Author Archives: Todd

Outrigger Paddling to English Bay: Huli drills in the rain

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Outrigger Paddling: Huli drills in the rain


Outrigger canoe racing is one of the fastest growing water sports on
the Pacific Coast.  Many of my paddling friends have paddled
outrigger canoes.  My friend Craig Brown has pretty well quit the
sprint racing of dragon boats, for the long distance paddling of
outriggers.  There are many clubs in Vancouver, Gibsons BC,
Okanagan Lake, Washington, Oregon, California and of course Hawaii.

The Hawaiian style canoes featued in Hawaii 5-0 opening credits are called outrigger canoes, also known as OC-6
canoes. Dragon Zone has brought in 2 six person outriggers.  I have paddled them out at the Lotus Sports Club from
Burnaby's Barnet Marine Park in years past, and I have also paddled
OC-1 and OC-2 from False Creek Racing Canoe Club on Granville
Island.  To make sure people are properly trained to use these
boats, Dragon Zone is asking its members to take orientation
courses.  I signed up for this course before I hurt my pinkie
finger.

I went out this morning for my outrigger canoe
orientation.  It was lightly raining.  I drove to Safeway and
bought waterproof bandages and a Starbucks coffee.  I had put on
about 8 waterproof bandages, hoping it would help keep my finger and
stitches dry.   The weather was cold and drizzly.  The other four people were
wearing shorts, knowing they would get wet.  I wore my running
tights, thermal long-sleeved undershirt, thermal Sugoi long sleeved
biking shirt + my paddling jacket.  I stayed warmer thany they
did.  Good choice. 

Our instructor Darby gave us an orientation identifying the
parts of the OC-6 such as the ama (pontoon), the aku (pontoon brace),
the moku (end of the pontoon brace attached to the canoe) – belonging
to a tradition of Hawaiian Outrigger Canoe tradition.   Because it was so c-o-l-d, we moved back to the Dragon Zone clubhouse to stay
warm, and Darby filled us in and described what to do for
a huli drill. 

All canoes can be tippy.  Outrigger canoes were designed to handle
the surf in Hawaii.  If an outrigger canoe tips over it is called
a huli.  Every outrigger paddler needs to know how to right the
canoe in the water, so they can get back in and get back to paddling.

We paddled from Dragon Zone, at the Southeast corner of False Creek, beside Science World. And we paddled all the way out to
English Bay – around the green and red harbour buoys marking the
entrance to False Creek (past Vanier Park and Kits Beach). It was the
longest non-stop paddle I had done in a while…

We took a
rest once west of the Cambie St. Bridge, a 2nd rest before the
Granville St. Bridge, then a 3rd rest beneath the Burrard Bridge. then
a l-o-n-g paddle out to English Bay harbour buoy markers, then all the
way back into East side of Granville Island.

We did our huli
drills just west of Cambie Bridge. We all leaned over to the right
side… knowing we would soon be in the cold False Creek water. 
Flip!  Everything was wet and cold, as I tumbled into the water in
full clothing.  I held onto my paddle and surfaced.  I swam
out and went to the front of the boat.   Darby called out
“Count!” 

“One!” I yelled, as each of us counted down our seat numbers.  The
paddlers from seats 3 and 4 climbed onto the aku then straddled on top
of the upside down canoe.  They stood on the moku, reached across
the upside down canoe hull to grab the aku.  On Darby's cue, they
leaned backwards to pull the canoe over right side up.  I swam
over beside seat one, as seats 3 and 4 climbed into the boat and
started bailing the boat.   End of huli drill #1.

Next, I climbed into seat 3, and the former seat 2 paddler climbed into
seat 4.  It would now be our turn to help right the canoe for
huli drill #2.  Again we leaned to the right side, anticipating
the cold plunge into the water.  Into the water we fell… much
less a shock this time.  I bobbed up between the akus and the ama,
beside the canoe.  I swam up under the aku, then remembered I had
to climb up onto it.  The other paddler was already straddling the
upside down canoe hull.  I climbed up, straddled the canoe hull,
then we both stood on the moku, leaned over to grab the aku… and
leaned back to pull the aku up into the air. 

