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CBC's Dragon Boys… Body count and community impact

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CBC's Dragon Boys… Body count and community impact

Dragon Boys
was one of CBC's most hyped new shows for January 2007.  Because
it dealt with drugs, gang violence and prostitution in the Chinese
communities of Vancouver and Richmond, it broached sensitive
issues.  Cultural consultants were brought in, but did it help or
hinder the show?

Ricepaper
Magazine gives a behind the scenes look at the development of the
script with input from the Chinese-Canadian communities from Toronto
and Vancouver.  It also explains the development of the “community
consultants” roles that writer/editor Jim Wong-Chu and film maker
Colleen Leung took on.  Check out Crime and Controversy: The Story behind the Dragon Boy by Nancy Han.
 
My friend David Wong writes his critique: ‘Body parts in plastic bags’ + hongcouver = Dragon Boys for his blog Ugly Chinese Canadian. 
David gives an interesting view with regards to tying in the screen
violence to actual events that happened in Vancouver.

Here are my views that were originally written as a comment to his article:

It’s so easy to blame the dominant mainstream cultural stereotypes,
and the politically correct cultural consultants… The true fact is that
there are so few stories and characters that are Chinese-Canadian, that
anything that comes out goes under the microscope, gets anal-yzed like
pork entrails, and is criticized for generalizing/mis-representing the
community.

When Kwoi writes that Dragon Boys is like an Asian version of Fast
and Furious – we also have to look around and say “Where is the Asian
version of Corner Gas?” Look at all the shows about about white
mainstream society, and there is no possibility that you will assume
that Causcasians are obsessed with killing people (CSI, Bones, Cold Case,
Crossing Jordon), or crime (Sopranos, Vegas, Without a Trace, 24, NCIS,
Law & Order, Prison Break).

Did Ang Lee need cultural consultants when he directed “Brokeback Mountain” or “The Hulk?”

Dragon Boys really had nothing to do with Chinese Canadian history.
It was more about Chinese language immigrant issues. And it is rare to
find the recent immigrants concerned with Chinese Canadian
multigenerational history, or the multigenerational CBCers concerned
with new immigrant issues such as prostitution, gangs or crime – unless
it makes the entire “so-called Chinese community.”

It was interesting to see that the Dragon Boys had pretty blonde
girlfriends, that Asian brothers had conflicts,
Chinese people took advantage of society or even tried to fit in. Yes
the stereotypes of Asian gang members, prostitutes and drug dealers were
all there – BUT they were fully developed characters that you could
know, like and even (gasp!) care about – instead of secondary
superficial undeveloped characters. Is this progress?

Having been a consultant for the CBC performance special Gung Haggis
Fat Choy, and the upcoming CBC Generations documentary on Rev. Chan
family and descendants (Feb broadcast date?) – I can say that without
my insight and comments – things would get missed, be inaccurate, and
run the risk of steotypes and generalizations.

It’s great that White-Canadians like Ian Weir want to write stories
that involve the Chinese-Canadian community – but let’s also have more
Chinese-Canadians given the opportunity to tell their stories too! We
need a balance and we need a spectrum of stories and view points.

BTW – I saw “Little Mosque on the Prairie” last night – and I LOVED it!!!
Why can’t we have a story about Chinese-Canadians like that?

Gung Haggis Fat Choy update for January 10th

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Gung Haggis Fat Choy update for January 10th

What's happening with Gung Haggis Fat Choy 2007?

Just confirmed today…  Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan is attending.  This will be the second time he has attended as Mayor, in addition to two previous times as a city concillor.  Mayor Sullivan definitely has Scottish ancestry… and he's learned to speak Chinese

Haggis is ordered.  I really like haggis from Peter Black and Sons, from Park Royal South, in West Vancouver.  I have used it every year since 2002.  When I don't use it, there's usually complaints.  This is a nice spicy family secret recipe.  I have never “gagged” on a Peter Black haggis, as I have on other haggis.  Peter and family attended last year and had a great time.  Peter even gave the Selkirk Grace.

