Monthly Archives: January 2006

Chinese Canadians Seek Lunar New Year Resolution on Head Tax Redress

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Chinese Canadians Seek Lunar New Year Resolution on Head Tax Redress
 
January
21, 2006 (Vancouver). Redress-seeking groups including the Chinese
Canadian National Council and the Association of Chinese Canadians for
Equality and Solidarity (ACCESS) support the open letter written by
Canadians for Redress to all 4 party leaders urging them to work
cooperatively in the new Parliament to resolve the longstanding head
tax redress issue.
 
Canadian for Redress made up of prominent Canadians are asking all four leaders to start the process of reconciliation by
jointly issuing an apology on behalf of the
Canadian
Government on or before Lunar New Year on January 29, 2006. This is to
be followed by an all-party Parliamentary acknowledgement when
Parliament is recalled.
 
Prime
Minister Paul Martin and Conservative Leader Stephen Harper are
expected in Vancouver on Sunday. “We are urging all Party leaders to
start the process of reconciliation so that we may finally close this
dark chapter in Canadian history,” Sid Tan, ACCESS President said.
“Lunar New Year is upon us: a time for family, reconciliation and hope.”
 
CCNC
is urging all Canadians and especially Chinese Canadians to participate
in this important vote. The polls open at 7am on January 23rd and close
at 7pm and Canadians can vote at their local polling station even if
they have not received their voter card. “Our community has spoken
loudly and forcefully on the Head Tax redress issue: now is the time to
participate in the vote,” Victor Wong, CCNC Executive Director said
today. “We urge all eligible Chinese Canadians to exercise their right
to vote on January 23rd. Our community of over 1 million account for as
much as 40% of constituents in some key ridings and all voters will
have a hand in determining the makeup of the new Parliament.”
 
CCNC
is a national human rights organization with 27 chapters across Canada.
We are joined in this grassroots-driven campaign for redress of the
Head Tax and Chinese Exclusion Act by redress-seeking groups including
the Ontario Coalition of Chinese Head Tax Payers and Families, B.C.
Coalition of Head Tax Payers, Spouses and Descendants, the Chinese
Canadian Redress Alliance, the ACCESS Association of Chinese Canadians
for Equality and Solidarity Society and the Metro Toronto Chinese and
South East Asian Legal Clinic.
 
– 30 –


For more information and media interviews, please contact:
Sid Tan, Vancouver, 604-433-6169 / 604-783-1853, sidtan@telus.net
Victor Wong, Vancouver, 647-285-2262, victorywong@yahoo.com

2006 Starts on Hight for Tiller's Folly!

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2006 Starts on Hight for Tiller's Folly!

One year… maybe… Tiller's Folly will play at Gung Haggis Fat Choy.
I have known Laurence Knight since 2002, when we met at a CAPACOA conference in Ottawa.  We hit it off immediately, and I have been a Tiller's Folly fan ever since.  TF has a penchant for BC history, and I have been encouring them to write a song about Chinese Canadian pioneers in BC.

Enjoy, Todd
parlour

2006 Starts on High for Tiller's Folly!

January 20, 2006

Greetings!
BRUCELIVE
The year 2006 is starting off on high for Tiller’s Folly’s
Bruce
Coughlan, Laurence Knight, Nolan Murray, and Eric
Reed.

“McCullough’s Wonder” a Bruce composition from A Fine Kettle
of Fish, the DVD/CD package, has been
earmarked as one of
the essential 75 Canadian folk songs by iTunes.

Tiller’s Folly’s A Fine Kettle
of Fish, DVD featuring a fall 2004
concert at Steveston’s historic Gulf of Georgia
Cannery, has
been signed to a five year cross Canada broadcast
agreement
with The Knowledge Network. It will be shown three
times in
March with the premier on March 2 at 8:30PM.

Buchan Bluegrass, the
band’s
fifth CD, is scheduled for release
in the United States this month with Burnside
Distribution
Corporation and in Scotland in March with Scotsound
Distribution.

“Tranquility” from the Off the Beaten Path CD – another Tiller’s
Folly project featuring Nolan at the helm – made it to
the
second round of the International Songwriting
Competition.
(Finalists to be announced at the end of January
2006.)