Flip!  The canoe rolled over and fell right-side up.  I
fell back into the water.  To climb into the boat, I
scissor-kicked my legs and
simultaneously lifted myself up with my arms, launching myself out of
the water like a seal onto the gunwale of
the canoe.  Next job – bail out the water from the canoe. 
Seats 3 (me) and 4 bailed the canoe, while seats 2 and 5 climbed into
the canoe.  Seat 3 started bailing the canoe too.  Seats 1, 5
and 6
climbed into the canoe and started paddling us back to dock.  Half
the water was out, and seat 2 started paddling.

Climbing out of the canoe at the end of the practice, we could feel the
cold bite of the breeze.  Glad I had my running tights on. 
Dripping wet, we had a debriefing with our instructor.  We were
cold, we were wet, but we were glad we'd had this experience.  Now
we can confidently go outrigger paddling, knowing that if we ever flip
the boat in a huli, we know what to do.

Wow!  We paddled all the way out to English Bay, did 2 huli
drills, then paddled non-stop back to Dragon Zone – while bailing the
canoe.

C-R-A-Z-E-E-E-E-E-E!!!!!

Gung Haggis dragon boat team does well at Lotus Sports' “Bill Alley Memorial dragon boat regatta”

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Gung Haggis dragon boat team does well at Lotus Sports' “Bill Alley Memorial dragon boat regatta”



Gung Haggis team backing out for race #2 at Lotus regatta – photo Sean Kingsley

Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team was a happy team today!
We attended the 10th anniversary of the Lotus Sports Club's “Bill
Alley Memorial dragon boat regatta.”  Monies raised go to the
“Bill Alley Memorial scholarship fund” for the young members of the
Lotus Race.  I have attended these races since 1998 when it was
first known as the “Golden Spike dragon boat regatta” and it was held
at Rocky Point Park in Port Moody.

We
had good races at Barnet Marine Park today.  In races with four boats –
we came second twice, and first once… then in the Rec B final – We
won!!! against a team that had beat us in the first race!!!

The weather was a real mixed bag.  It was overcast and damp. 
Rain sprinkles throughout the day, with gusty winds.  The sun came
out, then it disappeared, then it came out again. 

This race regatta is a lovely friendly event.  I know so many of
the Lotus Club members, that when we were at the start line for a race
– instead of saying “Boat 1 – move up,” they say “Todd's boat – move
up!”  Grace Morisette, one of the event organizers, was my first
dragon boat coach back in 1993.  Jim McArthur came by our tents
asking where his brother McWong was.  Race organizer Jane Yeoh,
scowled at me in a friendly manner, when I called her by the name
“Joyce,” which is actually the name of her older sister.  Nigel
Elphink waved hello, he started paddling with the Gung
Haggis/Celebration team back in 2000.  And of course there is Barb
Alley, who asked me to take a picture of her as she called herself the
“rubber lady,” dressed in neoprene dry suit holding onto two rubber
tires she was carrying down to the dock on the beach.



The Rubber Lady: important volunteer at the Lotus Regatta – Barb Alley in rubber wet suit with rubber tires – photo Todd Wong

We also got say hello to our dragon boat friends from the Eh Team, a
senior's team based in Vancouver, Pirates from Chilliwack with whom we
joined for Victoria races last year.  I also chatted with friends
Manfred Preuss from the Fraser Valley Dragon Boat Club who had a brand
new team called The Crusaders, Karmen Alukh captain of the the Sudden
Impact team.  Manfred and Karmen, along with Ian Paul of Pirates,
all helped out Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team in 2005 at the
Alcan Dragon Boat Festival.  I also was happy to see Cheryl of the
Ft. Langley Canoe Club with her team Fort Fusion and many of the
paddlers from the WOW (Women on Water) team also from Ft. Langley.

We had a mixed adult crew featuring a GHFC core with 3 rookies + 7
rookies from the UA Power Dragons + 2 GHFC alumni + 2 friends for a
total of 23 people.  Everybody
contributed admirably to both team performance, and a positive
community team environment. Everybody is stoked, and can't wait to
paddle together again!  We never came last, we never came
3rd.  Combined times were added up for placement in the
finals.  There were women's division, Junior division and senior
division, so we placed 6th seed overall for Mixed teams, and raced in
the B Division. 



