Collaborating with the Dalla Lana School of Public Health (DLSPH), the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work (FIFSW), representatives from KPE took part in an event to showcase and celebrate the work of four esteemed Asian leaders on campus.
The event was hosted at the FIFSW building on a rainy May Thursday; attendees braved blustery spring weather on their way to campus. A packed house awaited them, with an air of excitement for the evening’s presentation.
The festivities opened with a stirring vocal and piano performance from Jacqueline Teh, a Juno Award-winning songwriter, composer, educator—and alumna of the U of T Faculty of Music, now director of the university’s Small Vocal Jazz Ensemble. She greeted the audience warmly, explaining that she honours her culture and history by singing in both English and the Hokkien that she spoke at home growing up. The bilingual song “Crush” set the tone for the rest of the evening; Teh received a long and loud round of applause.
“Our decision to spotlight Asian Canadian excellence in health and wellness was an effort to reflect the abundance of diverse leadership across Asian communities as a part of research, community thriving, and advocacy,” says FIFSW Director of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Shahana Arain, one of the event’s organizers. “The collective imagining of future possibilities for Asian communities across Canada was inspiring, and we were excited to bring this mindset into an event like this one.”
Dr. Izumi Sakamoto, an associate professor with FIFSW, then introduced the event’s three panelists for over an hour of lively conversation. Dr. Aya Mitani from DLSPH, Mrs. Sultana Jahangir from FIFSW and Dr. Hui Xiao, a postdoctoral research fellow with KPE. Over a wide-ranging discussion, the three panelists shared personal stories and experiences of their Asian heritage.
Xiao, whose leadership in the field of prostate cancer prevention relates to exercise-supportive adjuvant therapies, noted that elder generation care tends to be highly valued by Asian cultures. “However,” he said, “older men still don’t want to talk about health. It makes research in this area absolutely crucial, because data collection can be challenging when the population in question wants nothing to do with it.”
Mitani, a data scientist, agreed—and pointed out that Asian cultures in Canada have been historically underrepresented in data sets that pertain to community and public health. “Each culture has a different health background and habits, and Asian populations don’t fit neatly into racial subdivisions,” she said. “Data can only exist when people use the healthcare system,” she added, “and therefore, each racial group that accesses healthcare in different ways means that they are underrepresented in the data that government agencies use to make decisions about health and wellness funding.”
Jahangir gave passionate remarks about the precarious labour market that prevents Asian populations from accessing the health supports they need. “Health and wellness define communities,” she said, “and poverty means that we cannot focus on health and wellness because we are too busy focusing on survival.” She pointed to flaws in governance apparatuses that pay lip service to advancing real systemic change while ultimately upholding the status quo.
“Everyone shows sympathy, but no one wants to fix the problems,” she said. “Our community, sadly, is not involved in the change-making apparatus. Advocacy is not a one-year process; we must fight constantly against a centuries-old system that does not foreground our best interests.” Lived experience is paramount, she emphasized, and “academic discourse can only take us so far” without real experience in the community.
Even so, Hui says that U of T and Canadian society at large are “at a really exciting time for Asian studies focused on health and wellness.” The panel drew to a close, and the event concluded with another performance from Teh, whose song “Almond Eyes” echoed with notes of pride and resilience.
“It’s a privilege to be able to provide a platform for these important voices,” says KPE Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Terry Gardiner, one of the event’s organizers. “I’m grateful to our speakers for advocating for tough conversations and forward momentum.”