The British Columbia human rights commissioner, Kasari Govender, is running a campaign across the province with billboards asking the question, "Am I racist?"

The systemic racism awareness campaign started Nov. 16 and will run until Dec. 11 on billboards across B.C.

In a video her office posted on Youtube on Nov.13, Govender has asked everyone to do a self-introspection and ask themselves the "tough question."

"This is an uncomfortable question, one that none of us want to ask ourselves and none of us want to answer," Govender said on the video.

"We owe it to ourselves and our communities to take a hard look inside and start to examine what stands between us and a more equal province. The time is now to become anti-racist together," she added.

Govender's office reported that hate crimes in BC rose by 34 per cent between 2015-2018. The Vancouver Police Department reported an increase of 116 per cent of hate crimes in metro Vancouver in the first nine months of 2020 (compared to the same period in 2019).

The office also reported that the campaign "comes amid concerns of structural racism in health care and other institutions" and that COVID-19 is disproportionately impacting minorities. Statistics Canada found that the COVID-19 mortality rates between March and July were higher in BC communities where " where more than 25 per cent of residents are visible minorities," the BC Office of the Human Rights Commissioner stated in a press release.

Govender, who began her tenure on Sept. 3, 2019, has advocated in the past that people should learn to treat others according to their needs and complexities.

Many conversations and counter-conversations are ongoing around the touchy subject of racism. Some say the questions on billboards may help but for the act to stop, part of the solution would be for people to fully embrace all humanity and for parents to stop transferring racism to the next generation.