Chinese Worker
Organizing Project
华裔工人组织项目

​Anti-Asian racism / and the exploitation of migrants in housing / is not new; instead, Chinatowns are the very result of excluding Chinese immigrants from secure housing. 反亚裔歧视和剥削华裔移民并不是什么新鲜事。唐人街就是华裔移民无法获取安全住房的证明和产物。 Exploitation through loopholes in the housing market continues today. How many of us / have had to pay several months of rent up-front? How many of us have lived in illegal and unsafe housing conditions? 试问我们中有多少人得预付几个月的房租就为了有个地方住？又有多少人遭受过违法驱逐？ While these loopholes allow individuals and corporations to take advantage of Asian migrants, anti-Asian and anti-immigrant sentiments frame us as the villains in the housing market. We are blamed for the lack of affordable housing. These beliefs suggest that if it isn’t rich / foreign Chinese buyers impacting the housing market, it’s the large number of Chinese migrants who are competing for, and “stealing,” housing resources. 说我们偷资源。 For decades, organizations such as CCNCTO, Butterfly, and Friends of Chinatown have been working with low-income and working class Chinese and Southeast Asian migrants, // including students, refugees, and undocumented people. In their work, they have seen how anti-Asian racism is widely experienced. Among Chinese workers, wage theft is extremely common, as employers take advantage of the knowledge and service gap impacting Asian migrants.雇主常利用信息差和社保服务上的缺口来剥削亚裔移民，因此华裔工人遭遇薪资盗窃的情况尤为常见。 How can this be happening in Canada,// a country that prides itself for multiculturalism and diversity? 自诩“爱多元，重人权”的加拿大政府怎么能够容许这种事情发生？How can migrants be experiencing racism and xenophobia in all aspects of life? The answer is that this is intentional and systemic. You see, by creating a second class of citizens, made up of migrants, international students, refugees, and undocumented people, the government creates an effective target for scapegoating. Instead of addressing housing and employment crises, racism and xenophobia become a convenient tool for the government to avoid responsibility and further justify discrimination. An old Chinese poem reads 四海皆兄弟，谁为行路人， which means “Everyone within the four seas is my brethren, no one is an isolated passerby.” Now, I know someone, and I am someone, through the CCNCTO community, where my experience feels valid again, because many of us share it. I came to understand that this society pushes migrant workers to the margins while demanding our compliance and labor. My comrades, 我的同胞们， it’s up to us to speak up and abolish the second-class citizenship in Canada/ that justifies anti-Asian and anti-immigrant beliefs and policies. While Parliament promised permanent resident status and regularization of all undocumented people, the very fact that many of us are barred from citizenship and voting reinforces the status quo. 尽管议会许诺赋予所有 无证人群 永居身份，没有公民权和投票权，我们无法改变移民被边缘化的现状。 PARLIAMENT is returning tomorrow. JOIN US in speaking up and DEMANDING PRIME MINISTER TRUDEAU TO implement permanent resident status AND regularization for all undocumented people. This second-class citizenship has to stop. We want status for all. Let’s not forget that we, yes, you and me, we have power too, through social organizing.