In urban Toronto, how do people’s ethnic and religious identities affect how they navigate their lives? Specifically, what are the similarities and differences in the experiences of Chinese and Muslim residents, and how do these two groups interact? This paper reflects on the experiences of navigating in an urban environment while identifying as an ethnic or religious minority, which is the theme of the authors’ media project. Further, the paper examines the significance of this theme, the method of conducting video interviews to create a narrative of the interviewees, as well as the authors’ learnings from the project development.
Toronto is a highly diverse city with its residents being part of a variety of ethnic and religious backgrounds. Specifically, East Asian is the most common non-Western ethnic group in Toronto, whereas Islam is the most common non-Western religion practiced by Toronto residents (World Population Review, 2020). People of these two identities are also represented in Regent Park, a neighbourhood that signifies the diversity of the city, as 70% of its residents are visible minorities (City of Toronto, 2018).
Regent Park has a significant Muslim population. Notably, over half of the students in the neighbourhood’s two elementary schools are Muslims from many different countries (Jamil, 2015). Traditionally, the Muslim community has had a strong sense of belonging in Regent Park (Jamil, 2015). Additionally, Regent Park is home to many Chinese residents. Mandarin is the second most-spoken non-English mother tongue, and Cantonese is the fourth (City of Toronto, 2018). Chinese residents can access social support and services through SEAS, a social service agency aimed to help East and Southeast Asian community members (SEAS, 2020).
Although there is a large population of Chinese and Muslim residents in Regent Park and in Toronto, people of both identities still experience prejudice and discrimination in the city. The authors interacted with Diva Girls at Regent Park Focus, who have discussed their experiences of being targets of verbal discrimination and unequal treatment from their white peers or teachers at their schools. Islamic identity features, such as wearing veils, could also put Muslim residents at a disadvantage, such as decreased job access and workplace discrimination in Toronto (Zine, 2006). These examples demonstrate Islamophobia and prejudice of Muslims amongst some Toronto residents.
Residents of Chinese backgrounds in Toronto also experience discrimination. While this discrimination exists normally, it has been particularly acute during the current coronavirus pandemic, as discrimination against the Asian community has greatly increased since the pandemic started (Boutilier, 2020). In particular, Chinese international students can face discrimination and alienation, affecting their mental health (Du & Zhai, 2020). However, it is also notable that there is prejudice by some Chinese towards Muslim residents in Toronto. For example, there have been protests organized by members of the Chinese community against the admission of Muslim refugees (Zhou, 2018). How do Chinese Canadians’ own experiences of discrimination as well as their conceptions of other communities influence their interactions with others?
Inspired by the experiences of the Diva Girls and the writers’ own experiences navigating Canadian society as Chinese persons, the media project aims to examine how Chinese and non-Chinese Muslim Torontonians, specifically youths, navigate the urban environment and interact with each other. Do these youths experience any conflicts or challenges in their interactions with one another? Understanding these interactions could help the City to develop policies to combat discrimination.
Additionally, the media project aims to inform people of Chinese and Muslim experiences in Toronto, thus promoting understanding. Further, by focusing on youth interactions, this project hopes to spur further youth-related research. Griffin (2001) argues that such research can not only break stereotypical representations of young people, but also foreshadow future societal states. Thus, the authors’ project takes a focus on youth interactions in Regent Park and in Toronto at large.
The authors’ project consists of interviewing people and creating a short video to present experiences of Chinese and Muslim youth. These interviews allow the authors to directly engage with youth residents. The authors, as editors, are able to select the most relevant portions of the interviews to include in the final video. This ability may raise concerns of misrepresenting interview contents due to editing. The authors eliminate this concern by consulting with interviewees to ensure that the selected portions represent what they aim to express. The benefit of the video is twofold. First, viewers can listen to multiple perspectives in a concise timeframe and an engaging way. Second, putting together the experiences of the interviewees creates a form of narrative. Asthana (2017) explores how youth-created short films allow them to express their identities through a narrative of their daily experiences. Similarly, the authors’ video provides interviewees with a space to relate their identities with their daily interactions, constituting a narrative identity as per Ricoeur’s definition (Asthana, 2017). These youth narratives would further encourage explorations of a “relationship between culture(s), place(s) and identities in young people’s lives,” as identity and place of living can both influence how young people navigate their lives (Griffin, 2001, p. 162). Understanding these relationships can help to create better urban spaces for youths from diverse backgrounds.