Gung Haggis team in the marshalling area at Lotus regatta – photo Sean Kingsley

We were nervously excited.  We had 9 rookies on the boat.  We
knew that the Thunderstrokers from Chilliwack had beat us by 8 seconds
in our first race.  We knew that our second race through the
waves, wind and brief rain had been our slowest race.  And we knew
that we had placed a faster 3rd race time than both the Thunderstrokers
and the Crusaders – a new team from Chilliwack coached and captained by my friend Manfred Preuss.

How to make up 8 seconds?  “Get the paddles deeper,” I told the
team. “Reach out farther, lean outside the boat, fall on your blades,
use your leg drive, keep your heads up with your eyes on the lead
strokes, and your top hands outside the boat.  We switched
steerspersons for our final race.  Rookie Adam took the steering
helm, allowing veteran steers and paddler Dave to apply his many years
of paddling to the task.



Gung Haggis team paddling out to the start line for race #2 at Lotus regatta – photo Sean Kingsley

The airhorn went off.  From the drummer's seat I called “Go! 2! 3!
4! 5! 6!”  Our lead strokes Wendy and Kristine worked together,
gradually increasing the rate with each stroke.  “Up! 2! 3! 4! 5!
6!” and each paddle entered the water together as one.  “Up! 2! 3!
4! 5! 6!” and the boat speed increased with the faster rate. 
“Reach with Po-wer!” and the powerful leg drive kicked in, thrusting
the boat forward with each stroke.

It looked like we grabbed the early lead – but it was really
close.  All three boats were surging ahead together.  I heard
the Thunderstrokers call a power series.  I watched them take 6
strokes, starting to get creep closer to us – then I called “Power
Now!” and our paddlers dug deeper, and our boat moved farther
ahead.   “Heads Up! Top Hands Out! Leg Drive! Kick it!” I
encouraged our paddlers… and the boat surged strongly forward.

Oops… we suddenly realized we seemed off-course, further away from
the two other teams, as our steers person corrected out direction, and
straightened our path to the finish line.  Steering a dragon boat
is challenging work.  Adam only started dragon boat racing in
March.  This was the first time he had ever steered a BuK dragon
boat which is more sensitive to handling, and prone to over
correction.  This was the most powerful team Adam had ever
steered, and sometimes a powerful team can overwhelm an inexperienced
steersperson.  But I had faith in Adam.  He had handled the
UA team during the ADBF sprint regatta, handled avoiding crashes while
steering a Junior team at the same regatta.  And he had been
coming out to Gung Haggis practices and already knew how strong we
could be.

“Keep going,” I yelled to the team “We're doing great, We're on
target… Power Now!” and we surged forward again, with twenty paddles
snapping forward in time.  Adam later admitted that he had
over-corrected – but easily managed to get us back on track.  We
headed toward the finish line vectoring closer with the other two boats
which were battling it out, side by side, neck and neck.  The
Crusaders and the Thunderstrokers – both teams from Chilliwack
developing a strong rivalry.

“Finish! Now!” I called to the team, as this time I called an early
finish, insipiring our paddlers to give everything they had. 
“More!  More! Give us More!”  and they reached farther, and
dug deeper.  I never saw a paddle out of time, as we focussed our
task and crossed the finish line.  “Let it ride,” Dave and I
called at the same time.  Paddlers suddenly relaxed and dropped
their shoulders, leaning forward, their bodies heaving with
breath.  Wendy looked up at me from her lead stroke position and I
held up one finger.

On the way back to the docking area, we chanted “Ice cold beer,” then
we chanted “We want beer.”  Everybody was jubilantly happy. 
After we had put away pfd's and paddles we gathered back at our tent
for a debriefing.

“Six seconds!” shouted Stuart, jumping up and down.  We had won
the race by six seconds.  Graham, our cheerleader for the day,
said we had been in first place all the way, as he watched from the
shore.  We had beaten the 5th and 7th seeded teams to win B Division – and we
posted a faster time than our friends the Pirates – who had earlier
placed 4th overall, and raced in the A division.  

Everybody is happy…   Then… we went to the Mountain
Shadow Inn Pub to celebrate Jim Blatherwick's birthday.  More
happy!

Hip and Hapa and Happening for May 18-21, 2007

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Hip and Hapa and Happening for May 18-21, 2007

Lots happening this long holiday weekend.  But I can't type much because of my injured finger – or get out much.

