MY PERSPECTIVE Inequalities of the Past & Present

SO ALTHOUGH THE PANDEMIC Hana Sheikh, 21 HAS BEEN A GLOBAL STRUGGLE, THE POOREST AND MOST VULNERABLE AMONG US HAVE BEEN HIT THE HARDEST.

SO ALTHOUGH THE PANDEMIC HAS BEEN A GLOBAL STRUGGLE, THE POOREST AND MOST VULNERABLE AMONG US HAVE BEEN HIT THE HARDEST.

SO ALTHOUGH THE PANDEMIC HAS BEEN A GLOBAL STRUGGLE, THE POOREST AND MOST VULNERABLE AMONG US HAVE BEEN HIT THE HARDEST.

Who would have thought we would spend

the last two years of our lives in a pandemic? Each of us, trying to continue our lives online and survive under unique circumstances. And though this digital experience has been interesting, offering transparent lenses to the world and gratitude to the many things we take for granted, personally, it has stirred up some questions. Like how and why has the pandemic affected us all differently? Are we doing our best to look out for the neediest of our communities? What about those who cannot afford to go online? Who’s taking care of them?

I know that these questions might be overwhelming or even uncomfortable to answer, but let’s reflect on one: how has the pandemic affected us all differently? One analysis by Global News showed “a strong association between high coronavirus rates and low income, conditions of work, visible minority status and low levels of education”.1 Public Health Ontario found that our most ethnoculturally diverse neighbourhoods fall under this disproportionate impact, with hospitalization rates from COVID-19 being four times higher than less diverse neighbourhoods and death rates twice as high.2 These are scary numbers but unsurprising to people who have studied and paid close attention to these persisting inequalities.

“What might unite the fight against COVID-19 with the protests against systemic racism is the message that a society is only as strong as its weakest link. And sometimes it takes a crisis for everyone to see the inequalities that were there all along”.3 So although the pandemic has been a global struggle, the poorest and most vulnerable among us have been hit the hardest. Clearly, we need to do more to ensure that they’re not left behind as we attempt to move forward. This may mean volunteering with local shelters or food banks, raising awareness on the inequalities of the past and present, calling on our government to take appropriate action, and allocating resources and systems that sustain us all equally.

1https://globalnews.ca/news/7015522/ black-neighbourhoods-torontocoronavirus-racism/ 2https://www.publichealthontario.ca/-/ media/documents/ncov/epi/2020/06/ covid-19-epi-diversity.pdf?la=en 3https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/ pandemic-covid-coronavirus-cerbunemployment-1.5610404

Shahaab Khan, 25

Bystander

This image was taken during a demonstration for Palestine in Milton, Ontario. What I find most captivating about it is the onlooker glancing at the protest from their window. It made me reflect on how often we ourselves are bystanders to what transpires around us?