to work from home or take paid sick leave, low income, crowded and multi-generational living arrangements and behavioural factors.
• Mainstream media have represented a controversy between those arguing that a culture of large gatherings around life events and annual festivities, hospitality and close-knit extended families engaging in home visits is driving the pandemic and others pointing to socio-economic factors.
• South Asian ethnic media have for the most part showed an almost unanimous desire to show that low income, type of employment and marginal socio-economic position drive the pandemic in their community. Ethnic media from other language groups have largely ignored the debate, with a few notable exceptions.
• Ethnic media have been instrumental in highlighting community initiatives to counteract the pandemic spread and in giving voice to grassroots opinions.
• They have also been highly influential in translating public health and political messaging into community languages and giving voice to community experts to explain the messaging in culturally appropriate ways.
• Since the pandemic disproportionately affects marginalized communities and communications is a major tool in the fight against the pandemic, the media communicating with these affected communities should receive disproportionate resources to channel the message.

 
Background
​
As noted by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) in its October 2020 report “From risk to resilience: An equity approach to COVID-19[1],” the determinants of COVID-19 susceptibility – and of health in general – are racialized. They include material circumstances (income, housing, employment), psychosocial factors (social connections), biological factors (genetics), behavioural factors (nutrition, physical activity, substance use) and access to healthcare. The PHAC analysis highlights the over-representation of newcomers (especially newcomer women) among high exposure workers including meat processing workers, personal care staff in residential care facilities and home care, and employees in service jobs, transport and retail. Low-income workers and members of larger households are also over-represented, two population segments that tend to overlap with newcomer status. According to the report, differential exposure among newcomers is connected to the inability to maintain physical distancing due to the inability to work from home, the lack of paid sick leave and job security, reliance on childcare outside the home, crowded living conditions and possibly the use of public transportation.
 
Representation in the mainstream media

Several reports published in the Canadian mainstream media in November 2020 have been giving voice to a fiery debate about the role of culture vs. economics among the causes of the high rates of COVID-19 transmission among visible minorities in communities with high proportions of newcomers.

OMNI TV Digital Content Producer Eden Debebe published an article on the website of Vancouver’s NEWS 1130 radio, referencing the high COVID-19 rates in the South Asian community and a statement by BC Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry that the increase of cases in the South Asian community is mainly due to weddings and celebration-of-life events. Henry acknowledged that front-line work also plays a role and that the increase in cases started with Thanksgiving. Debebe admonished community members to celebrate Diwali at home.

Global News broadcast a report by Mike Drolet on the overlap between COVID-19 hotspots in Brampton and Surrey with the locations of the liveliest Diwali celebrations in normal years. Drolet noted that local public health authorities pleaded for restraint and mostly got it, with only one parking lot line-up in Brampton needing to be disbursed by police. Two South Asian public health experts were quoted, who linked the high COVID-19 rates to multi-generational households, a tradition of large gatherings at home, front-line work and the inability to self-isolate in crowded housing.

Debate on the role of culture in COVID-19 transmission

South Asian Physicians Zain Chagla, Sumon Chakrabarti and Tajinder Kaura pointed to the role of culture in COVID-19 transmission in a Toronto Star article. They noted the role of hospitality, where a “guest leaving your house on an empty stomach is considered a travesty,” and the tradition of living in large multi-generational families. They also mentioned that “many well publicized COVID-19 outbreaks in Canada have been associated with South Asian events, such as weddings.” They warned of the impending Diwali celebrations. Together with the prevalence of “public-facing professions” and financial instability among newcomers, the authors state these cultural factors have resulted in a greater spread of the virus. Compounded with the pre-existing “high rates of underlying diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and obesity within the South Asian population,” South Asians are also at greater risk of adverse outcomes like hospitalization and death. Notably the goal of the authors is to call for targeted interventions including culturally and linguistically appropriate communications materials and awareness-raising campaigns involving community leaders.

A response to the article was published the following day on First Policy Response, written by a fellow South Asian author, Seher Shafiq. She expressed shock at what she saw as “pathologizing an entire race by using culture and values as explanations for higher COVID rates, stigmatizing already marginalized communities” and a matter of “shaming and blaming.” Her explanation for the higher COVID-19 rates in racialized communities in general is their prevalence in precarious jobs in the service industry and gig economy where they have a lot of customer contact, cannot work from home, take transportation on crowded buses and go to work sick rather than lose a paycheque. She does concur with the impact of multi-generational, high-occupancy homes and gatherings during festivities like Diwali, but points out that Thanksgiving also led to a significant spike in cases.

Premier Kenney weighs in on Punjabi radio

On November 25, Premier Jason Kenney went on the air at the South Asian radio station Red FM in Calgary, linking the high rate of COVID-19 among the South Asian community in Calgary to the large multi-generational families and the tradition to have big family gatherings at home. The host of the program, Rishi Nagar, took his response to CBC News. He asked whether South Asian get infected more often because of their culture, or because they are front-line workers and cannot work from home. He also wondered why Kenney did not focus on anti-maskers, why there was no mandatory mask policy or effective contact tracing, and why no extra resources were dedicated to the most affected communities for PPE, top up wages or educational activities.

CTV News published a piece by Journalist Mark Villani objecting to Kenney’s comments, and the Edmonton Journal an opinion contributed by medical student Sharan Aulakh. Villani cited Dr. Mukarram Ali Zaidi, a spokesperson for the Canadian Muslim Research Think Tank, who demanded an apology from Kenney and said North-East Calgary’s immigrant community is mainly employed in jobs that don’t allow them to work from home, such as janitorial staff, taxi drivers or warehouse workers. Aulakh said Kenney missed the mark blaming South Asians, who are mostly essential frontline services, have limited access to compensated sick leave, and live in multigenerational housing due to financial constraints. Instead, she blamed Kenney’s inaction in the face of anti-mask protests, refusal to implement restrictions like mandatory masks, and failure to adopt the federal contact tracing app.  

Overall, the mainstream media has generally taken the position of explaining high positivity rates in newcomer communities with systemic factors like the type of work people do, crowded housing and possibly the use of public transit. Public health and local government authorities are frequently cited as warning residents to celebrate festivities at home, whether it is Diwali, Thanksgiving or now Christmas. In addition, a lot of the debate in the mainstream media has been carried by authors from newcomer backgrounds or, at minimum, has cited experts from the affected communities. Red FM, a prominent ethnic radio station, has become featured in the Alberta mainstream due to comments made by the premier on the station and the response of the program host.

As part of the Bridging the Mainstream-Ethnic Digital Divide in Covid-19 Literacy project, we have analyzed coverage by ethnic media outlets in Canada over the month of November to see what the insider perspective is on this highly relevant question.
 
Representation in the ethnic media

The debate reflected in a similar, but more defensive, way in the ethnic media. Numerous admonitions from municipal and public health authorities to celebrate Diwali at home, along with threats of bylaw enforcement, were passed on in all the South Asian media in the run-up to Diwali and Bandi Chhor Diwas. Two large gatherings in parking lots in Mississauga and Brampton made the news with wide coverage in South Asian media, but the high level of compliance overall was also highlighted. Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown’s speech in defence of Brampton’s essential workers was also widely picked up in the South Asian media. Warning of Diwali gatherings have now given way to warnings of Christmas gatherings.

Ethnic media bridging linguistic silos

In an interesting use of ethnic media to bridge silos between minority groups, Patrick Brown and Portuguese-Canadian Councillor Martin Medeiros were interviewed on the Portuguese TV station FPTV on 19 November to explain the high rates of COVID-19 transmission in Brampton and speak out against the racialized finger-pointing and stigma against the Indian community. They said Brampton’s essential workers bear the brunt of COVID-19 and they are the ‘unsung heroes’ keeping the food processing, transportation and medical system running. Brampton is at the forefront of Canada's supply chain and Brampton truckers keep travelling to the US, where COVID-19 is out of control. They also again pointed to Brampton’s disadvantage with respect to health care funding, the lack of hospital beds, and delays in getting an isolation centre.