Asian Heritage Month continues with many events during the explorASIAN festival.
Check out writer Luis Francia

'Too Asian to be American, too American to be Asian' – May 15 to 18

“Too Asian to be American, too American to be Asian” with Luis Francia
Luis Francia is the PEN award winning author of
“Eye of the Fish: a Personal Archipelago”. This is an account of the
author’s childhood memories of his Philippine homeland and his visits
back as an adult journalist.

One of my favorite events is the annual VACT Sketch-off. Lots of local talent including “Lick the Wax Tadpole” organized by CBCer and Hot Sauce Posse veteran Charlie Cho.  Come see the event that featured “Assaulted Fish” before they became famous…  Bring your friends, so you can organize a team for next year.

May 18 and May 19
8:00pm
Roundhouse Community Centre Theatre, Vancouver

It's
comedy night time again and this year, we have 6 new sketch groups
competing for the coveted Vancouver Rice Bowl. Etch-YOUR-Sketch
SKETCHOFF!#$%!! – 8th Annual Asian Comedy Night is happening on Friday,
May 18th and Saturday, May 19th. The first night, the teams are judged
by people in the industry and on the 2nd night, the audience is the
judge with their applause and measured with a decibel reader. Teams
have a chance to win up to $350!

Vancouver Children's Festival is always a lot of fun, and there is always a lot of multicultural entertainment.  I am hoping to check out the Vietnamese Water Puppets.  Sounds very cool!

Vietnamese Water Puppets – May 15, 16, 18, 19, 20


30th Annual Vancouver International Children's Festival at Vanier Park

Tickets at Ticketmaster
Info: www.childrensfestival.ca

Vietnamese Water Puppets
Duration: 55 minutes

May 15, 16, 18, 19, 20

An ancient performance art is brought to life by skilled puppeteers.

“…reflects the true beauty of Vietnam – a country of colour, grace and humour.” San Francisco Chronicle

Watch
as expert puppeteers make glittering fairies dance, fiery dragons
seethe and gentle ducks paddle – all inside an elaborate set created in
a pool of water! Enraptured audiences will witness the magic of this
800-year-old traditional Vietnamese performance art, from moments of
mirror-like calm to churning action.

Asian Canadian standup comics are on the rise.  Remember Tommy Chong, Pat Morita and Jack Soo?  Well the newest generation is here now, and they are coming to River Rock Show Theatre.  Paul Bae and Jeffery Yu have both been featured by Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre for past productions.  They are hilarious… you will want to bring your friends, so you won't have to tell them what they missed.

The A-list Comedy Tour 2007 – May 19 – 8pm

River Rock Show Theatre, Richmond, BC
Check out the A-list Comedy Tour which features the most hilarious Asian comedians in Canada: Ron Josol, Paul Bae & Jeffrey Yu.

8th Annual Asian Comedy Night – May 18 & 19 – 8pm

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8th Annual Asian Comedy Night – May 18 & 19 – 8pm


The Vancouver Asian Canadian
Theatre presents:

Etch-Your-Sketch SKETCHOFF!#$%!!
8th Annual Asian
Comedy Night

May 18 and May 19
8:00pm
Roundhouse Community Centre
Theatre, Vancouver

It's comedy night time again and this year, we have 6
new sketch groups competing for the coveted Vancouver Rice Bowl.
Etch-YOUR-Sketch SKETCHOFF!#$%!! – 8th Annual Asian Comedy Night is happening on
Friday, May 18th and Saturday, May 19th. The first night, the teams are judged
by people in the industry and on the 2nd night, the audience is the judge with
their applause and measured with a decibel reader. Teams have a chance to win up
to $350!

With names like Slant Eyed Peas, Sfuu Man Chu, Bananadrama,
Yangtzers, Lick the Wax Tadpole and Disoriental, it surely will be a night full
of laughs.

If you're not going away this long weekend, and you want
something that will make you laugh … check out the 8th annual Asian Comedy
Night. A guaranteed night of some pretty funny stuff. Help support Asian
Canadian Theatre in Vancouver.

SKETCHOFF!#$%!! has been a sold-out event
every year and the annual show has provided a rare showcase for various Asian
stand-up comedians and sketch groups
from all over Canada and the US. As a
developer of new talent, VACT had previously
incubated such successful local
Asian-Canadian sketch comedy troupes as HOT SAUCE POSSE and ASSAULTED FISH.