Erin Cebula of Global TV, called me on Monday – she's going to do a story about the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner event.  Look for her and a television cameraperson at the Vancouver Public Library on January 15th, when I host Gung Haggis Fat Choy World Poetry Night with Ariadne Sawyer as part of the World Poetry Series.

Jazz-gospel singer Leora Cashe is really really excited about performing for GHFC – we talked on Sunday.  Leora wants me to perform accordion with her for the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner – an old Scottish song that her Scottish uncle used to sing and perform on accordion – “My Luv Is Like a Red Red Rose.”  Leora is also really excited about helping to lead the singalongs for the dinner, such as “Loch Lomand (You Take the High Road)” and others…

And the dinner menu???
This year we are having something very special – Haggis Dim Sum appetizers.
I am talking with Floata Restaurant and trying to haggisize some of my favorite dim sum foods such as Hah-Gau shrimp dumplings.  I think my mother will be upset… shrimp dumplings are one of her favorites too!

Crab is definitely on the menu…  and lots of other good foods.  Look for an improved menu from last year's dinner.

In Scotland – 'Chinese all look alike' – but when does foreigner become “Chinese” in China?

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In Scotland – 'Chinese all look alike' – but when does foreigner become “Chinese” in China?

 
Do I look less Chinese but more Scottish if I wear a kilt?

Check out these interesting news articles that Susanna Ng posted on www.chineseinvancouver.blogspot.com

They
give an interesting perspective to the issue of nationality vs
culture.  Can we be Chinese if we are born in China?  Can we
be Scottish if we are born in Scotland.  Definitely, we are
Canadian if born in Canada – and we can also be Scottish and Chinese
too, if you are like my friend Fiona Tinwei Lam – born in Scotland of
Chinese ethnicity, but now a Canadian citizen since she was a child.

Judge clears driver because 'Chinese all look the same'

By David Lister, Scotland Correspondent, The Times

A JUDGE has provoked outrage among race relations groups by claiming that all Chinese people look the same.

Sheriff
Margaret Gimblett cleared Hui Yu, 23, a student from Beijing, of a
motoring offence after dismissing evidence from two police officers
identifying him.

She told Greenock Sheriff Court: “Without
wanting to be derogatory in any way, sometimes it is said that all
black people look the same at first glance, and the same can be said
that all Chinese people can look the same to a native Scot.

“It’s only when you have time to look that you begin to see the differences.”
 
(MORE…)

'Chinese-ness' by race, or by culture?


The
following article is from the Shanghai Daily.  Interesting
article…  It is all about the individual person's
perspective.  Remember that even though I am 5th generation
Canadian – Mainland Chinese will view me as “Overseas Chinese.”

China calls itself “The Middle Kingdom.”  5000 years of continuous
uninterrupted culture has encouraged an ethno-centric viewpoint of the
world.  People who look  like us vs people who do not look
like us.  Most European countries also have a similar sense of
“national self.” But Brazil, USA and Canada are different… We are
colonized countries, populated by indigenous peoples plus many waves of
immigrants.   Our definition of “Canadian-ess” is less based
on race, but rather by shared culture and values.

Last week, I was talking to a friend who was born in Romania – yet she
identifies herself as a Hungarian – because that is her parent's
language and culture.  She told me that I was “Chinese,” even
though I am 5th generation Canadian.

“No…” she told me, “you are still Chinese… look at you…”

“Yes…” I said, “I just happened to be born with this beautiful DNA,
but I don't speak Chinese, I wasn't born in China, I don't think
Chinese.  I don't know all it's history and culture.”

Maybe it's the Nature vs Nurture issue.  Much of the things we
know can be taught, but somethings are socialized unconsciously, and
some things are hard-wired biologically.

I know somebody who was born in Shanghai, to Austrian parents, and is 100% Canadian.

