Visiting exhibition addresses hate in the community

The immersive exhibition showcases the voices heard during the inquiry with the art created for the murals. Photo: Lauryn Mackenzie / CHLY 101.7fm

BC’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner is hosting an exhibit in Nanaimo to allow visitors to step inside the stories of people impacted by hate in our province.

This comes after the inquiry titled From Hate to Hope: Inquiry into Hate in the COVID-19 Pandemic. The inquiry found an increase of hate directed towards not only race or religion, but also hate directed towards those experiencing homelessness, migrant workers, women, and many more.  The inquiry found that those targeted by hate online were silenced.

At the end of last year, the Office unveiled four murals meant to bring people together to combat hate. The murals were placed in Vancouver, Fort St. John, Keremeos, and Nanaimo. The Nanaimo mural is located at the Nanaimo Aquatic Centre and was made in partnership with Humanity in Art and youth from the Risebridge summer youth program.

Now the Office is hosting an immersive exhibition that merges the voices heard during the inquiry and murals created. This touring exhibition will allow participants to reflect on their own experiences and to take action to address hate in their communities. The exhibit has toured around the province in the last month stopping off in Vancouver, Kelowna, and Fort St. John. It will be in Nanaimo until the 17th of May with the tour finishing where it started in Vancouver.

Commissioner Kasari Govender spoke to CHLY about the inquiry and the new exhibit. She said they heard from 1000s of people across the province about the hate they faced and how their communities responded to it.

“So hate is definitely not something that's isolated to one community in the province by any means,” she said. “When we look to do murals, and then to do an art exhibit, to really move the conversation from this dense report to a much broader, more accessible conversation through the medium of public art.”

For the murals, she said they chose communities to receive them not because hate was a particular problem there but because they represent the diversity of British Columbia.

“So small communities, larger communities, communities in different regions across the province,” she said. “Again, the message really is that this is something unfortunately, that unites us, but also that we can be united in our responses and are moved from hate to help hence the name of the inquiry.” 

She said the murals and the exhibit go along with the commitment the office has to not only collect reports but to start conversations around them.

“We really wanted to ensure we have a commitment as an office to ensure that we have no more dusty reports–no more reports just sitting on a shelf somewhere gathering dust,” she said. “We want to do justice to the 1000s of stories, we heard of people who shared their experiences with hate. And we wanted to ensure that those that the report really didn't just get stagnant, but in fact kept to life and conversation and community going.”

She said public art is a great way to showcase the findings and the voices behind the report.

“As a lawyer, I like to think convincing arguments will hold the day. But in fact, what really is persuasive for people is how they feel about something, and art has a real connection to how we feel in the world,” she said. “It can change our experience of a moment, it can communicate an emotional connection, it can in public art, have the context of helping us feel like we belong somewhere if we see ourselves represented or feel a connection to art.”

She said the overall message of the report and the exhibit is that there is a rise in hate and it is something that cannot be ignored.

“So really to help people understand what's happening out there, and then to move us from that place of hate towards a more hopeful state to understand that nothing will happen on this if what must be hoped for a better future,” she said. “And it's that trajectory of understanding where we are. Our understanding of the impact of hate in our communities, but to also move towards action that I'm hoping we can continue to do with not only the inquiry but also the public art through the murals and through the exhibit and then through our partnership with public libraries across the province.” 

The immersive exhibit runs at the Beban Recreation Center from now until May 17 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Registration is not required and there is no cost to attend.

Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.