Instead of our regular resilience dialogues on every Thursday evening, Project PROTECH would to invite you to join this webinar this Thursday, March 04, 2021, from 7:00 PM to8:30 PM EST. This is organized by the anti-Asian Racism committee of Ryerson University.
Registration is needed. Please click here to register for the event.
Join activists, advocates and writers Olivia Chow, Masia One, Catherine Hernandez, Hijin Park, and Kai Cheng Thom to explore East and Southeast Asian perspectives on addressing gender-based violence with host, Toronto City Councilor Kristyn Wong-Tam.
Violence against East and Southeast Asian communities is on the rise however this did not start under the Covid pandemic. There is a long history of our communities being targeted, exoticised and diminutized by non-Asians including being used by white supremacy as a “model minority”, or being used as cheap labour, to our own cultural practices of patriarchy. Join us as we policies, practices that contribute to gender-based violence and how they can be addressed.
Closed captioning provided.
Organized: Consent Comes First, the Office of Sexual Violence Support and Education, Faculty of Arts, Ryerson’s Advisory Committee to Combat Anti-Asian Racism, Toronto City Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam
About panelists:
Hijin Park is Associate Professor of Sociology at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario. She is an anti-racist, feminist legal scholar who specializes in an intersectional and structural analysis of violence, migration and the law. Her research explores how violence occurs along an interconnected continuum and how everyday individual violence is connected to systemic, institutional and national violence. Her recent research projects examine racialized sexual violence in the lives of East Asian international students and English as a Second Language students in Canada, and how race, gender and madness shape legal constructions of Asian women charged with homicide in Canada.
Olivia Chow is the Founder and Academic Lead at the Institute for Change Leaders. Olivia Chow leads the Institute’s educational initiatives and has helped trained over 5000 activists in political organizing. Olivia has two certificates from the Harvard Kennedy School’s Executive Education Programs and 9 years of teaching experience. Olivia Chow has also been one of Canada’s most effective and well known public figures. She served 2 terms as a school trustee, 4 terms as a Toronto city councillor and 8 years as a Member of Parliament.
Kai Cheng Thom is an author, somatic coach, and consultant based in Toronto/tkaronto. She is the author of several award-winning books, and has over a decade of community and clinical mental health work experience.
Catherine Hernandez is an award-winning author. Her first novel, Scarborough, won the Jim Wong-Chu Award for the unpublished manuscript; was a finalist for the Toronto Book Awards, the Evergreen Forest of Reading Award, the Edmund White Award, and the Trillium Book Award; and was longlisted for Canada Reads. She has written the critically acclaimed plays Singkil, The Femme Playlist and Eating with Lola and the children’s books M Is for Mustache: A Pride ABC Book and I Promise. She recently wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of Scarborough, which is currently in post-production by Compy Films with support from Telefilm Canada and Reel Asian Film Festival. She is the creator of Audible Original’s audio sketch comedy series Imminent Disaster. Her second novel, Crosshairs, published simultaneously in Canada and the US and the UK this spring, made the CBC’s Best Canadian Fiction, NOW Magazine’s 10 Best Books, Indigo Best Book, Audible Best Audiobooks and NBC 20 Best LGBTQ Books list of 2020. Her third children’s book, Where Do Your Feelings Live? which is a guide for kids living through these scary times, has been commissioned by HarperCollins Canada and will be published in winter 2022.
MASIA ONE is that 1 in a million. Born in Singapore, grown in Canada, earned her stripes in America and became inspired by her time in the Caribbean. Now this artist is reconnecting with her roots in Asia and re-emerging as the Far East Empress. After graduating with an honours BA in Architecture from the University of Toronto, Masia One told her Chinese parents she intended to become a rapper. She set out on this unlikely path and succeeded in working with international greats from Pharrell, John Frusciante, Che Vicious (G.O.O.D. Music, Kanye West, Jay-Z) to Hong Kong Actor and pop star, Edison Chen. She toured and performed in over 20 countries and has headlined festivals such as Burning Man, Laneway, Ultra Music Japan, Pink Dot, Singapore: Inside Out (Australia) and most recently at Singjazz – setting the stage for her hero Lauryn Hill. On the cusp of releasing her new album named Far East Empress, her video Time Wastin’ is catching the attention of international and local audiences alike, as she shares for the first time her Asian inspirations. Artist, Entrepreneur, Songwriter, Arts Educator, and Creative Director, MAS1A truly defines her Queendom and continues to add to her impressive credentials that make her a true international Empress.
Kristyn Wong-Tam was first elected in 2010 and is a three term Toronto City Councillor, frequently named one of Toronto’s best city councillors in Now magazine and the Toronto Star. Prior to her time at City Hall, Councillor Wong-Tam was an award winning real estate professional, entrepreneur and gallerist. She is an immigrant and Canadian of Chinese origin, who is a vocal human rights champion for the LGBTQ2S+, women and Asian Canadian communities. Councillor Wong-Tam is the former president of the Toronto Chapter of the Chinese Canadian National Council, a human rights organization and she is the co-founder of Asian Canadians For Equal Marriage and the Church and Wellesley Village Business Improvement Area.