I know somebody who was born in Scotland, to parents of Chinese ethnicity, and is 100% Canadian.

Being identified as one thing or another is often dependent on what
makes you stand out from the crowd. I grew up amongst white Canadians
in high school, so I was identified as the “Chinese guy.”  When I
hung out with lots of Asian-Canadians who were  immigrants or
children of immigrants, I was identified as the “Banana” or the “CBCer.”

But how we define ourselves is the most important thing.

Puzzle of identity: Beyond race, nationality
By Wayne Hsu 2007-1-8  Shanghai Daily

HOW we identify ourselves is how we perceive others see us.

For example, if I identify myself as an American, I also wish others to perceive me as an American.

Identifying oneself can sometimes be a tricky act. Many factors may come into play – race, nationality and cultural background.

Take
for instance that I was born in China of Chinese ancestry, and at the
age of three I moved to France and lived there until I was 25. Shortly
after that, I moved to the United States and became a US citizen.

So,
how should I identify myself? Am I Chinese? Sure, my race is Chinese.
Am I French? Sure, my cultural background is French. Am I American? Of
course, my nationality is American. The question remains how should we
identify ourselves?

Perhaps,
a more significant question to ask oneself is: Which is the most
important factor among race, culture, and nationality? 
(MORE…)

Dragon Boys, CBC mini-series premieres Sunday January 7 – inside scoop from Kwoi

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Dragon Boys, CBC mini-series premieres Sunday January 7
– inside scoop from Kwoi

Dragon Boys (Part 2) (2006)

CBC's Dragon Boys is the heavily anticipated drama about Chinese gang
life in the Vancouver/Richmond community.  I first heard about the
project when my friend Jim Wong-Chu (Asian Canadian Writer's Workshop)
became one of the cultural consultants for the project.  Jim was
excited, because this was the first time CBC or CTV was creating a
mini-series on Chinese Canadians.  There would be lead roles and
story themes – not just supporting roles in side bar stories. 

See the story in the Georgia Straight where Dragon Boys director talks
about the importance of having community counsultants filmaker Colleen
Leung and Jim Wong-Chu: http://www.straight.com/article/dragon-boys-shoot-for-truth.
Also check out what Jim wrote about Chinese Canadian history for the In Context section on the Dragon Boys website.

While this is all good.  The next step will see CBC creating a
mini-series about multigeneration Chinese-Canadians beyond any
stereotypes of “typical immigrants,” “gang members,” and
“prostititutes.”  Gee… maybe they will watch the upcoming CBC
Generations documentary on the Rev. Chan Yu Tan family – my seven
generation Chinese-Canadian family. see: GungHaggisFatChoy :: Generations Rev. Chan Yu Tan

My friend Kwoi in Toronto sent out the following letter to friends
across the country giving people his personal view with some inside
scoops.  With Kwoi's permission – here is his letter:

Dragon Boys, the two part mini-series
is airing this coming Sunday and Monday, Jan 7 and 8 at 8 pm to 10 pm.
Working closely with the Asian Community, Writer/Exec Producer Ian Weir
did a great job keeping it real, working with material outside his own
culture. It stars some of my TO friends Jean Yoon & Simon Wong.
Simon's character was especially real for me personally as I had
started a youth gang upon my early arrival in Toronto. We even called
ourselves “Nine Dragons” as there were initially nine of us from the
same hood in Kowloon (translates 9 Dragons). I started the gang as a
means of survival. I was constantly getting beat up after school by
trailer trash bullies. The same trailer trash that were portray in
Dragon Boys. My gang involvement strained my relationship with my dad
whose Baldwin St eatery was struggling with extortion threats from the
triad at the time. Watching the preview on Tuesday night was like
having my childhood flash me by.

