Back alleys where restaurant cooks take their 15-minute breaks. Bike repair shops where delivery workers hang out between runs. Parks where people experiencing homelessness gather. 

Matthew Pi's mission was to cover all these nooks and crannies of Toronto's Kensington-Chinatown neighbourhood one week in mid-May, encouraging everyone he encountered to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and urging them to spread the word.

"They don't have time to do investigations on Twitter to see if a clinic is legit or not," Pi said. "They need someone to talk to when they're off their shift, on the fly."

Pi was part of a team of 10 volunteers from Friends of Chinatown Toronto (FOCT) charged with vaccine outreach as part of a city-wide effort to target communities with lower vaccination rates.

When Toronto hit the milestone in May of 65 per cent of adults having received their first dose, Kensington-Chinatown's rate hovered around 50 per cent, according to city data. 

That indicated to FOCT that the government's vaccine messaging, predominantly in English, was not reaching their community. Pi said they knew they'd have to get creative to make those conversations with residents happen.

'Chinatown deserves the vaccine'

Chinatowns across Canada have struggled to survive the pandemic, with business owners speaking out in Vancouver, Montreal and Winnipeg, telling a story of financial hardship.

In early 2020, as word spread about the novel coronavirus originating in Wuhan, China, people began avoiding the Toronto neighbourhood and wearing masks, said Chiyi Tam, a Friends of Chinatown Toronto organizer.

Before the pandemic was officially declared, Chinatown businesses were feeling the impact, Tonny Louie, the business improvement area chair, told CBC News in March 2020. 

Now that hope is building that life can return to a semblance of normal thanks to COVID-19 vaccines, Tam is determined Chinatown doesn't get left behind. 

"Chinatown deserves the vaccine," she said. "They really deserve to survive through this pandemic just as much as everyone else."