The entire world has been watching the situation in the United States unfold and the head of the Kamloops Chamber of Commerce has weighed on the on topic of racism.
While on the NL Morning News, Chamber Executive Director Acacia Pangilinan was asked if diversity is something that’s been brought up within our own business community.
“Absolutely. Actually, inclusively is one of the core values of the Kamloops Chamber of Commerce and I think that we’re all deeply disturbed by the violent, overt and subtle displays of racism that we’re increasingly seeing and as a place that welcomes the world, what we’re witnessing is not who we are and not who we aspire to be as British Columbians and Canadians,” she said.
“Our network through the BC Chamber of Commerce actually penned a letter calling for people to stand up against racism because there’s just no place for it here.”
Pangilinan, who is Filipino and German and grew up here, was asked if racism had affected her.
“I definitely have had situations in my life that were tense because of people perceiving my race,” she added. “Yeah, it has been a factor in my life but definitely it is not remotely close to what other people have been dealing with for their whole lives.”
As for her own feelings of what’s been going on in the United States and around the world as well as solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement she said, “I really try to focus on the solidarity, however there’s so many issues happening right now in Kamloops that I’m personally trying to focus on the issues our business community are facing because every single business has different issues and they’re going with different levels of support.”
“I want to look back at this moment in time as when we turned our backs on racist tendencies and choose a different path.”
Kamloops councillor Arjun Singh noted that he too is feeling anxious about violent protests happening in cities all over the U.S. and what has led to them, noting he is ‘horribly upset’ by actions of U.S. President Donald Trump.
While asking B.C. residents to take precautions if they attend protests, Premier John Horgan says he will push for a national anti-racism program across Canada.