Come cheer the Etch-Your-Sketchers on! HA HA's are guaranteed a night
filled with HaHaHa's!

Tickets:
$12 in advance in person at the
Roundhouse Theatre,
by telephone 604.713.1800, or online on
www.vact.ca
$15 cash at the door
14+, some coarse language and sexually
suggestive content

 

Centre A – Limits of Toderance: Re-framing the Multicultural State Policy

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Centre A –  Limits of Toderance: Re-framing the Multicultural State Policy

Here's an interesting art presentation at Centre A, the Vancouver International Centre for Contempory Art.  They always have rotating presentations as well as special one-off presentations that make for an exciting vibrant Pan-Asian-Canadian and Canadian arts culuture.  Check it out!






FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE







Limits of Tolerance:

Re-framing Multicultural State Policy

 

EXHIBITION: May 19 – June 23, 2007

OPENING: Friday May 18, 8pm

Gallery Hours: Tuesday to Saturday,

11:00 -18:00

Sunday-Monday closed

 

SYMPOSIUM: Saturday May 26,

14:00 – 17:00, UBC Robson Square theatre

Speakers: Laiwan, Candice Hopkins and Keith Langergräber

Free to the public

Guest Curator: Liz Park

 

Presented with support from the Alvin Balkind Fund for Student
Curatorial Initiatives, the Department of Art History, Visual Art, and
Theory, and the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery at The University
of British Columbia.

 

A group exhibition with works by Dana Claxton, Stan Douglas,
Laiwan, Paul Lang and Zachary Longboy, Ahasiw Maskegon-Iskwew, Anne
Ramsden, Ruby Truly, Henry Tsang, and Paul Wong.

In
a country that has touted its multicultural policies, the resurgence of
racist attitudes after 9/11 prompts critical assessment of race issues
today. In an effort to review race politics in the context of Canada's
colonial and immigrant policies, the exhibition Limits of Tolerance examines a period in recent history when cultural diversity became Canada's state policy with the 1988 Multiculturalism Act.



In
the late 1980s, an increasing number of artists explored and questioned
their own identity based on race, gender and sexuality, as lobby
efforts and activism of people of colour and aboriginal ancestry gained
momentum. With the 1988 Multiculturalism Act demanding government
agencies to reform or invent equity policies, the arts and culture
sector in particular underwent a turbulent period in which comfort
zones of liberal attitudes were challenged. The present exhibition Limits of Tolerance
re-presents a selection of artworks produced in Vancouver in the late
1980s and early 1990s when artists, writers and academics engaged in
intense debates about identifications based on race, gender, and
sexuality. This selection emphasizes the various and often contrasting
ways in which artists deal with issues of identity and critique social
structures which inform their identity.



The
artists featured in the exhibition used non-traditional visual media
such as video, performance, and photo-installation to push the limits
of art production at a time when the concept of a singular culture was
under scrutiny. While some artists actively identified their subjective
positioning and sought to speak from within communities defined by
race, gender, or sexuality, other artists deliberately avoided such
self-identification or resisted being categorized under a homogenous
group. The differing strategies deployed in dealing with the question
of identity have insulated discussions of certain artists' works from
others. Yet this exhibition brings together these works in renewed
discussions of identity and reflects on the common place and time
shared by each artist despite his/her distinct experience of race,
gender and sexuality.



Presented
alongside the artworks are archival materials from the cultural equity
caucus for the former Association of National Non-Profit Artists'
Centres (ANNPAC), Minquon Panchayat (1992-1993), the film festival In Visible Colours (1989), and the exhibitions Yellow Peril: Reconsidered (1990), Self Not Whole (1991), Racy Sexy (1993).
 The records of these cultural activities help reframe the presented
art works in broader terms, which include social and political history
of Canada, and the changing questions of community in an increasingly
globalized world. Revisiting this recent past sharpens a critical lens
through which one can see how race politics is played out in art and
the sociocultural and political arenas today.



A
symposium will be held on Saturday, May 26, 14:00 – 17:00 at the UBC
Robson Square theatre, featuring Laiwan, Candice Hopkins, and Keith
Langergräber as speakers.  The symposium will explore questions around
issues of difference and marginality and analyze the present state of
the arts and culture field in Canada.

