Library Spotlight: Posts

Asian Heritage Month

The theme for Asian Heritage Month 2021, "Recognition, Resilience, and Resolve," embodies the myriad of sentiments that peoples of Asian descent in Canada have experienced, and honours their contributions and their diverse stories which are rooted in resilience and perseverance. It is also a call to action for all Canadians to come together to combat all forms of anti-Asian racism and discrimination. Let us celebrate the incredible diversity that is our strength and be resolute in our stand against all forms of anti-Asian racism and discrimination. 

Explore a small piece of Asian Canadian history with some of these books:  

• Railway Nation: Tales of Canadian Pacific, the World's Greatest Travel System is a collection of stories about the building of the Canadian Railroad, including stories from Chinese workers labouring in the canyons of the Thompson and Fraser Rivers. 
• Cartographies of Violence: Japanese Canadian Women, Memory, and the Subjects of the Internment analyses the effects of incarceration and deportation on Japanese Canadian women during World War II. 
• The Voyage of the Komagata Maru: The Sikh Challenge to Canada's Colour Bar tells the story of the 1914 Komagata Maru incident, a story of immigration, empire, politics, and human rights. 
• The Other Side of the Sun: The True Story of One Refugee's Journey tells the story of Thien Tang as he makes his way from South Vietnam to Malaysia, to the United States and eventually to Charlottetown, PEI. 
• The Boy on the Beach: My Family's Escape from Syria and Our Hope for a New Home is an intimate and poignant memoir about the family of Alan Kurdi — the young Syrian boy who became the global emblem for the desperate plight of millions of Syrian refugees. 

Celebrate with some of these films and documentaries: 

• Sponsorland tells the story of a Syrian family of 13 and their community of well-intentioned sponsors in Picton, Ontario, exploring the joys, expectations, and challenges on both sides. 
• Double Happiness is a movie about Jade Li, a Chinese Canadian woman, trying to achieve that happy medium between giving in to her parent's wishes and fulfilling her own needs and desires. 
• Long Tack Sam offers a whimsical tour through the history of Chinese magicians and performers in the Western world. 
• Watch, or rewatch, some well-known Oscar-winners and favourites like Parasite, Crazy Rich Asians, or The Joy Luck Club. 

Visit Transparent Languages Online to learn Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, Mongolian, Korean, Bengali, Hindi, Punjabi, Nepali, Urdu, Tamil, Dari, Pashto, Kazakh, Tajiki, Turkmen, Uzbek, Arabic, Malay, Khmer, Indonesian, Thai, Vietnamese, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Turkish, Greek, Georgian, Kurdish, Hebrew, and more.