Similarly, radio host Mark Strong at G 98.7 FM, a radio station with a primarily Black audience, picked up MPP Gurratan Singh’s reaction that Brampton essential workers shouldn’t be blamed for risking their lives in factories and trucks so that others can work from home. They also shouldn’t be blamed for having only one hospital due to health care under-funding. Mark Strong linked this defence of South Asians to the situation of Black people, who also suffer a lack of resources and live in crowded low-income housing, which also makes them less able to control and resist the pandemic.

A report by the Toronto non-profit ICES showing that most positive cases in the Greater Toronto Area were among racialized and immigrant populations received wide coverage. The Toronto Star article was picked up by PTC Punjabi TV and set off a flurry of pushback highlighting the role of Brampton essential workers working in factories, warehouses, food processing plants and trucking and keeping grocery stores stocked while other Canadians were working from home. OMNI Punjabi TV featured Jaskaran Sandhu of the World Sikh Organization of Canada commenting on the exposure essential workers have to live with and a tweet by Naheed Dosani, who said “continually blaming Brown people in Brampton for rising #COVID19 cases is unnerving & racist.”

Community initiatives to fill the communications gap

This OMNI report also started off a series of spotlights on constructive initiatives from within the South Asian community to counter the pandemic, featuring the Canadian Sikh COVID-19 Task Force. This task force, founded by Sikh physicians, was also highlighted by 5aabtv. The task force was formed in an effort to create greater awareness about virus and why it is hitting the community hard, and to share important messaging on what they can do to prevent transmission with South Asian communities in their language. The task force also addressed the taboo and stigma around getting tested for COVID-19 and telling anyone if a test is positive.

Another report on OMNI Punjabi presented the Canadian Muslim COVID-19 Task Force and Hindu COVID Task Force alongside the Sikh COVID Task Force. Spokespersons pointed out that not only South Asians, but all marginalized populations are highly afflicted by COVID-19. They try to translate the public health messaging and to develop and disseminate "culturally sensitive and culturally appropriate" information. The Hindu COVID-19 Task Force and the umbrella Canadian South Asian COVID-19 Task Force were also featured on the Tamil radio station CTBC, the Hindi Radio Shon – CINA and Punjabi WTOR Radio.

OMNI Punjabi also featured a public awareness campaign entitled "Humans in Brampton," which is trying to tell the stories of front-line workers on social media. Their message is that 'Brampton should be celebrated, not stigmatized.' Another spotlight on OMNI Punjabi reported on the COVID-19 Sikh Gurdwara Initiative, which distributed adapted cloth masks that can be worn with turbans and produced cardboard displays showing correct 2 m distancing equaling the length of an unrolled turban for use in gurdwaras.

Need for culturally appropriate local language information

Ethnic media also pointed out the fact that minority communities have special communications needs. A talk show on Radio Humsafar 1350 AM on 22 November conveyed a sense that mainstream media never talked about the healthcare needs of Bramptonians (more hospital beds and testing centres) and that the government did not support ethnic media in its role of conveying the government's policies and plans to their communities. OMNI Punjabi TV reported on the lack of government communications targeting minority communities. The three levels of government release new numbers and information every day, some of which are contradictory and confusing even to people who speak English as a first language. The Canadian government and United Way funded a COVID-19 helpline for South Asians in the GTA with capacity in several South Asian languages, and the Peel Region COVID-19 website can be translated into a range of languages, but this is not enough. The Tamil Canadian Centre for Civic Action called for local-language information not only about the public health guidelines but also about available supports. The pandemic has disproportionately impacted marginalized communities, so the outreach to them should also be disproportionately resourced.

Very few sources included critical comments about COVID-19 transmission during Diwali fireworks, international students disregarding the guidelines, lenient mask use A talk show guest on a Punjabi CIAO AM 530 program argued fireworks should not have been sold for Diwali. Residents interviewed on the street by OMNI TV mentioned that newly arriving immigrants and students do not observe the quarantine properly and that people were still planning Diwali get-togethers. Community members speaking to the Punjabi Zee TV mentioned that a lot of people came to markets and religious sites without masks and that there were crowds at sweet shops before Diwali. An opinion piece by Surjit Singh Flora on Asia Metro argued that “our touchy-feely instincts are getting in the way” as residents of Brampton just fail to follow the guidelines.