Last November the band had a successful showcase
at National
Association for Campus Activities West (a buying
conference for
Western US Colleges.) In February, Tiller’s Folly will
be
showcasing at the Folk Alliance in Austin, Texas.

Tours have already been booked throughout Canada
and the
United States, with a European tour in October.

As Tiller’s Folly heads toward its tenth anniversary,
2006
promises to be the most successful year yet! We
thank you for
all your support.

To see videos of the band, please visit Sonic
Bids and A Fine Kettle
of Fish. MP3s are also
available at Sonic Bids and our website.

With Robbie Burns Day quickly approaching, we've
made
“There'll Never Be Peace Until Jamie Comes Hame” our
song of
the month. To download the free MP3, please CLICK HERE. You'll also find
the lyrics and a brief explanation of the tune there.

Visit Our Website

Thanks for reading!

Sincerely,

TILLERSEPIA
Laurence Knight

Tiller's Folly
phone:
604-541-9798

Letter to Vancouver Sun: No Head Tax is Voluntary

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Letter to Vancouver Sun: No Head Tax is Voluntary

My friend Victor Wong also happens to be executive director of the Chinese Canadian National Council. This is the group that helped to start organizing head tax payers and descendants in the 1980's to appeal to the federal government for redress for the 62 years of legislated racism against ethnic Chinese immigration to Canada from 1891 to 1947.  This systemic racism included not giving voting franchise to Canadians of Chinese ancestry born in Canada, such as my Grandmother who was born in 1910 in Victoria BC.  Victor writes a very good rebuttal to people who say that the Chinese pioneers paid the head tax voluntarily and didn't have to come to Canada.  I feel that his arguement is weak, because it ignores the fact that no other ethnic group had a head tax placed on them, and is and was, and still remains blatantly racist.
– Todd

Letter to Vancouver Sun:

 
After
the CPR was built and the Chinese labourers excluded from the Last
Spike photo, the Canadian Government moved swiftly to restrict Chinese
immigration by imposing the racist Head Tax. Some suggest that this tax
was “voluntary.” But no tax is voluntary: the GST, income tax, property
tax are modern day examples. In 1923, the Canadian Government imposed
the Chinese Exclusion Act to prohibit further Chinese immigration. Did
the Chinese “voluntarily” subject themselves to the Chinese Exclusion
Act?
 
The Head Tax and
Chinese Exclusion Act are unique pieces of legislation in that they
specifically target a racial group and with an expressed purpose to
restrict and then prohibit further Chinese immigration. The Canadian
Government collected $23 million in head tax levies, a sum with a
present value of over $2 billion today. These laws served to subject
the Chinese community to overt and systemic racism well beyond its
repeal in 1947: families were separated for generations, some remain
separated even today.
 
The Head Tax
redress issue is one of the few community-drive election issues. Over
and over again, our seniors have reminded us that the issue is not
about the money per se but more about human dignity. Our youth have
asked “Are we not doomed to repeat these or similar mistakes if we just
brush things off as a history lesson? Where is the education value in
providing no redress to the very people who endured the 62 years of
legislated racism?”
 
The
Head Tax and Chinese Exclusion Act were immoral laws, even in their
time as non-Chinese who spoke out against its racist nature. During
this election campaign all Parties have agreed to a Parliamentary
aknowledgement and apology, and the Conservatives, NDP and BLOC have
agreed to an inclusive process to finally resolve this longstanding
issue.  As one of my colleagues asked: “If the Head Tax and Chinese
Exclusion Act was morally wrong, then what is the morally right thing
to do?”
 
With the Lunar New Year upon us, this is the time for family, reconciliation and hope.

Victor Wong

Guess who is coming to Gung Haggis dinner? Author Grant Hayter-Menzies

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Guess who is coming to Gung Haggis dinner?  
Author Grant Hayter-Menzies

Lots of people discover Gung Haggis Fat Choy through various means: on a website, on a poster, through radio, on television, in a newspaper or maybe through a friend.  Here's a letter from somebody, very excited to becoming a Clan Gung Haggis initiate.

