SARS-Fuelled Racism Scarred Chinese-Canadians. It's Happening Again With Coronavirus.

In 2003, the SARS outbreak almost ruined the Chinese communities in Canada.

Frank Ye felt this first-hand. Now a 23-year-old masters student at the University of Toronto, Ye was only around eight years old when the SARS outbreak happened but he already began to encounter racism at his school.

I remember when the other kid on the playground would tell me to go away because all Chinese people had SARS, Ye posted on Twitter.

I remember when the other kids on the playground would tell me to go away because \"all Chinese people had SARS\", the spread of the virus is a concern, but let's not let paranoia translate to racism. My heart cries for the little Chinese kids who well face racism because of this. https://t.co/Dt5HopxD1w

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I remember when the other kids on the playground would tell me to go away because "all Chinese people had SARS", the spread of the virus is a concern, but let's not let paranoia translate to racism. My heart cries for the little Chinese kids who well face racism because of this. https://t.co/Dt5HopxD1w
Frank Ye (@Leafye_river) January 26, 2020

As a kid, I didnt understand what racism was, being in first and second grade, Ye told HuffPost Canada. But thinking back to it, when kids told me to get away from them because I was Chinese, that was racism.

At the time it made me feel excluded and made me feel invalid in who I was.

When news of the novel coronavirus first started spreading, Asian-Canadians like Ye felt they were grappling not just with the outbreak of a new mysterious virus, but also the onslaught of racism theyve come to expect.

In 2003, Toronto was hit especially hard by SARS. There were a total of 44 deaths , all in or around the city. As the toll rose, people started staying away from Chinese restaurants and grocery stores, CBC News reported in 2003 . Businesses in Torontos Chinatown reported their customers dropping by 70 to 90 per cent.