From the Honourable Janet Austin, OBC, Lieutenant Governor of BC
Over the past few months, British Columbians have pulled together to vanquish COVID-19, and we have witnessed many acts of kindness and selfless generosity. Sadly, however, our success has been marred by recent incidents of race-based violence and discrimination. I strongly condemn these racist acts; they have no place in our province or our country. I ask you to join me, alongside leaders in government, business and social services, in pledging to uphold the Canadian values of diversity and inclusion and to oppose racism and hate in all its forms. We are stronger when we are #DifferentTogether.
Take the #DifferentTogether Pledge:
Join me in sharing the #DifferentTogether pledge on social media and encouraging others to take part.
Share it on social media and tag five friends, family members, or leaders in your community.
Encourage them to do the same.
I also encourage you to share a video of yourself highlighting your commitment to opposing racism, and upload it to social media using the hashtag #DifferentTogether.
The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly affected the daily lives of all Canadians. However, relatively little is known about how the health, behaviour, and social activities of Canadian youth are affected and how they are coping with the situation. Canada’s youth represent about one quarter of the country’s population and will continue to be a large and important group within the Canadian population (Statistics Canada, 2019). Furthermore, youth are more likely to be at risk for poor mental health both prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic (Findlay, 2017; Findlay & Arim, 2020).
The Canadian response to COVID-19 to date has further revealed and amplified cracks in our health surveillance systems and some of the perpetual challenges of our federated model with its delegation of authority for health to the provinces and territories. Key among these is its capacity to collect race-based data and enhance the collection of comprehensive socio-demographic data as a means to focus response activities better. In order to contain COVID-19 and mitigate its long-term societal harms, we need to work with equity-seeking communities to understand and address underlying inequities that disproportionately affect certain communities and impact all Canadians.
PHABC is continually adding new resources and information now that we are in Phase 2 of BC’s Restart Planwe would like to shift focus on our PlaceSpeak consultation and begin to provide resources on safe COVID-19 recovery strategies, ongoing financial support, preparing for a potential second wave, and more. We are asking participants to share their feelings and/or concerns about the plans that have been put in place. To facilitate that we have updated a number of features, including:
Our new Poll questions asks how comfortable you are sending your children back to class
Our new Resources include information on: just recovery, ongoing financial support, ongoing mental health support, planning for a second wave, heading back to class, back to work, etc.
Our Discussion question asking how you feel about BC opening up again is still live and we would love to hear your thoughts
Check out our Noticeboard section and let us know how phase 2 of BC’s recovery plan is going for you.
As always we will be sharing the daily BC Update on our main page and ensure that all information is kept up to date and relevant for British Columbians.
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused widespread anxiety and concern for Canadians across the country. As they look ahead to the economic recovery, most are looking for a bold and ambitious recovery.
Canadians want a recovery that is fair and ensures the richest among them contribute and pay their share. A recovery that helps make Canada more self-sufficient and strengthens the public health care system. They want a recovery that ensures that corporations use public funds to support workers and not enrich executives or shareholders.
Canadians say spend what’s needed to make Canada more self-sufficient and fair with a better social safety net
Canadians, by a 2 to 1 margin, want governments to spend whatever is required to rebuild and stimulate the economy, even if it means running large deficits for the foreseeable future, according to a new poll conducted by Abacus Data for the Broadbent Institute. The study is the most detailed one to date on the kind of recovery Canadians want.
Canadians also widely support an economic recovery that meet specific criteria, including:
Building Canada’s ability to produce key products like food and medical supplies domestically instead of relying on global markets (79% extremely or very important).
Investing in strengthening the health system, including universal public pharmacare (72% extremely or very important).
Not letting richer Canadians off the hook for contributing their fair share (71% extremely or very important).
Helping people who need it the most (71% extremely or very important).
Focusing on helping people and preventing corporations from using funds for excessive executive pay, stock buy-backs, or increased dividends (70% extremely or very important).
“Canadians want a recovery that is fair, focused on people, and builds up our resilience for future challenges,” said Rick Smith, Executive Director of the Broadbent Institute.
When it comes to Canada’s social safety net, a resounding 97% think that the long-term care system for ageing Canadians needs improvement. Improvements to the availability of paid sick days and livable wages, as well as greater access to income supports and employment insurance also received broad support, 90% and 88% respectively.
“The coronavirus pandemic has tested the country’s safety net, sometimes with concerning results”, remarked David Coletto, CEO of Abacus Data, “now Canadians want to see significant work to improve the supports we depend on in tough times.”
The poll also tested and found strong support for a wealth tax (75%), and 8 in 10 Canadians (81%) believe that companies receiving government assistance should be required not to use foreign tax havens, and not use the money for excessive salaries, share buybacks, or increasing dividends, rather than allowing companies to decide how best to run their businesses.
Canadians also believe governments should provide financial assistance and debt relief to municipalities to help with budget shortfalls (77%).
The survey was conducted online with 2,280 Canadians aged 18 and over from May 1 to 6, 2020. The margin of error for a comparable probability-based random sample of the same size is +/- 2.1%, 19 times out of 20.
Anti-Asian racism is on the rise across Canada. This platform aims to allow individuals to share their experiences of racism, and will allow us to track and record instances of Anti-Asian racism during COVID-19. You’ll also find resources and support that you can access. We’ll get through this together.
