A pair of university students are organizing a virtual panel discussion on how COVID-19 and racism disproportionately affects people of colour this Friday.

The panel is called ‘When Pandemics Collide’ and it is being organized by Motion of Colour, a student-led group focusing on discussions of racial equality in partnership with the Kamloops Immigrant Services.

Co-organizer Joy Kwak says the free event will feature thee Kamloops speakers – Bill Sundhu, a human rights lawyer and former judge, Les Carty, a community activist who was one of several speakers at a Black Lives Matter rally in June, and Elaine Alec, a local First Nations author and woman’s advocate.

She says they’re hosting the panel because there aren’t many resources available for racialized people who tend to experience things differently than other people.

“What we’ve seen so far in the United States and across the world is that Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour have been disproportionately affected whether that’s through death rate or just not enough healthcare access,” she said. “These kinds of things tied together affect these groups in a way that sometimes we aren’t familiar with.”

Kwak and co-organizer Mary Falade will moderate the panel then open it up for questions from a virtual audience. It will take place on Zoom between 6:30 p.m and 8 p.m.

“It’s kind of unfortunate that its now that these issues are being brought into light, but we so far have received a lot of positive responses,” Kwak said. “People have attended our book club events, our documentary screenings and I think its good that a lot of people are showing initiative.”

“We wanted to show that racism affects every aspect of your life.”

To take part, you can find the registration link on Facebook or Instagram.