The main difference observed in the ethnic media from the mainstream is the high number of reports that defend the community as being affected by COVID-19 mainly due to their position as essential front-line workers and their economic marginalization and the concerted effort to communicate public health guidelines and information as they relate to the local culture, in local languages and pertaining to local festivities and events. In addition, ethnic media highlight initiatives taken within the community to raise awareness and meet community information needs. In this way, ethnic media fulfill a very real need to translate government and expert messaging into culturally and linguistically relevant formats and in adding information from the grassroots.
 
What to Do?

As Editor-in-Chief at MIREMS, my daily job has been to review the coverage of COVID-19 in the ethnic media since January of this year, and we see the ethnic media are fighting a battle on three fronts: One against the virus, including the fight against disinformation and disconnect between government and the governed; the other against polarized accusations from the mainstream of culture being the driver of pandemic spread; and a third against relative neglect in the distribution of government resources to off-set pandemic revenue losses.

Instead of viewing diversity as a barrier to communication with these audiences, would it not be natural to think of the matter differently? The Brampton trucker, factory worker, grocery clerk and front-line caregiver new to the country and struggling in English are unlikely to follow the daily stream of press conferences on mainstream media. So why not reach out to them with pertinent, culturally adapted communications in their language through the media they are in tune with?

Viewed from a demographic perspective, we see ethnic media as a mature set of organizations with established audiences and a local advertising base. They are the successful outcome of the historical combination of population needs and government multicultural policies.

What is important is to recognize how influential this channel can be in the fight against social media disinformation. After thirty years of observation, even without the help of much in the way of available statistics, we think that they just might have the eyes and ears of their local audiences, as well as their mouths, above all on talk shows and in the streets.

A cultural – linguistic and demographic approach to COVID would also perhaps address the problem of generational understanding and conflict. It would make sense to educate the older generation who still read or listen to traditional media on the need to remain connected with the rest of the family over Zoom, not dinner. Getting the elders and guardians of culture on board could help catalyze a temporary shift in family traditions.
Our eye on the debate between ethnic media organizations and the government has always included lack of funding, but this has been exacerbated by COVID-19. Wage and rent subsidies do not reach most small outlets, and government advertising related to COVID-19 reached only a small proportion of outlets. The pandemic has disproportionately impacted marginalized communities, so the outreach to them should also be disproportionately resourced.

The only thing the ethnic media needs is government recognition and support as a channel with equal rights to English and French media.

See also an article from New Canadian Media: "Unsung Heroes of Super Spreaders: Racial and Ethnic Minorities in COVID-19 Coverage".  
This article is part of the Bridging the Mainstream-Ethnic Digital Divide in COVID-19 Literacy project. New Canadian Media has analyzed ethnic media coverage of COVID-19 between May 1 and November 30, using web, print and broadcast news summaries provided by MIREMS media monitoring. 



[1] https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/corporate/publications/chief-public-health-officer-reports-state-public-health-canada/from-risk-resilience-equity-approach-covid-19.html#a2

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Armenian media in Canada

For example, the Armenian media in Canada consist of three primary publications: two weekly papers published in Montreal - Horizon Armenian Weekly and Abaka – and the TorontoHye monthly out of Toronto. Each has a website that is updated regularly. Their absolute number of readers may be limited, but their reach within the Armenian community is significant. Horizon Armenian Weekly has an estimated circulation of 8,000 within an Armenian-Canadian community estimated at 80,000-100,000.

These outlets have a threefold purpose: 1. to translate and convey key Canadian news; 2. to inform about events and initiatives within the Armenian-Canadian community; and 3. to compile key homeland news. With the homeland crisis around Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh over the last two months, these three areas have been conflated, with a focus on lobbying and protest action within the Armenian-Canadian community and on statements on the conflict by Canadian policy-makers at all three levels of government.

