Local Chinese-Canadian community sends thousands of PPE to Montreal frontline workers
Posted May 12, 2020 5:03 pm.
Last Updated May 12, 2020 5:04 pm.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — Despite reports of growing racism locally, and criticism of the government in their native country, members of the Chinese-Canadian community in Metro Vancouver are still actively trying to help frontline workers.
“We know that there are many people that have different opinions, or bias, or whatever. But we keep talking to each other,” said Bella Huang, one of the organizers of the volunteer group which has been collecting personal protective equipment since the start of the pandemic shutdowns in mid-March.
Huang and her group sent off a batch of PPE to Montreal on Tuesday, consisting of 20,000 masks, 250 protection suits and 200 face shields. This is the second batch of PPE the group has been able to organize for virus-rattled Montreal in the past couple of weeks.
“We got the second request just yesterday (Monday), so we arranged it overnight,” said Huang.
She says they’ve been able to source their PPE donations from both members of the Chinese-Canadian community in Metro Vancouver, as well as from companies that produce personal protective equipment in China.
Huang insists all the PPE her group has been sourcing from China meets Canadian health and safety standards.
“It was a really tough time at the beginning because they will doubt the quality of the products,” said Huang. “But we are Chinese, so we know China very well. So we have lists of qualified manufacturers that can produce medical-use products,” notes Huang.