The production of the video coincided with the coronavirus outbreak in Canada. Although this pandemic significantly affected the project, the authors gained an important lesson in how to adapt project plans to extenuating circumstances. The authors originally intended to interview Chinese and Muslim youths from Regent Park to gain insights on this community. Additionally, the authors had planned to use technologies and equipment offered by Regent Park Focus to enhance the production quality. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the authors were unable to access these resources or conduct interviews with Regent Park youths. To adapt to these disruptions, the authors interviewed University of Toronto students on the same topic and filmed the remaining portions using technologies at hand in the authors’ homes to comply with social distancing.
Through interviewing Chinese and Muslim university students, the authors gained insights on the intersection of identity and interactions. Ethnic identities play a role in the interviewees’ interactions and social groups on campus. While the Chinese interviewees had more diverse interactions during high school, they seem to have limited opportunities during university to interact with Muslim students. These experiences suggest that there are still gaps between Chinese and Muslim youths in Toronto. However, interviewees agreed on the benefits of increasing intercultural and inter-religious interactions, showing the potential for increased cross-cultural understanding in the future.
It is also important to note the shortcomings of the media project. Since the findings were based on a small sample size of three online interviews from students at the University of Toronto, they may be heavily biased and should not reflect typical interactions between Chinese and Muslim youths in Regent Park or the city at large.
Further research is required for a comprehensive understanding on interactions between the Muslim and Chinese community in Regent Park, which was the authors’ original topic. Future research can also examine the relationship between youths and public spaces. Both Regent Park and the university campus contain public spaces, which are significant for interactions and can be used for the intercultural events that interviewees have brought up. However, young people’s perception and usage of public spaces are often not understood by planners, resulting in urban designs that do not reflect the needs of these young people (Johnson & Laughlin, 2011). A better understanding of cross-cultural interactions amongst youth and their relationship with public spaces can lead to public space design that promotes interactions and understanding in a diverse urban environment.
Despite the shortcomings of the authors’ final project, it was nevertheless a valuable exploration of how identities affect interactions of Chinese and Muslim youth. This is a significant topic to explore, under the backdrop of the challenges navigating urban life as an ethnic or religious minority. Thus, the authors hope to inspire further, expanded research on this topic by future students of INI430 and urban studies scholars.
Watch our final project below:
The Faithful Delta team members are Andrew and Jim.
References
Asthana, S. (2017). Translation and localization of children’s rights in youth-produced digital media in the Global South: A hermeneutic exploration. New Media & Society, 19(5), 686-700. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444816686320
Boutilier, A. (2020, April 2). Worries grow that discrimination against Chinese Canadians is getting worse as pandemic continues. The Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/2020/04/02/worries-grow-that- discrimination-against-chinese-canadians-is-getting-worse-as-pandemic-continues.html
City of Toronto. (2018). Neighbourhood profile: Regent Park [PDF file]. https://www.toronto.ca/ext/sdfa/Neighbourhood%20Profiles/pdf/2016/pdf1/cpa72.pdf
Du, X., & Zhai, Y. (2020). Mental health care for international Chinese students affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. The Lancet, 7(4), e22. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215- 0366(20)30089-4
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Jamil, U. (2015). Making place: Muslims in the neighbourhood. Contemporary Islam, 9, 321-335. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11562-015-0346-y
Johnson, L. C. & Laughlin, D. L. (2011). Defining and exploring public space: perspectives of young people from Regent Park, Toronto. Children’s Geographies, 9(3-4), 439-456. https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2011.590703
SEAS. (2020). Homepage. https://www.seascentre.org/
World Population Review. (2020). Toronto Population 2020. https://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/toronto-population/
Zhou, S. (2018, September 18). How anti-immigrant rhetoric crept into Chinese Canadian politics. Vice. https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/gyngex/how-anti-immigrant-rhetoric-crept-into-chinese-canadian-politics
Zine, J. (2006). Unveiled sentiments: Gendered Islamophobia and experiences of veiling among Muslim girls in a Canadian Islamic school. Equity & Excellence in Education, 39(3), 239-252. https://doi.org/10.1080/10665680600788503