Even during his bachelor party in Ontario’s Muskoka region, Simu Liu had Markham on his mind. Ahead of his wedding to fiancée Allison Hsu, the Marvel star stepped away from jet skiing and lake swims with friends this week to talk about bringing ARC World — the annual Asian Roots Collective festival — back to the Toronto suburb where it began. The celebration of Asian culture — featuring food, music, speakers and a celebrity basketball game with Liu and former NBA star Jeremy Lin — returns Sept. 12 after recent editions in downtown Toronto. “It’s such a big part of the Asian Canadian community,” Liu says of Markham. “First of all, it’s got the best Chinese food in the country, in my opinion.” Speaking over the phone while overlooking a Muskoka lake, Liu says coming to Markham is meaningful because it’s where the non-profit behind ARC World was born. “We wanted to bring the event back to the community and back to its people, maybe avoid the traffic of downtown a little bit.” Originally named the Chinese Canadian Youth Athletic Association, the Asian Roots Collective was founded in 1995 to provide basketball programming for Chinese Canadians. Today, it operates its own athletics centre in Markham and serves the broader Asian community. The organization partnered with Liu in 2019 on a celebrity basketball game that raised money for the foundation led by Lin, then a member of the Toronto Raptors. The event has since evolved into a one-day festival celebrating Asian excellence across industries, bringing together athletes, actors, musicians, entrepreneurs and chefs alongside local businesses and community organizations. Liu says the larger goal is exposing young Asian Canadians to role models they might not otherwise encounter. “An event like this is necessary today because I think you still have kids that grow up a little bit unsure of how to feel about their identity,” says Liu, who starred in 2021’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” and will appear in this winter’s “Avengers: Doomsday.” He says that’s especially important at a time when progress on representation can feel uncertain and “public opinion shifts as to whether or not support for marginalized communities is important.” “There’s a lot of rhetoric that comes south of the border that unfortunately, because we’re so close by proximity, permeates into our discourse,” says Liu. “It’s really important in those moments to just stand ten toes down and really support what you’re passionate about. And for me, I’m never not going to be Chinese, so this community is always going to mean a lot to me.” Lin says a recent backlash towards diversity and inclusion efforts “is telling of the barriers we’re up against and why we need to continue to do this year in and year out.” He says he keeps returning to Toronto for the event because he wants to show up for the city’s Asian community. “I always say Toronto is easily one of my favourite cities, and one of the favourite teams that I’ve ever played for, primarily because of the fans,” says the Asian American guard on a virtual call from the Bay Area. “Even when I was playing for the Knicks, it felt like (Toronto fans) were cheering for me and it felt like a home game,” adds Lin, who runs a basketball school in Toronto with ARC. “All through my career, when I went back to Toronto, I always received so much love.” Lin says he’s stayed close with Liu over the years, even if they don’t see each other as often as when he played for the Raptors. “Our mutual respect, our love for each other, our friendship is understood. And every time we see each other, we just pick up where we left off.” Right on cue, ARC co-founder Clement Chu, also on the Zoom call, swivels the camera to Liu and his friends, who flash peace signs from the cottage. “I’m midway through glazing you, bro!” Lin laughs. For Liu, ARC World is about broadening what young people believe is possible. Growing up in the Greater Toronto Area, he didn’t see many people who looked like him succeeding outside a handful of “predetermined paths.” “We knew some of our friends got sent to Kumon or that all our parents wanted us to be doctors,” he says. “If I could’ve attended an event where so many of my favourite actors or athletes or creators or entrepreneurs were there, and I had the opportunity to absorb advice and wisdom from them, I just feel like my perception of what was possible — my entire worldview — would’ve been very different.” Chu says celebrities attending this year’s ARC World will soon be announced. But for now, it’s back to the stag festivities. “We’re hitting the hot tub right now,” says Liu. “We’re probably going to jump in the lake and then play some board games.” This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 31, 2026. Alex Nino Gheciu, The Canadian Press