Thrust in the limelight: Coverage of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict in the Armenian-Canadian media

In October,  the Armenian media highlighted that Azerbaijan was using Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 attack drones, which are equipped with Canadian-manufactured target acquisition sensors made by L3Harris/WESCAM and that Armenia accused Turkey of redeploying fighters from Syria and F-16 fighter jets to support Azerbaijani forces. They reported on statements by Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne, then-Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, Canada-Artsakh Parliamentary Friendship Group Leader Rachael Harder and other MPs, the Green Party, British Columbia Health Minister Adrian Dix, MPP Aris Babikian, and Toronto Mayor John Tory against the Azerbaijani operation and against Turkish support for Azerbaijan and in favour of Artsakh. Much of the coverage was on community lobbying efforts by the ARF, the Armenian National Committee of Canada, and a coalition of 20+ Armenian churches, organizations, associations, political parties, and independent community leaders grouped in the newly formed United Armenian Council of Ontario (UACO) before Canadian federal and provincial representatives in Ontario and British Columbia.

As the month progressed, the main Armenian media continued reporting on protests by Armenians in Canada against Turkish-Azerbaijani aggression against Artsakh and on Champagne’s statements in support of a ceasefire and the OSCE Minsk mechanism (TorontoHye, 20/10/2020). An article in TorontoHye blamed Champagne for issuing export permits for the target acquisition sensors despite a 2019 ban on arms sales to Turkey. The article claimed 12,000 civilian deaths in Artsakh, 25% more than the Canadian COVID-19 death toll (TorontoHye, 20/10/2020). Armenians in Montreal wanted Mayor Valérie Plante to recognize the right to self-determination for the people of Artsakh, while Armenians in Vancouver protested outside the CBC against “the barbarism committed by Azerbaijan and Turkey’s governments and soldiers” (Horizon Armenian Weekly, 19/10/2020). In a debate in the Ontario legislature, the three parties condemned the “inhumane crackdown by the governments of Azerbaijan and Turkey on the Armenians of Artsakh,” which they called a second genocide (Horizon Armenian Weekly, TorontoHye, 22/10/2020). A letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau from “the Armenian-Canadian community at large” was highlighted several times, signed by L’Union des communautés arméniennes du Québec, the United Armenian Committee of British Columbia, and the United Armenian Council of Ontario and published in TorontoHye and Abaka (TorontoHye, Abaka, 22/10/2020).

In November, coverage continued of efforts by the Armenian National Committee of Canada to organize protests from Vancouver to Waterloo and lobby Canadian politicians, including MPs Kerry-Lynne Findlay and Kenny Chiu. Senator Leo Housakos, Green Party MP Elizabeth May and the City Council of Laval expressed their support for Artsakh.

The other side of the coin: Coverage in Turkish media

While to our knowledge, there are no active Azerbaijani sources in Canada given the relatively small Azerbaijani community in Canada, we looked at active Turkish-Canadian sources. The two main active Turkish websites, Canadaturk in Toronto and Turknews in Hamilton, responded primarily to the export ban against Turkey. One Turknews article on Azerbaijan's perspective cited Turkish Ambassador Kerim Uras calling on Canada to act like an ally and stating that the suspension of weapons exports was hasty and contrary to the spirit of NATO. Uras pointed to the claim that Armenia had occupied 20% of Azerbaijan’s territory and caused the dislocation of a million refugees. He called on Armenia to withdraw from Azerbaijani territory. He denied that Turkey had sent Syrian fighters to Azerbaijan and claimed that Armenia was using Kurdish “terrorists” (Turknews, 08/10/2020).
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Historically, the Armenian community has kept Genocide Remembrance Day alive and well in Canada and in the minds of Canadian political leaders. The material we found demonstrates that the community has been effective not only in attracting mainstream media coverage even in the midst of a pandemic but also in using the community media internally to elucidate their point of view. Ethnic media provide a window into the discourse and organizational life of a minority group in Canada as it relates to Canadian politics. Monitoring these outlets can provide policy-makers and advocates with context for the demands of different spokespersons and help clear up misinformation that may be circulating.

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​By Lina Katrin

​Since the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, people have been debating over masks: should one wear them or not? How effective are they in preventing the spread of the virus? While some have very strong opinions regarding mask-wearing, others are still not sure what to do. Across ethnic media sources, there is a lot of commentary regarding the issue.
 
