TORONTO -- Amid the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes in Canadian cities, a new crowdfunded initiative aims to make it a little bit safer for Asian-Canadians to make essential trips.
The Go Be Safe initiative has raised nearly $10,000 of its $50,000 goal on GoFundMe since April. The initiative offers taxi fare reimbursements for members of the Asian community in Toronto and Vancouver. It was inspired by similar initiatives in the U.S. such as Café Maddy Cab in New York City and Cali Kye Cab in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Go Be Safe founder Julie Kim told CTV's Your Morning on Wednesday that the response she's received has been overwhelmingly positive.
"We've had great positive responses, great feedback. I've gotten a lot of comments saying that they're very appreciative that a program like this exists," said Kim.
Kim says reading about countless stories of anti-Asian hate crimes across North America "really triggered for me to start this initiative and want to do my part."
Anti-Asian hate speech is something that Kim has also experienced in the past firsthand.
"I was on my way home from just one of my daily walks, and there was an individual who yelled out across to me from the street, 'We're better than you!' And I was by myself on the street alone and there was no one else there," Kim said.
"Words like that can be damaging to a person. It obviously wasn't physical. I wasn't physically harmed but mentally, it took a toll on me," she added.
Many cities across Canada and the U.S. have seen spike in racist attacks on Asians began after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, amid the spread of false and racist accusations of Asian communities spreading coronavirus.
Toronto and Vancouver, the two cities that Go Be Safe is targeting, have the highest rates of anti-Asian incidents according to a report from the Chinese Canadian National Council's Toronto Chapter.
The council says it received 1,150 reports of anti-Asian racism between March 2020 and February 2021 across Canada. Almost half of these incidents took place in public spaces such as sidewalks and parks while 10 per cent took place on public transit.
Over 73 per cent of the incidents were verbal harassment, but 11 per cent of the incidents involved physical force while 10 per cent involved coughing or spitting.
In 2020, Vancouver police received 98 reports of anti-Asian hate crimes, more than eight times as many compared to the previous year. This also more than three times as many that were reported in New York City, which had the most reported anti-Asian hate crimes in the U.S.
Toronto police says it received 15 reports of anti-Asian hate crimes in 2020, up from three in 2019.
Members of the Asian and Pacific Islander community looking to get a cab reimbursement for an essential trip can fill out an online form along with sending a selfie. Currently, Go Be Safe is prioritizing elderly Asians as well as Asian women, but Kim hopes to open it up to more members of the Asian community if there's sufficient funding.
"We're going to rethink about the program parameters and include, if there is a sufficient funding, all members of the Asian/Pacific Islander community because all those members have been a target in the past, so we don't want to exclude anyone from benefiting from the service," said Kim.​