Dear Todd,

My partner (who's actually Scottish) and I (grandson of a Scot) will be having our first GHFC experience next weekend, and as I Googled today I found this lovely article in The Scotsman:

http://heritage.scotsman.com/traditions.cfm?id=75492006

… and I'm all the more excited!  Your philosophy of interculturalism is exactly like that espoused by the Chinese-American writer Princess Der Ling, about whom I have written the first biography (and for which am trying to find a publisher!).  A woman who showed the Empress Dowager Cixi how to do the two-step at the Summer Palace in 1903, and gave the Kwang-hsu emperor pointers on American slang, would have loved GungHaggisFatChoy. 

Les
and I look forward to meeting you, too!  We will be wearing T'ang
jackets with Glengarry caps (and our clan badges: his is McLaren, mine,
obviously, Menzies) – and I'll have that antique fan in hand…  I will look for you and introduce myself – I will have my autographed Mei Lanfang Beijing Opera fan in hand, so you can't miss me :o) 

All best to you – Xie xie!

Grant Hayter-Menzies

PS: I am an American but will be moving to Victoria to join Les next month, if I can just get my landing papers between now and 31 January… Les predicts it will occur right on Robbie Burns Day, and he (Celt that he is) seldom has the wrong premonition :o)

http://www.nwchina.org/menzies.html

All best – Grant
http://www.authorsden.com/grantmmenzies


Georgia Straight names election candidate recommendations + conversation with Charlie Smith

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The Georgia Straight names election candidate recommendations

Funny thing happened
as I was writing this article.  Georgia Straight News Editor
Charlie Smith phoned me.

“Todd I've been seeing your face pop up on tv all over the place.”

“Oh Charlie, I just wanted to make a statment about head tax.  It
is such an important issue for all Canadians, but especially for me as
a 5th generational Chinese-Canadian.  My grandmother is 95 years
old, and her father and husband paid the head tax.  The Liberals
really bungled the head tax redress by not including head tax
descendants.  That's why I agreed to do the NDP television
ad.  I truly feel that the Liberals have forgotten to speak to
“real Canadians.” Their bureaucrats followed their instructions to only
find organizations that agreed to their pre-conditions of No Apology,
and No Compensation.  That was a terrible predicament to put our
Chinese Canadian veterans in, who have always asked for an apology, yet
no compensation.  They wanted to see an apology in their lifetime,
and all they got was a psuedo admission of regret.”

Charlie and I have a good conversation, and he asks me questions about
how I feel that no Chinese Canadian candidates may be elected from the
Vancouver Lower Mainland.  I tell him that with candidates like
Libby Davies and Bill Siksay who have good handles and outreach into
the Chinese communities, I feel confident that we have their ear. 
I think many people in the Chinese community feel that Raymond Chan did
not stand up for Chinese Canadians on the head tax redress issue. 
He could have resigned his position in protest – but he followed the
party line.  But give credit to Raymond Chan, he did bring a
redress settlement to the House, even though it was a gutted private
members bill first brought up by Conservative Inky Mark.  And head
tax redress will finally get its due soon – although not the way
Raymond Chan intended.

We also discuss how Sherry Shaghaghi is the first Iranian-Canadian
candidate for a federal election.  “She is a star
candidate.”  It's important for ethnic candidates to develop
exposure, even though they may be running in unwinnable ridings such as
North Vancouver.  But think of what it was like for Doug Jung to
run for election as the first Chinese Canadian MP in 1957.

More importanly Charlie Smith and I also discuss what I have found to
be amazing during this
election is that the Chinese community, has a new identity through the
hard work of incredible 1st generation immigrants such as Thekla Lit,
Bill Chu and Gabriel Yiu, with Canadian born Chinese like myself. 
He has such high praise for them all, and especially Sid Tan, whose
mother in China was separated from his father in Canada for
decades. 
I especially have a greater appreciation and understanding of Chinese
language immigrants and the Chinese media too.  And that is a good
thing.

The Georgia Straight includes the Chinese Head Tax redress amongst important elections issues such as
the future of health care, child care, the cost of postsecondary
education, crime, police surveillance powers, ,
immigration, Canadian military priorities, and the desire for less
corruption in Ottawa.  They also state that “it’s
unthinkable to elect federal politicians who opposed ratifying the
Kyoto Protocol and who are so threatened by gay and lesbian marriages
that they feel they must be banned.”

