Past Events

March 21, 2024: “Pacific Canada Heritage Centre: My Journey, My Roots – What Is the State of Antiracism Today”

To commemorate the often-overlooked Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the Pacific Canada Heritage Centre – Museum of Migration Society invited speakers from diverse backgrounds to share and engage in narratives surrounding anti-racism. Using storytelling as a medium to address the lived realities in which racial discrimination manifests itself, combined with the historical lens that the books 1923: Challenging Racisms Past and Present and Challenging Racist British Columbia navigate from, this webinar aims at providing an inclusive, informative, and safe space for learning.

Engaging in open dialogue is crucial to fostering mutual understanding and cultivating a more inclusive society. During this panel discussion, speakers will offer critical insights drawn from historical knowledge, personal observations and experiences within Pacific Canada. Please join us.

June 13, 2024: “Foreign Policy and Anti-Racism Today”

Governments and institutions are increasingly emphasizing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) but these programs often fail to address the rise in Sinophobia, Islamophobia, Anti-Palestinian Racism, and Antisemitism accompanying recent Canadian foreign policies. Join in the conversation with a panel of anti-racist activists and scholars.

Panelists: Timothy J. Stanley, Monia Mazigh, Jamila Ewais, Alejandro Paz

  • Timothy J. Stanley is professor emeritus of anti-racism education in the Faculty of Education of the University of Ottawa. An award-winning historian of racism and Chinese Canadian experience, in 1976-78 he studied at the Beijing Language’s Institute and Peking University as a participant in the official Canada-China Exchange Scholarship. He is a founding member of the Canada-China Focus Advisory Committee.

    Monia Mazigh is an academic, award-winning Canadian author and human rights activist. She writes in French and English and has authored a memoir, three novels, an essay and a collection of short stories.

    Jamila Ewais is lead researcher for the Anti-Racism Program at the CJPME Foundation. Our work focuses on Anti-Palestinian Racism in Canada and its intersection with other forms of racism. It also aims to advocate for the rights of the Palestinian movement in Canada and to end all forms of discrimination against them.

    Alejandro Paz is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Toronto Scarborough. His current research is about Israeli English online journalism, and its impact on North Atlantic public opinion. He is founding co-chair of the Hearing Palestine Initiative at the University of Toronto, also helped to found the Jewish Faculty Network, where he still serves on the steering committee.

    Organized by Canada-China Focus and co-sponsored with the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute.

 Sept 7, 2023: “The Media, CSIS and Modern Sinophobia”

For over ten years, CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) and other public security agencies have been targeting Chinese Canadians politicians and researchers as a fifth column for the People’s Republic of China. Some Canadian journalists rely heavily on CSIS in what amounts to a form of modern Sinophobia. This discussion, featuring Andrew Mitrovica, Midori Ogasawara and Georgia Kelly, explored the ethics of responsible, anti-racist reporting in an era of misinformation.

Speakers: Andrew Mitrovica, Midori Ogasawara, Georgia Kelly

  • Andrew Mitrovica is a writer and teacher. He spent a long time as an investigative reporter at various places in Canada, including CBC, CTV, the Globe and Mail, and Walrus magazine. He wrote a book about Canada’s spy service: Covert Entry: Spies, Lies, and Crimes Inside Canada’s Secret Service. (Random House). He has been a columnist with Al Jazeera English for seven years.Midori is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Victoria. Her research focuses on social consequences of surveillance and technologies, including national security intelligence activities. Dr. Ogasawara worked for Japan’s national newspaper The Asahi Shimbun as an investigative journalist. In 2016, she interviewed the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden and published two books (2016, 2019) that unveil the NSA’s secret spying activities in Japan. Her latest article discusses how Canada’s legislation has been legalizing previously illegal surveillance activities (2022).Georgia Kelly is an assistant editor at rabble.ca, and a section editor at the University of Toronto’s student newspaper the Varsity. She likes to write about immigration and multiculturalism in Canada, as well as labour and housing issues.Moderator: Bianca Mugyenyi, Canadian Foreign Policy Institute. Organized by Canada-China Focus and the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute.