Amandeep Benipal, the host of the Punjabi radio show Morning Awaz with Aman Deep on CIAO 530 AM from Toronto, believes that people should wear masks because safety should be the main concern for Canadians as a high number of cases are being reported from across the border. Even though newly confirmed coronavirus cases in Canada remain in steady decline, the number of infected people is spiking in the U.S., according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. On the show, Benipal asks Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier Doug Ford to make a careful decision about reopening the Canada-U.S. border for public travel.
 
According to a Spanish talk show on CIRV FM 88.9 from Toronto, a study in Ontario showed that without the isolation measures, the death rate from the virus would have been much higher. Toronto’s City Council made masks mandatory in indoor public settings as of July 7, and masks are expected to be compulsory in Mississauga, Brampton, Durham, Niagara Region, and in many other municipalities in coming days. The talk show host Fabian Merlo said that initially wearing a mask bothered him but he is getting used to it, as it’s “a good thing to take care of each other.”
 
Now, will the mandate of mask-wearing change the behavior of those who have been against face coverings throughout the whole pandemic? Even though not wearing a mask is now a subject to a $195 fine, some people don’t like being told what to do. On OMNI TV: Focus Punjabi, a Punjabi TV program from Toronto, people on the street were asked about the mandatory mask order. While one man said that wearing a mask is a “good idea” to protect others, one woman believes people shouldn’t be forced to wear masks at all.

​However, it is not surprising that some Canadians are unsure if there are any benefits to masks because of how the Canadian government handled the issue at the beginning of the pandemic. In the early stages of the outbreak, the federal government claimed that masks had little effect in terms of curbing the spread of the virus. Canada's Chief Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam had said in March that putting a mask on an asymptomatic person was not beneficial. Only at the end of May she finally changed her position and officially said that everyone should wear masks as an added layer of protection.
 
Dushi.ca, a Chinese web source from Markham, reports that mask-wearing appears to be a “simple issue” but since the Canadian government initially did not recommend wearing masks, a lot of non-Chinese Canadians were also against using face coverings. The source says that the Confederation of Toronto Chinese Canadian Organizations had been calling on people to wear masks and self-isolate since mid-March, and the Confederation's recommendation to the government regarding mask-wearing played a positive role. To support the government's pandemic prevention efforts, the Confederation will continue to donate protective supplies to nursing homes as well as to communities.
 
According to the Chinese web source Sing Tao Calgary, the Alberta government is set to resume its public face mask distribution program on July 13. This is the second phase of the province's public face mask distribution program that will distribute 20 million face masks. The phase-one program distributed the same amount of masks from June 8 to June 22.
 
Since many people have easy access to face coverings, Dushi.ca reports that Richard Powers, a business professor at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management, said there's nothing wrong with businesses refusing service to customers not wearing masks. He believes that the safety of retail workers and employees exceeds the customers' right to not wear masks.
 
Canadian Tamil Radio, a Tamil source from Toronto, discusses how recommendations on non-medical masks have been confusing for many in Canada. Still, there is visible progress: a new online poll suggests that a bit more than half of Canadians support the mandate of face coverings. According to the survey, the majority of Canadians said they feel that people should wear protective masks when out in public or confined areas such as grocery stores, shopping malls, or public transit.
 
Dushi.ca believes that with the summer, the debate over masks in Canada is finally coming to an end. However, it is crucial to analyze the stem of the debate, which roots from the difference in the attitude of various cultures to face coverings.
 
Van People, a Chinese web source form Vancouver, reported in March that even when Canada's Chief Public Health Officer said it was unnecessary to wear masks, Chinese-Canadians chose to do so anyway. Still, Chinese people worried about being discriminated against for protecting themselves.
 
Similarly, 51.ca, a Chinese web source from Toronto, around the same time highlighted various comments under mask-related forums. One Internet user, Hongyuwu, wrote that if people continue to get “brainwashed” into thinking that the coronavirus is just a bad flu and don’t wear masks, “they would find out how painful it is once they get infected.”