Centre A gratefully acknowledges the generous support of its patrons,
sponsors, members, partners, private foundations, and government
funding agencies, including the Canada Council for the Arts, the
British Columbia Arts Council, and the City of Vancouver through the
Office of Cultural Affairs.

 

For more Information, please contact the gallery:

 

Tel: 604-683-8326

 

Liz Park, Guest Curator: esrpark@gmail.com

Makiko Hara, Curator: makiko.hara@centrea.org

Joni Low, Public Relations: joni.low@centrea.org <mailto:joni.low@centrea.org>

I have four stitches on my baby finger

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I have four stitches on my baby finger



Todd has 4 stitches in his pinkie finger after paddling tonight – photo Deb Martin

It was a freak accident.  I was paddling lead stroke on the left side of the
dragon boat.  Since I was also coaching, I looked over my shoulder, and
lost my paddling focus. I must have lost my bottom hand grip on the paddle, because I have a very strong top arm drive… and as my top hand came down,
I smashed my little finger between the paddle handle and the boat. I have never
known anybody to have an injury like this. 

Julie… thank you for suggesting Mt. Saint Joseph's. It is the perfect
hospital for a dragon boat injury. After the stitches were done and
cleaned up – we walked out the door, and noticed a mural with dragon
boaters and the name Saints Preserve Us – which is the name of the
dragon boat team of hospital workers of Providence Health Care.

I always emphasize
paddlers to keep their top arms out of the boat… and bring it down –
outside the boat. Maybe this will serve as a lesson to what happens if
you bring your hand down inside the boat… or take your eyes off the
lead stroke. I should have kept my eyes on Wendy – my bench mate!

Deb has been great – driving me to the hospital and everything… 
There were no line-ups and a very short wait at the emergency room.   Mt. Saint Joseph's. It is the perfect
hospital for a dragon boat injury. After the stitches were done and
cleaned up – we walked out the door, and noticed a mural with dragon
boaters and the name Saints Preserve Us – which is the name of the
dragon boat team of hospital workers of Providence Health Care.  I have been friends with organizer of the team Susan Hyde for several years, and bumped into her at St. Paul's Hospital last week when I went to see leukemia patient James Erlandsen (we taped a City TV interview to help publicize James' need for a Eurasian bone marrow donor).  The “Saints” often practice at the same time on the water as Gung Haggis.

I even had my finger sewn up by a famous doctor.  Dr. Daniel Kalla is author of  Pandemic.  Even then, Deb still wouldn't go get the camera…even after I told her I wanted before and after photos of my finger. Deb is a big fan of television shows such as Gray's Anatomy, House and ER  Upon arrival, I kidded with her asking where were all the great looking doctors and nurses?  She begrudginly agreed that Dr. Kalla fit the bill, in an ER Goran Visnjic kind of way.

I
have to keep the bandage on for at least a day.  But I think I will be
very careful with it.  We shall see how it feels for race day on
Saturday.  Maybe I will steer or drum, or do lead stroke with a rubber
glove on it.

Thank you everybody for your support.  I know Jim thought I should go to the hospital right away… even though the accident happened 2/3 of the way through practice.  My bag was passed up, and I wrapped up my finger in one of my stretchy paddling shirts to keep the tension on my finger, prohibiting the bleeding.  We did some more races pieces, and a cool down – then our regular practice debriefing – before going to the hospital.  Unfortunately, I had to miss Tuesday Night Food Club with the gang.

But I now have a Hello Kitty band-aid on my right shoulder for the tetnus shot…. thank you for the band-aid Julie!

Vancouver Sun: story on James Erlandsen and his search for a Eurasian bone marrow donor

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Vancouver Sun: story on James Erlandsen and his search for a Eurasian bone marrow donor




check out this story in the Vancouver Sun by Pamela
Fayerman.   It's a good story about the need to find Eurasian
donors for bone marrow – because it is so rare.

When I look in my own family.  I have maternal cousins who are
Eurasian, and all of my Chinese maternal cousins  married
Caucasians (except the two who are unmarried) and have had little
Eurasian children including my brother.  That's what happens in a
5th generation Canadian family.  And most of my paternal cousins
married causcasians and had Eurasian children – many of whom are young
adults and starting to get married.

