FOR each month of the calendar, Canadians reserve a time to honor specific cultures of our diverse Canadian mosaic, says the BC Cultural Diversity Association.

May, 2020 is both Asian Heritage Month and Jewish Heritage Month. This is a time for these communities to have the spotlight and an opportunity for all Canadians to learn of the many contributions which these respective communities and other communities have achieved in strengthening our diverse society.

Sadly, there is an untenable scourge which casts a malevolent shadow over these celebrations.

Vancouver Police have reported 29 investigations into anti-Asian incidents since March compared with 4 during the same period of 2019.

B’nai Brith Canada reports that during 2019, the number of antisemitic incidents in Canada has set a record for the fourth consecutive year.

A survey commissioned by the Canadian Race Relations Foundation and the Association for Canadian Studies, during the week of March 8, 2020, showed that one in four Canadians worried about relations between Asians and non-Asians with highest concern in BC. BC Cultural Diversity Society, a non-profit organization incorporated in 2018 to promote harmony between and within cultures in BC, is alarmed by these troubling trends and is calling for urgent action to eliminate antisemitism, racism, and hate crimes of all types.

Acquiescence of intolerance is explicitly un-Canadian, it asserts.