 May 24, 2023: CCF presents: “A Talk with David Brophy, author of ‘China Panic”

David Brophy is a historian of China at the University of Sydney, a commentator on Australia-China Relations, and the author of China Panic: Australia’s Alternative to Paranoia and Pandering (Black Inc. 2021). In his academic work he specialises in the history of Xinjiang and the Uyghurs. His first book was a history of Uyghur nationalism (Uyghur Nation: Reform and Revolution on the Russia-China Frontier, Harvard, 2016), and his most recent book examines a work of 18th century Sufi literature from Xinjiang, entitled In Remembrance of the Saints (Columbia, 2021).

Join us on Wednesday, May 24th, 4pm Pacific/7pm Eastern to hear Brophy speak about his book “China Panic: Australia’s Alternative to Paranoia and Pandering”.

Sponsored by Canada-China Focus, ccfocus.ca. Please contact us at ccf@uvic.ca if you have questions about the event.

June 21, 2023: “Voices from Okinawa: The role of Canada and the US in militarising the Pacific”

Okinawans have been fighting to rid the island of U.S. bases for decades, giving rise to one of the strongest peace movements in the world. Today, Canadian Armed Forces regularly use U.S. military installations on Okinawa, including the infamous Kadena Air Base, the site of repeated mass demonstrations for decades. Canadian naval ships as well as CP-140 Aurora surveillance aircraft have also been sent to Okinawa as part of Operation Neon and Operation Projection. Join a discussion with Chobin Zukeran, Peter Kuznick, Satoko Oka Norimatsu and Youth for Okinawa representatives Shinako Oyakawa & Miyuki Kamiya to hear about the peace movement in Okinawa, the risks that accompany increasing militarization of the region and the role played by Canada and the US.

  • Chobin Zukeran is a leader of the anti-war & peace movement in Okinawa.He is Director, Ryukyu Okinawa Centre: East Asian Community Institute, Okinawa, Japan. He was mayor of Nanjo City from 2018 to 2022, and member of the House of Representatives of Japan from 2009 to 2012.Peter Kuznick is Professor of History and Director of the Nuclear Studies Institute at American University in Washington, D.C. He is co-author with Oliver Stone of The Untold History of the United States and, among his many books, co-author most recently with Oliver Stone, Yukio Hatoyama, & Akira Kimura of The Untold Postwar History of the United States and Japan.Satoko Oka Norimatsu, a native of Tokyo and a resident of the west coast of Canada for three decades, writes and speaks on war memory, historical justice, and decolonization in the Asia-Pacific region. She is co-author with Gavan McCormack of Resistant Islands: Okinawa Confronts Japan and the United States (Rowman & Littlefield). She is a regular contributor of Okinawan newspaper Ryukyu Shimpo.

    Shinako Oyakawa & Miyuki Kamiya are activists with Youth for Okinawa.

    This event is presented by Canada-China Focus and the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute. It is co-sponsored with World BEYOND War Canada and WILPF.

We will be hearing from Australian author David Brophy speak about his book “China Panic: Australia’s Alternative to Paranoia and Pandering” (Black Inc. 2021). Brophy is a historian of China at the University of Sydney, a commentator on Australia-China Relations, and specialises in the history of Xinjiang and the Uyghurs. We believe this book provides many essential lessons from Australia’s experience for understanding the situation currently unfolding in Canada. Register at: https://uvic.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZItd-2rrD4tH9dGis70ro8-C099LaQ4W3VS#/registration

This webinar follows the publication of a review of Brophy’s book by CCF advisory member John Price: https://rabble.ca/books/china-panic-a-wake-up-call-for-canadians/

May 24, 2023: CCF presents: “A Talk with David Brophy, author of China Panic”

Oct 24, 2022: Conference recording from “HardTalk: Canada and the Asia Pacific”

On October 24, Canada-China Focus and Carleton University’s Norman Paterson School of International Affairs hosted the conference Hardtalk: Canada and the Asia Pacific Conference. This one-day, in person conference brought together diverse and anti-racist voices seeking an independent and inclusive foreign policy for Canada, one that considers innovative agendas for peace and justice in Asia Pacific.