To me James is almost like family… and I was very honoured to meet
his aunt and uncle on Saturday night.  His Auntie Bev gave me a
great big hug, and thanked me for my assistance and support in
spreading the news about James throughout my community network and
media connections, as well as in providing a social support and
resource for her and her family.

I know that Bev and her daughters have been postering post-secondary
campuses and putting announcements on web discussion boards etc. 
It was her daughter Aynsely who first contacted me about putting a
poster and an announcement about James Erlandsen on
www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com  I was so moved by the story and the
similarites of our life stories – that I just had to do more!

Check out the Vancouver Sun article by Pamela Fayerman:

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=290ad3fb-ca5b-47df-adfb-d124170772c4&k=7392

Check out stories in Georgia Straight New Blog
http://www.straight.com/article-91085/young-eurasian-man-urgently-needs-bone-marrow-donor

Check out storis in Ming Pao

http://www.mingpaovan.com/htm/News/20070508/vab1h.htm

http://www.mingpaovan.com/htm/News/20070508/vae1h.htm

Courier: Rally clebrates 60 years of rights – interviews with Gim Wong and Sid Tan

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Courier: Rally clebrates 60 years of rights – interviews with Gim Wong and Sid Tan

Here's a Friday May 11th article in the Vancouver Courier that interviews both Gim Wong, WW2 veteran, and Sid Tan, head tax redress activist.  When Gim rode his motorcycle across Canada in 2005, I blogged the reports that I received from across Canada and from the CCNC. 

Gim Wong, 84, fought in the Second World
War but wasn't allowed to vote. Last year, he rode his motorcycle to
Ottawa to press then prime minister Paul Martin for redress.

Photo by Dan Toulgoet

Rally celebrates 60 years of rights

By Cheryl Rossi-Staff writer

When families who were
affected by the Chinese Head Tax celebrate 60 years of citizenship
Saturday, they'll be recognizing how far they've come in gaining rights
and respect for Chinese people in Canada.

But according to Sid Tan,
co-chair of the Head Tax Families Society of Canada, they'll also
highlight problems migrant workers face today as echoes of what their
families endured.

“The issues of guest
workers, the issues of seasonal and temporary employment, live-in
caregivers and domestics, all these issues are not that different from
what the early Chinese suffered,” said Tan. “These are people that are
good enough to come to Canada and do the dirty and menial work or the
work that a lot of Canadians won't or aren't willing to do, and they
have no rights. There's something wrong with the picture, and a hundred
years ago this is what happened to the Chinese.”

The Head Tax Families
Society is organizing a rally Saturday at the Chinatown Memorial to
Chinese Canadian War Veterans and Railway Workers at the northeast
corner of Keefer and Columbia. The society became a registered
non-profit last August after Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized
to Chinese-Canadians. The apology included a symbolic payment of
$20,000 to those Chinese, or their surviving spouses, who had paid the
head tax.

When the Canadian Pacific
Railway was constructed between 1881 and 1885, more than 15,000 Chinese
came to Canada to help build the railway. But when the track was
completed, the federal government moved to restrict Chinese
immigration. Starting in 1885, people of Chinese origin entering the
country had to pay a $50 head tax, which increased to $100 in 1900. In
1903, it reached $500, the equivalent of two years wages of a Chinese
labourer at the time. Chinese people were denied Canadian citizenship
while the government collected millions.

On July 1, 1923,
Parliament passed the Chinese Immigration Act excluding all but a few
Chinese immigrants from entering Canada. It was repealed in 1947, and
Chinese-Canadians were allowed to vote 60 years ago this May.

Tan said the society formed to tell the federal government its settlement is incomplete.

“They are redressing just a
little under 600 families, that's 0.6 per cent of all the
families-82,000 families paid the tax,” he said. “But what about the
elderly sons and daughters who were separated from their fathers for
25, 30 years? What about elderly seniors who were born in Canada [and
had no rights until 1947]?”

Gim Wong, a Canadian-born
Second World War veteran who was barred from voting until after the
war, says he knows all too well how the head tax hurt families.

His father was 14 when he arrived in Canada in 1906. His mother arrived in 1919. Both of his parents paid the $500 head tax.

In 1937, when his parents
had seven children, they couldn't afford to buy the house they were
renting, which in those days cost $700.

