加拿大華人行動基金會 ACCT Foundation 主辦的 Aspire to Lead® Chinese Canadian Leaders' Summit 合照 (Photo credits: ACCT)

文：Lexi Yixuan Ma - 马艺瑄

As Canada marks Asian Heritage Month, the conversation should move beyond celebrating contributions to asking a harder question: are Asian Canadians fully represented in the rooms where decisions are made?

That question was at the heart of the Aspire to Lead® Chinese Canadian Leaders’ Summit hosted by ACCT Foundation. The summit made clear that heritage is not only about culture, memory, or pride. It is also about power, participation, and belonging.

For Asian Canadians, belonging has never been only symbolic. It has been shaped by migration, labour, exclusion, resistance, and community-building. Chinese Canadians, for example, have been part of Canada’s history for generations, yet their contributions have often been accompanied by civic exclusion, discriminatory immigration policies, and social erasure. These histories did not simply stay in the past. They have shaped access to professions, public trust, political participation, and leadership pathways.

人才從來不是問題

One of the strongest takeaways from the summit was that representation cannot be understood only as a matter of individual ambition. Talent has always been present. The real question is whether talent is converted into influence, authority, and decision-making power.

The data makes this clear. Research presented by Dr. Paul Holley, Research and Evaluation Director at the Association for Canadian Studies and the Metropolis Institute, shows that 61.8% of Chinese people in Canada aged 25 to 54 have a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared with 36.6% of the overall Canadian population in the same age group. Yet education alone has not closed leadership gaps. Among degree-holders, Chinese workers remain less likely than non-racialized, non-Indigenous workers to be in professional or senior roles matching their education level.

Belonging is not just about being welcomed into a room. It is about being trusted in that room. It is about being heard without having to overexplain one’s identity, background, accent, or legitimacy. It is about moving from being included as a participant to being recognized as someone who can shape the agenda.

誰能坐上決策桌

This is especially important in civic and institutional leadership. Many decisions that shape public life happen outside elections: on boards, advisory committees, public appointments, nonprofit organizations, healthcare institutions, universities, cultural bodies, and community networks.

The leadership gap remains significant. In the Greater Toronto Area, Chinese Canadians represent 11.1% of the population, but only 2.2% of Tier 1 leaders examined across eight sectors. Chinese Canadian women represent less than 1% of those top leadership roles.

If Asian Canadians are present in society but absent from these decision-making spaces, belonging remains incomplete.

歸屬感，需要共同建立

The summit also opened up a broader conversation about solidarity, particularly between Indigenous and Chinese Canadian communities. 

The histories of Asian communities in Canada are deeply connected to the histories of Indigenous Peoples, Black communities, newcomers, and other racialized groups who have also had to fight for recognition, safety, and self-determination.

Belonging cannot be built in isolation. It requires relationships, accountability, and a shared commitment to making institutions more responsive to the communities they serve.

被看見，也是一種責任

Leadership is not simply confidence, visibility, or individual success. At its best, leadership is responsibility. It asks whether barriers are being removed and whether the next generation will have to fight the same battles.

In this sense, visibility is not ego. For communities that have been excluded or treated as perpetual outsiders, being visible in leadership helps shift what society imagines as authority, expertise, and belonging.

共同塑造未來

Asian Heritage Month should be more than commemoration. It should be a call to build systems where belonging is not accidental, representation is not symbolic, and leadership is not reserved for those who already fit old expectations of power.

That means tracking representation where decisions are made—on boards, executive teams, advisory committees, public appointments, and leadership pipelines. It means investing in sponsorship, not only mentorship. It means making governance readiness part of career development, and treating belonging as something institutions must design, measure, and sustain.

The future of Asian Canadian leadership is not only about having more Asian Canadians in the room. It is about what changes when they are there: whose stories are recognized, whose voices are trusted, and what kind of country becomes possible when belonging is treated as a foundation for leadership.

*This article reflects the author’s personal observations and learnings as a participant at the Aspire to Lead® Chinese Canadian Leaders’ Summit hosted by ACCT Foundation, and may not fully represent ACCT Foundation’s views or work.

*This article does not represent the views of Fairchild Radio CHKF94.7 Calgary.