During the COVID-19 pandemic, like many communities across the province, the South Okanagan witnessed a spike in racism and hate related incidents.
Although some of these incidents were highlighted by the local media, anecdotal evidence shared with SOICS showed the majority of incidents towards the racialized communities has remained unreported for decades.
In 2021, SOICS launched the Racism & Discrimination Survey to better understand the level of racism and hate related incidents that have gone unreported throughout our region.
Here is the report on our findings: