Hello everyone,

This week’s act of anti-Asian hatred and violence in Atlanta that led to the murder of eight people – including six women of Asian descent – is yet another heinous example of behavior that results from an ideology of White supremacy. Such acts of hatred bring deep, deep pain to communities of Asian descent.

I want to be clear – anti-Asian racism will not be tolerated at the AGO. I would like to remind everyone that the AGO has a very clear policy on discrimination as a reminder that there is a process in place meant to support employees or volunteers who encounter workplace discrimination.

We know racism exists in our city and throughout Canada. The number of anti-Asian racist attacks has spiked across the country in the past year. With approximately 30% of Toronto’s population being of Asian descent, Anti-Asian racism impacts a large number of our community including many of the AGO’s staff, volunteers, visitors and neighbours in Chinatown.

We are in a moment where we need to care, support and show up for each other. Our commitment to diversity and inclusion means deepening our efforts of addressing all forms of racism and discrimination in efforts towards building greater inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility in our galleries, programming and workplace.

We will continue to focus on our core mission of art, learning and audience to demonstrate diversity and inclusion in everything we do. We have and will continue to feature art by artists from the Asian diaspora to showcase their work.

I know that many of you have lived experiences of racist attitudes and behaviors. I encourage you to find the supports you may need by connecting with family, friends, and community resources. It is important that you take care of yourself.

Please feel free to contact Cian Knights, Manager of Diversity & Inclusion at [email protected] as we continue to move this important conversation forward. Attached is a toolkit provided by Cian in addition to these resources below. This topic will also be addressed in upcoming learning sessions.

Responding to Hate Toolkit – Combat anti-Asian racism, hate and discrimination by taking action (via Ryerson University – with downloadable PDF, linked here)

Toronto For All: Combatting Anti-East Asian Racism – The City of Toronto Anti-Racism Campaign, linked here

elimin8hate.org – The organization behind #Elimin8hate is a 100% volunteer-run non-profit. Support the Vancouver Asian Film Festival’s advocacy work, linked here

#FaceRace is an open challenge to all Canadians to confront racism amid the COVID-19 pandemic, linked here

Thank you and take care,

Stephan