In January last year, the
Burnaby resident road a motorcycle to Ottawa to appeal to former prime
minister Paul Martin for redress, but the RCMP intervened and he never
got to meet Martin.

Wong wants villages in China that contributed money to send young men to Canada compensated for the head tax.

Saturday's event begins at 9 a.m.

published on 05/11/2007
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Veterans fought for Respect – recognizing the contributions of Chinese Canadians

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Veterans fought for Respect – recognizing the contributions of Chinese Canadians

http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/213079
 

News
Features

Veterans fought for respect

News Features By Matthew Burrows

Publish Date: May 10,
2007

A younger George Ing (left) joined the Canadian military in peacetime, and to this day salutes the pioneering Chinese Canadian vets of the Second World War.

A younger George Ing (left) joined the Canadian
military in peacetime, and to this day salutes the pioneering Chinese Canadian
vets of the Second World War.

Retired lieutenant-colonel
George Ing knows how much 2007 means to Chinese Canadians.

On Monday (May 14), the 73-year-old
Richmond resident will join other army, navy, and
air-force veterans at a proclamation ceremony at
Vancouver City Hall
at 10:30 a.m. The day marks the 60th anniversary of the repealing of the
Chinese Immigration Act of 1923 (the Exclusion Act) in 1947, after many Chinese
Canadians had fought in the Second World War on two fronts–to defeat the
spread of fascism and to be recognized as equal citizens in Canadian society.

“I joined in peacetime, 10 years after
the war,” Ing told the Georgia Straight. “When they [Chinese
Canadians] went to war, part of their aim was to show they were worthy
citizens. When they came back, they would take up the task of lobbying to get
us the franchise, which they did. Most of us who weren't around and weren't of
age to do anything are grateful to these guys. We're very aware that it's 62
years now since the end of the Second World War.”

According to Wendy Au, deputy city clerk at
City Hall, the city proclamation Ing has helped organize is not part of Asian
Heritage Month but “coincides with it”.

“This year is significant because of all
the anniversaries,” Au told the Straight. “There will be a dual
ceremony on that day. There will be an official swearing-in
[Canadian-citizenship] ceremony, and we will be honouring
the Chinese Canadian veterans.”

The cities of Burnaby
and Richmond will join
Vancouver in proclaiming May 14 to 21 Chinese
Canadian Citizenship Week. It is 60 years since Chinese Canadians received the
right to vote, and it is also the 50th anniversary of the election of the first
Chinese Canadian MP, Douglas Jung, in Vancouver Centre. In 1907, anti-Chinese
riots took place in Vancouver 's
Chinatown .

Victoria-born Ing said his father died when he
was three, and his family knows little about him. Now a grandfather himself,
Ing said he does not know for sure whether his grandfather, an immigrant from
China , was a head-tax payer on arrival in
Canada . In
1903, the Canadian government raised the head tax on Chinese immigrants to
$500. In 1923, Ottawa prohibited new Chinese
settlement in Canada ,
only lifting the ban in 1947.

“I grew up as a kid in
Victoria , and I think we were all aware of
our status in the community,” Ing said. “We weren't regarded well. I
personally grew up with my family on welfare. I can recall a lot of people
making comments like, 'You're a burden on society.' I was a little bit too
young to do anything about it at that time.

“I did make the vow that this is not
going to happen to my kids,” Ing added. “I had to go and pick up a
welfare cheque as part of my responsibilities. Even
at my age, and I was a teenager, I found it humiliating. Yes, the family had to
survive and that was part of my job, but I did not like doing that. It was just
something inside. But we have broken out of that now. My family has done well
and we have broken out of the cycle. I'm proud of that.”

David Wong, 49, grew up on
Union Street in Strathcona.
He has a Web site (www.generasian.ca/) that neatly documents a rich
family history spanning multiple generations in China and Canada, including the
fact that both sides of his family paid the head tax.

“Head tax is a whole other story,”
Wong told the Straight. “Overall, what is really important is that people
know the history of our nation. Whether that's Chinese Canadians or other
community groups, it's important that people realize how the nation got to
where it is today and where it comes from. Younger people take for granted a
lot of the things we have now, such as the ability to become professionals.
This essentially came at a price. These [Chinese Canadian] vets fought for the
right to become full-participating citizens and be accepted.”

http://www.straight.com/article-90243/veterans-fought-for-respect