Topics of discussion included Canada-China relations, anti-Asian racism, Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, rethinking Canadian foreign policy, and evaluating Canada’s past and probable future approaches to its relations with Asia Pacific nations.

  • Is the Canadian government succumbing to US pressure in regard to its China and Asia Pacific policies? Are Chinese Canadian researchers being unjustly targeted by security agencies as potential ‘spies’? What are the options for Canadian foreign policy today? All these questions will be explored in this timely, full-day of discussion and debate with top specialists in their fields, organized by Canada-China Focus and the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, Carleton University.

    Our featured presenters include the well-known and informed commentators on Canada-China relations, Gar Pardy and Gregory Chin; two Chinese Canadian engineers whose work has been negatively affected by the animosity in Canada-China relations; Indigenous leader Howard Grant, whose family has ancestral ties with China; and Senator Yuen Pau Woo, who will provide an opening welcome.

April 24, 2022: “Worker and Union Solidarity with China: Why and How?” Featuring Kent Wong

Solidarity exchanges between trade unions in China, Canada and US were put on hold by COVID. At the same time economic and geo-political conflicts between nations have created new challenges to workers and unions. This webinar explores the value of worker-to-worker relationships despite those conflicts — indeed, made more important in a climate of anti-Asian racism and protectionism.

Moderated by Joey Hartman, past president, Vancouver and District Labour Council & Xinying Hu, SFU Labour Studies Program.

Feb 4, 2022: Canada at a Crossroads on China: “Work Together of Perish Together”, featuring Noam Chomsky

In aiming to “develop and launch a comprehensive Indo-Pacific strategy” and strengthening ties to the US, the Trudeau government has signalled its intent to join US-led war preparations in the Asia Pacific and provoke China. Join world-renowned linguist and lifetime anti-war activist Noam Chomsky in a webinar to consider the pitfalls of closer alignment with the US empire, and why diplomacy and working with China are the only option to meet the global challenges ahead. Either “Work Together or Perish Together”.

One of the most cited scholars alive, Noam Chomsky is considered a founder of modern linguistics and has published over 100 books, including his recent “Requiem for the American Dream.” Noam Chomsky has been an anti-war, anti-capitalist activist for over 60 years and continues to call to account liberal elites for propping up inherently unjust systems that have brought us to the brink of climate catastrophe and nuclear annihilation. Noam Chomsky taught linguistics at MIT from 1955 to 2017 and is currently a laureate professor of linguistics at the University of Arizona.

Nov 17, 2021: “Beyond Sinophobia & Anti-Asian Racism in Canada-China Relations”

The deterioration in Canada-China relations in the past few years has seen an escalation in attacks on those who dissent from the growing trend to demonize China. This is not the first time this has happened. In the 1960s, Professor Paul Lin faced systemic harassment when he advocated for the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Canada. This on-line webinar explores anti-Asian racism and the many dimensions of Canada-China relations, past and present. FEATURING:

  • Senator Yuen Pau Woo, facilitator of the Independent Senators Group, Canadian Parliament

  • Dr. Xiaobei Chen, Professor and Associate Chair, Sociology/Anthropology, Carleton University

  • Dr. Timothy J. Stanley, professor emeritus, University of Ottawa

The Paul and Eileen Lin Commemorative Lecture

Moderated by Bianca Mugyenyi, CFPI

Presented by Canada-China Focus in collaboration with the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of British Columbia