TORONTO – The theme for Asian Heritage Month in 2025 is: “Unity in Diversity: The Impact of Asian Communities in Shaping Canadian identity”, as stated by Canada.ca.
Sports are a very important element when it comes to national identity, which is the topic in this month’s edition of the CFL’s Diversity is Strength conversations presented by Kyndryl and powered by SiriusXM.
Host Donnovan Bennet chatted with TSN’s Winnipeg Bureau Reporter John Lu and Abby Albino, head of business and brand strategy at Canada Basketball and Co-Founder of Makeway on this special episode. Jeff Wong, who is the VP for Enterprise Canada at Kyndryl, also joined the conversation to share what his Asian heritage meant to him growing up and how it shapes his current leadership role.
In the conversation, Lu and Albino shared how sports played a role in their lives, how it helped them integrate into Canadian society, and how sports can play a role in promoting a more diverse society.
RELATED
» Josh Woods reinforces representation ahead of Asian Heritage Month
» Diversity is Strength stories, podcasts and much more
» Listen: Diversity is Strength Conversations podcast
» More information about the Diversity in Football Program presented by Securian Canada
» Subscribe to the CFL’s newsletter for exclusive offers and league updates
“Asian heritage is at the root of everything that I do,” said Wong. “Growing up admittedly I took this for granted – wanting to conform to what others deemed as “normal.” In hindsight, this created more of a narrow lane for me.
“Over the years I’ve come to love the sense of community, belonging and bringing these perspectives into everything that I do – specifically at work, leading a team of people from so many unique backgrounds, cultures and experiences.”
Albino, meanwhile, grew up as a baseball fan in Toronto where her family would rally around the TV to watch the Toronto Blue Jays write their names down in history.
“All the cousins would come together, and all the aunts and uncles and we would just sit and watch baseball,” said Albino. “This is of course 1992, 1993 and it was the highlight of my week, getting to drive to Scarborough and watch the Blue Jays as they became World Champions.”
A daughter of Filipino immigrants, Albino says that baseball played a big role in connecting her family to their current home.
“It was a way for my parents and their brothers and sisters to really connect to this new place that they called home,” said the head of business at Canada Basketball.
Sports played a similar role for Lu, whose parents immigrated to Vancouver before settling in Winnipeg, where the broadcaster grew up.
John Lu has been with TSN for the past 25 years in Montreal and Winnipeg (Photo courtesy of John Lu)
“I probably would be best described as having kind of gravitated towards sports to integrate, to fit in with my friends and to be a part of Canadian society,” said Lu.
“All of my pals were either very athletic or they would have been involved in sport from a young age, growing up in athletic families,” continued Lu. “I kind of found my way into it, but it’s been thoroughly enriching a huge part of my life, from the time that I was a child I have been very blessed and fortunate to have been able to spend a quarter century in a career that has been immersed in sport at the highest levels.”
Having the opportunity to add value throughout sport is directly connected to representation and ensuring that everyone is included when it comes to marketing the games that we all know and love.
“Definitely the people in the room (that) ensure that the various voices from different demographics across the nation are represented,” said Albino. “When I was working for the (Toronto) Raptors and I was in a marketing meeting, I was the only person of colour and the only woman in the room and there were about eight people.
“I quickly realized that being a person of colour made me the majority of our fandom, I represented the majority of Raptors fans in that room. Being a woman also allowed me to represent, at the time, about 35 to 40 per cent of Raptors fans. I had a very unique perspective that nobody else in that room could even call upon.
“Our fans look very different from one another. They have different perspectives and if we can’t hire (people that look like them) for full time roles, how are we including those people in conversations we’re having and insights and making sure that their voices are heard?”
