Presented by the David See-chai Lam Centre and Labour Studies Program at SFU, and organized by the Asian Canadian Labour Alliance this Colloquium Series on Asian labour and activism brings community organizers, academics and activists together to think about how their politics has affected the space they occupy within BC today.

Rising anti-Asian hate has been noted across the world in recent years, but is this really “new”? Or have extant structures of power historically disadvantaged some groups over others? How have people risen against these structures in the past and how successful have they been?

To answer these questions, we will focus on the voices of workers in BC who identify as Asian and who have spent years organizing and building community to achieve greater rights in their spaces of work and in the labour movement. Instead of focusing on just their struggles, we bring forth their relationships, their inspirations and the things that bring them joy.

The series employs a lens of hope and is envisioned as a platform to build new and stronger relationships between progressive Asian workers and activists. Each event features conversations about the human dimension of legislative change, union activism and the many victories that, together, have fundamentally changed the lives and workplaces that Asian workers in BC enter today.