OASW Celebrates Asian Heritage Month

May 1, 2023

May 1st marks the beginning of Asian Heritage Month in Canada. During this month, we honor the historical and cultural contributions of all Asian Canadians who can trace their roots back to East Asia, Southern Asia, Western, Central and Southeast Asia.

Declared nationally in 2001, Asian Heritage Month has been celebrated in Ontario since the Asian Heritage Act was passed in 2005. The Act states:

Asians have helped to shape Ontario culturally, economically and politically. It is appropriate to recognize and pay tribute to the contributions that Asians have made and continue to make to the development and general welfare of Ontario.

The history of people of Asian descent in Canada has been marked by exclusionary immigration policies, discriminatory voting laws, forced relocation and internment. Despite this history, and ongoing impacts of racism and discrimination, people of Asian descent have had a marked impact on our society and continue to contribute across many fields including arts, science, politics, and social work.

OASW would like to take this opportunity to celebrate Asian social workers and all the work they do to support their communities and to counter ongoing anti-Asian racism. OASW is committed to recognizing and amplifying the voices of Asian social workers and to support the Asian community in their fight against anti-Asian hate/racism.

During this month, and all year long we encourage our members to celebrate Asian history and culture in Ontario and learn more about how you can contribute to dismantling anti-Asian racism.

Celebrate, Learn and Reflect:

About OASW
OASW is the voice of social work in Ontario. It is a voluntary, bilingual, non-profit association representing more than 8,500 social workers. All members have a university degree in social work at the bachelor, master or doctoral level. OASW works to actively speak on behalf of social workers on issues of interest to the profession and advocates for the improvement of social policies and programs directly affecting social work practice and client groups served.