Read Part 1 of our Ethnic Media Analysis here. The disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on immigrants and racialized Canadians has been at the centre of ethnic media coverage from May to late November, but the high infection rates in the Peel region have recently triggered a controversy, with ethnic and mainstream outlets disputing the role of culture vs. economics and structural inequities in the spread of the virus. The fact that immigrants and racialized Canadians are bearing the brunt of the pandemic in terms of health outcomes came across very strongly and unequivocally in media coverage in the analyzed period. Multiple outlets cited data releases from Toronto Public Health, which consistently showed that visible minorities, especially Blacks, suffered higher COVID-19 infection rates. Another piece of research suggested that Black, South Asian and Indigenous Canadians were far more likely than white Canadians to have multiple medical conditions, putting them at higher risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19. Calls for a systematic collection of race-based data of COVID-19 patients were widely reported, but a dissenting voice was recorded, too, expressing concern that such data “could inadvertently legitimize biological understandings of race” and create more scope to arrive at “racist responses to a pandemic” than to address social vulnerabilities. Ethnic media also extensively quoted reports by the non-profit research organization ICES, whose September release showed that although immigrants and refugees accounted for only 25 per cent of those tested for COVID-19 between January and June, they accounted for 43.5 per cent of all positive cases. The role of culture appeared to enter the debate in connection with higher infection rates in the Peel region. The Peel region and the city of Brampton, home to a large South Asian community, have been in the spotlight on account of higher COVID-19 infection rates roughly since June, but the issue received extra attention in connection to the mid-November festivals of Diwali and Bandi Chhor Diwas, with multiple reports of illegal social gatherings, including fines issued to two Sikh temples where large gatherings happened in the parking lots. In the run-up to the celebrations, mayors of Brampton and the neighbouring Mississauga had identified large social meetings as major sources of COVID-19 spread, and several ethnic media outlets carried appeals to the South Asian community to follow social distancing rules and celebrate with household members only. Some of the finger-pointing regarding spread came from within the community. Yet in October, a radio station was taking calls from the Punjabi community reporting risky behaviours at stores and places of worship. An editorial published one day before Diwali argued that Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown has downplayed illegal social gatherings despite his city’s “reputation for parties” during the pandemic. A similar sentiment about Brampton being a “party town” was expressed in an opinion piece later in November. But the bulk of the outlets pushed back against this rhetoric, calling out the racist undertones in some of the reporting, especially in mainstream media. One outlet cited a tweet from a resident who said Brampton was “a diverse and rapidly growing working-class town people laugh at, with a hint of racism” even though many Bramptonians are essential workers who “keep working and dying doing the jobs no one else wants.” Ethnic media also criticized mainstream coverage of the situation in Brampton for overlooking the city’s neglected health care sector and the fact that many residents have front-line jobs. A TV station quoted a tweet from Dr. Naheed Dosani, that “continually blaming Brown people in Brampton for rising #COVID19 cases is unnerving & racist. Instead of learning how people’s vulnerabilities are guided by their circumstances (multi-generational households, poverty & employment), we lay blame.” Mayor Patrick Brown was repeatedly cited defending Brampton residents as the “unsung heroes” of the pandemic: essential workers employed in food processing and logistics, often living in overcrowded, multigenerational households, who can’t afford to stay home and have no means to self-isolate when needed. A radio program cited Brampton councilors as saying they had come across houses with up to 25 international students living in them. A TV program featured Brampton as a warehouse hub and cited a local truck driver who said many truck operators stay in their vehicles because they are afraid to come near their families. Another explanation provided for the high infection rates in Peel was the pre-existing underfunding of the region’s health care.