The B.C. government has appointed two Filipinos to a new committee tasked with dismantling systemic racism in the province.
They are Christine Marie Añonuevo and Athena Presquito Madan.
Añonuevo is a councillor in the Village of Hazelton and executive director of the Upper Skeena Development Centre.
Madan is an assistant professor in the department of sociology at the University of Victoria.
The body is known as the Provincial Committee on Anti-Racism.
A government media release on February 20, 2025 noted that the new provincial committee has “begun work to remove systemic barriers that make access to government programs and services challenging for racialized people in British Columbia”.
“Undoing the legacy of racism in our government is more important now than ever,” Attorney General Niki Sharma said in the release.
The committee is chaired by Hasan Alam, a lawyer with the B.C. General Employees’ Union (BCGEU).
The release explained that while the Anti-Racism Data Committee advises government on how data can be used to identify systemic racism, the Provincial Committee on Anti-Racism will use that information to take action toward dismantling systemic racism.
In addition, the committee will help develop anti-racism training standards for public bodies;
provide input on public education and awareness strategies about anti-racism; and consult with public bodies and engage racialized community members on implementing the Anti-Racism Act.
“Systemic racism cannot be dismantled without us all working together,” said Jessie Sunner, parliamentary secretary for anti-racism initiatives.
The Anti-Racism Act requires the action plan to be published by June 1, 2026.