​BBC reports that in East Asia, many people are used to wearing masks when they are sick or when it's hay fever season, because it's considered impolite to be sneezing or coughing openly. The article identifies the key difference between the Asian and Western societies — many parts of Asia have experienced contagion before, “and the memories are still fresh and painful.” That is probably one of the main reasons why many Asian people have embraced face coverings since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, while a lot of Westerners have shunned them.
 
According to Sciencenorway, in Japanese everyday life, wearing a face mask is associated with taking responsibility for your own and your family's health, and also for the financial situation of the company a person is working for and the nation's economy.
 
Alternatively, in many European countries, garments that cover the face are banned in schools and public institutions for security reasons. Sciencenorway reports that scientists have conducted a study on why many people in the USA are against wearing masks. Even though a large majority of the informants believed they could protect themselves and others by wearing a mask, they were still not willing to use one. The barriers included everything from others not being able to read their facial expressions to the risk that they could be suspected of planning a crime. The masks were also perceived as unattractive in appearance and uncomfortable to wear.
 
Such research points to the fact that people in Western societies are more likely to put their comfort above the safety guidelines due to the lack of personal experiences with health crises.
 
Even before the global coronavirus pandemic, people across the world have been wearing masks to protect themselves from pollution, sun exposure, and viruses. Yet with almost six months into living in the “new normal,” many Canadians are still arguing over the importance of face coverings. People of various cultural backgrounds wear masks mainly to protect each other and help slow down the spread of the virus, but at the end of the day, it is your choice whether to cover your face or not. It is important to stay open-minded, educate yourself on such prominent issues, and follow the safety guidelines to ensure protection for yourself and others.

​By Muskan Sandhu

Perhaps the most remarkable feature of the conference Stories of Hope: A Celebration of Canada, organized by the Association for Canadian Studies to celebrate Multiculturalism Day, were the diverse speakers who brought unique perspectives to the struggles of their communities in building an equitable Canada. The event effectively linked the “hope” to overcome these difficult times with diversity, in the process illuminating the importance of listening to myriad voices. 

But how does one access these voices on days that aren’t set aside to celebrate multiculturalism? On days that do not shine a spotlight on diversity by articulating it in Canada’s official languages? 

Michaëlle Jean, former Governor-General of Canada, gave us a hint in her opening remarks at the event when she thanked “those along the chain links of solidarity who persist in making the voices of the most vulnerable and the voices of the most deprived heard, their realities known.” Canadian ethnic media has been playing precisely the role of “those along the chain links of solidarity,” of making lesser-heard voices heard on days that aren’t earmarked for them, and thus this media is where one must look to hear diverse voices every day.  

This isn’t to say that mainstream English and French media don’t give these voices space or importance. The perspective of ethnic media, however, differs in that it is often able to present what may be deemed as the ‘insider’s point of view,’ on issues that impact their respective communities, and give community-specific opinions on general matters. The coverage of the recent encounter between a South Asian woman and the wife of Delta Police Chief is a prime example that illustrates the existence and value of this viewpoint. 

Kiran Sidhu’s alleged assault

Kiran Sidhu, a South Asian woman from Surrey, filed a complaint with Delta Police against Lorraine Dubord, wife of Delta Police Chief Neil Dubord, who according to Sidhu sprayed her down with a water hose. The alleged incident took place on June 6, when Sidhu was returning from a socially distanced party on Centennial beach and found herself trapped by a high tide as she made her way to her car parked far from the party spot. To circumvent the tides, which a police officer later informed Sidhu were 10-12 feet high, she climbed onto some rocks right next to the Dubord’s beach facing residence. While she made her way across the fence, L. Dubord came out of her house and allegedly started screaming insults at Sidhu, asking her to not touch Dubord's fence and to get off the rocks. Reportedly, L. Dubord went on to spray Sidhu down with a water hose, body-shamed her, and asked her to go back home as she didn’t belong there. ​

Sidhu’s friends arrived at the scene later and were seen confronting L. Dubord in a video posted by them on Facebook. Sidhu filed a police report with the Delta Police Department the next day, and was informed that the case was closed after a few days. Sidhu then filed a complaint, citing conflict of interest in DPD investigating their boss’s wife, and the case was then transferred to Surrey RCMP. L. Dubord later issued an apology, which according to Sidhu wasn’t a sincere one.