Recommendations are listed in 19 Lower Mainland ridings where none of the choices have
denied that human activity is contributing to climate change nor want to deny same-sex
marriage.

My personal view is that I cannot support the Liberal position on the
head tax apology, or rather lack of proper apology and failue to
compensate remaining head tax payers and spouses.  After
scratching out Conservative candidates who are
anti-same-sex-marriage… there's generally only the NDP and Green
Party left.  But we still need some good Conservative and Liberal
reps in the House…. hmmm…. who will it be?

Highlights include:

We’re not recommending Chan because he fumbled the Chinese head-tax issue, refusing to give an official apology.


Libby Davies, who was first elected to Parliament in 1997, has had more impact than most opposition federal politicians.


Bill Siksay deserves to be reelected after his party forced the federal
Liberals to amend their budget to replace corporate tax cuts with
tuition assistance and funding for housing.


Mary Woo Sims, the former
chief commissioner of the BC Human Rights Commission, is a hero to some
in the gay and lesbian community for her record as a defender and
promoter of human rights.

As B.C.’s attorney general in the late 1990s, Dosanjh did more than any
of his predecessors to advance the rights of gays and lesbians and to
allocate public resources to combat domestic abuse. No one can accuse
Dosanjh of lacking personal courage.

For 25 years as an NDP MP in Burnaby, Svend Robinson repeatedly
demonstrated that he was willing to do all of this and more on behalf
of his constituents.


We’re recommending Shaghaghi, a clinical counsellor, over Stephenson
because of her extensive record of community service and her party’s
record in the recent Parliament.

Dawn Black is a progressive politician who will fight for the concerns of low-income residents in the riding.

Burnaby Now: Bill Siksay backs Head Tax Redress

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Burnaby Now: Bill Siksay backs Head Tax Redress

I have known Bill Siksay since '88 to '90 when he was Sven
Robinson's constituency assistant in Burnaby Douglas.  At the
January 16th press conference and Statement of Support signing by
candidates supporting Head Tax Redress, I asked the candidates if any
of them were direct head tax descendants or had family members who were.

Bill Siksay gave this reply as reported in Burnabynow newspaper”

“The
head tax was a terrible chapter in Canadian history,” Siksay said. “It
was an unjust law that caused incredible hardship for many, many
people.
“I had
family who lived in Canada at that time, which means, in fact, that I
had family who were head-tax collectors,” he said. “This isn't just an
issue for Chinese-Canadians, this is an issue for all Canadians to take
responsibility for what happened in the past.”

Siksay
noted that the Liberals and Conservatives voted to water down the
original head-tax redress bill in Parliament to remove the word
'apology' and replace it with a statement of recognition.
“They took a weak bill and made it worse,” Siksay said. ”
Siksay
also noted that the NDP has been at the forefront of the issue since
the early '80s, when former MP Margaret Mitchell introduced the first
proposal on the matter.


Siksay
said he believes redress and compensation are vital to ensuring that
Canada moves forward as a strong and proud country that acknowledges it
was built on the backs of immigrants.

The
Liberals are the only party still refusing to endorse or commit to
individual compensation, and no Liberals attended the ceremony.  Conservative Darrel Reid of Richmond who said while he supported head tax redress, his party's position was not to sign.

Candidates who attended and signed the
Support Declaration are:

NDP: Neil Smith, Bev Meslo, Ian Waddell, Libby Davies, Bill
Siksay, Peter Julian, Mary Woo Sims & Svend Robinson.

Green: Doug Perry, Christine Ellis, Ray Power, Ben West,
Jean-Philippe Laflamme, Sven Biggs & Silvaine Zimmermann.

Canadian Action: Constance
Fogal

Candidates who did not attended but signed
the Support Declaration in advance by fax/email:

NDP: David Askew, William Jonsson, Dawn Black & Penny
Priddy (not from the above 11
ridings).

Green: Richard Gordon Mathias, Roy Whyte

Conservative: Paul Forseth

TOTAL CANDIDATE SIGNED THE SUPPORT DECLARATION: 23 (NDP-12, GREEN- 9, CONSERVATIVE-1,
LIBERAL-0