A grassroots group of concerned citizens and professionals from the marketing and film/television communities in Toronto and Vancouver have rallied together to produce an Anti-Racism Campaign — #HealthNotHate. The objective is to combat the misconceptions about the COVID-19 virus and counter a spate of anti-Asian incidents, along with many unreported cases, that have taken place across Canada and North America amidst the global pandemic when a new strain of the virus is misconstrued to trigger the time immemorial problem of discrimination.
#HealthNotHate aims to redirect this discourse with the view that health is the national imperative, where diversity contributes to a functional, inclusive and prosperous society.
“While COVID-19 is new, racism is not,” says Sonny Wong, one of the founders of the initiative. “At this moment, the whole world is focusing on saving the lives of its people and heightening measures to defense against the pandemic which has tested public confidence in our medical care system and our economy like never before. But it is equally important that we should not turn a blind eye, nor a deaf ear to ungrounded racial discrimination that is inflicting more devastating wounds to our society.”
Produced within 4 weeks, and entirely by voluntary and donated efforts, #HealthNotHate has attracted seasoned marketing experts and a who’s who of the film and television community. Talents for the campaign include luminaries such as Russell Wong, Ludi Lin, Osric Chau, Louis Ferreira, Tzi Ma, and others, all supported by ACTRA/UBCP.