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University of Victoria

Asian Heritage Month

May is Asian Heritage Month—an opportunity for UVic to showcase the stories, research, contributions and vital impact made by people of Asian descent on campus, in our communities and beyond. We’re celebrating Asian cultures within vibrant and diverse Canadian communities as we forge our way together toward a better, more inclusive, future.

A tree with pink cherry blossoms on the UVic campus.

Experts on Asian Heritage Month

The following UVic experts are available to the media to discuss topics of Asian heritage during Asian Heritage Month.

Read more

Initiatives

Landscapes of Injustice

During the 1940s, Canada enacted mass displacement and dispossession of Japanese Canadians. The Landscapes of injustice project, led by historian Jordan Stanger-Ross, explores this difficult period in Canadian history.

Through images and rich prose, the project’s digitial storytelling site provides an immersive digital experience that explores the real stories of the people affected by these racist policies. Many Canadians continue to experience marginalization and racism today—the stories of our past hold many lessons to better equip our society for dealing with these challenges today.

Pandemic racism

Nigel Mantou Lou, a social psychologist, focuses his research on intercultural relations and racial discrimination in a post-COVID world. During the global pandemic, Asian Canadians experienced a massive surge in hate crimes. In 2022, Lou published a paper on the alarming rates of discriminatory experiences faced by Chinese Canadians and other Asian Canadians.

Lou’s research lab is currently undertaking an SSHRC-funded project to uncover the resilience factors that support Asian Canadians' sense of belonging and well-being. Lou emphasizes one critical factor under consideration is "the role of social support and connections with family members and communities and school/workplace."
 

Growth and solidarity: mental health hub

Led by Fred Chou in Educational Psychology and Leadership Studies, Growth and Solidarity is a resource hub and research community that aims to strengthen Asian mental health across Canada.

Fred Chou's research lab has compiled mental health resources for the Asian Canadian community that can be found through the Growth and Solidarity site. They have also developed a group counselling intervention called (Re)Claim and Connect to support individuals who have experienced anti-Asian racism.

Displaced Japanese Canadians leaving the Vancouver area (possibly Slocan Valley) after being prohibited by law from entering a “protected area” within 100 miles of the coast in BC.

Past Wrongs, Future Choices

Housed at UVic’s Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives and Centre for Global Studies, with partners in Australia, Brazil, Japan, the United States and Canada, the Past Wrongs, Future Choices project prompts communities across the world to grapple with anti-Asian racism from the past and present. Museum exhibitions, digital collections, documentary films, teaching resources and books show what these transnational injustices can teach us today. Image provided courtesy of Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre. 1994.69.4.29.1.

Read the Q and A

Events

Victoria's Historic Chinatown Museum Society Event: “Awakening Chinatown"
  • May 26, 2024, 12 – 5:30 p.m.
  • Victoria’s Historic Chinatown

Save the Date: The CAPI Asia Forum
Friday, October 4, 2024
CAPI will host a campus-wide forum to give UVic faculty and graduate students from all disciplines the opportunity to share their research on the Asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific in a variety of interactive formats. The forum will foster the exchange of ideas, encourage connections within the UVic community and inspire creative and collaborative projects in the region.

Resources & supports