The Revelstoke Okanagan College recently got funding to help fight racism in our community.
The school was awarded $5,000 from the Multiculturalism Grants stream (April 16), under the province’s new banner: the Resilience BC Anti-Racism Network, which launched in 2020.
The college is one of 36 organizations across B.C to receive funding.
Settlement Services Worker Leanne Humphrey at Okanagan College in Revelstoke said the new money is extremely valuable to build a stronger community and help provide education.
“This is a really important time to bring this information to the community,” she said.
In many parts of Canada, racism is on the rise. According to a recent study from the University of Toronto, anti-Asian discrimination incidents have more than tripled in the last year.
According to live data from Fight COVID Racism, there have been 1,025 reported incidents of anti-Asian hate crimes across Canada as of mid-day April 28.
While Revelstoke is small and isolated, is not exempted from incidents of racism.
Humphrey said she is hearing from people in our community that aggression towards immigrants is on the rise.
“COVID fatigue is not an excuse,” she said.
The new money will help pay for an active bystander workshop, i.e. how to witness a racist situation and keep the situation from escalating.
The grant will also help make public information more available on what to do if you are a victim of a hate crime, such as who to contact and if something is damaged, how to access funding to get it fixed.
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