The cast worked hard at keeping it real. The character of Chavy Pahn
was changed from Chinese to Cambodian to reflect current immigration
patterns, Stephanie Song, who had already been cast in the role, had to
learn to deliver her lines in Khmer. Byron also objected to his
character’s wife being changed to Chinese because he saw his character
as a banana who “grew up thinking he’s a white man, a guy who has never
dated Asian women.” Unlike most Hollywood depictions of Asian males as
de-sexualized monk like beings, it was refreshing to see the brothers
hooking up with White Woman on the big screen. Thanx Byron, Lawrence
& the Dragon Boys  for “getting some” on behalf of the
brothers.

It could have easily been another Asian exploitation flick like Year Of
The Dragon, with the dominant culture's set of assumptions about power
relationships and power structures which is completely skewed towards
the White perspective, but keeping it real with all the family &
human stories really made the piece into a Chinese Canadian Sopranos if
you will. Excellent performance from the cast including the amazing
Eric Tsang (the Asian De Niro) who my friend Jean Yoon got to slap
around for real.

The Canucks have been known to follow their American counterparts
politically as well as culturally. The Americans pass the Head Tax Law,
they follow. The Americans pass the Exclusion Act, they follow. The
Americans started the Japanese Internment, they follow. Finally,
they've initiated something positive for their American counterparts to
envy over. The American networks are in envy & amazement how an
all-Asian lead cast without any White leads can be made possible. This
would not have been a reality in the States. Now if we can only get our
own writers, producers & directors in there…

Dragon Boys is a dark & gritty right-between-the-eyes crime story.
Please check it out & forward this to anyone you think might enjoy
it. Oh heck…on 2nd thought, forward it to them even if you think they
might not enjoy it! Cheers!

 

Banana Kowboy.
 
Check out sites here
 
http://www.dragonboys.ca/

http://www.schemamag.ca/Dragon_Boys/
 
And Articles:

http://jam.canoe.ca/Television/2007/01/01/3116203-cp.html

What to expect at the Gung Haggis Fat Choy 2007 Dinner

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What to expect at the Gung Haggis Fat Choy 2007 Dinner

The Arrival



Arrive Early:  The doors will open by
5:15 pm. All seating is reserved, and all tables are placed in the
order that they were ordered (except for special circumstances such as
a major sponsor hint hint).  We find this is the most fair, and it
encourages people to buy their tickets earlier to ensure a table closer
to the stage.  We expect a rush just prior to the posted 5:30pm
reception
time.  This is the time to go to the bar and get your dram of
Glenfiddich or pint of McEwan's Lager – specially ordered for tonight's
dinner.  Ohhh…. but we might be having a special sponsor for drinks.  We're working on it.

The premium
tables will have two bottles of wine on each table.  This is the
reward for purchasing tables closer to the stage and paying $10 more
each.  This also means that you don't have to stand in line for your first drink.

Buy Your Raffle Tickets:
We have some great door
and raffle prizes lined up.  Lots of books (being the writers we
are), gift certificates and theatre tickets + other surprises.

Please buy
raffle tickets… this is how we generate our fundraising.  We
purposely keep our admission costs low to $60 for advance regular seats
so that they are affordable and the dinner can be attended by more
people.  Children's tickets are subsidized so that we can include
them in the audience and be an inclusive family for the evening.

This dinner is the primary fundraising event for
 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dragon Boat team.  Since 2001, we have also given funds to Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop, publishers of RicePaper Magazine.
The Gung Haggis team continues to promote multiculturalism through
dragon boat paddling events, and puts a dragon boat float each year in
the Vancouver St. Patrick's Day Parade.  Rice Paper Magazine
highlights creative Asian Canadians – especially in the arts and
culture.

Last year, we added the Save Kogawa House committee as a beneficiary for the event, because I felt it was
important to save Joy Kogawa's childhood home from demolition.  I
have been working on the committee, and I am pleased that The Land
Conservancy has stepped in to partner with us to save Kogawa House
and turn it into a National literary landmark and treasure for all
Canadians.  Now that the house is saved, more money is still
needed to restore it to the 1942 qualities when Joy and her family were
forced to leave it, as well as create an endowment for future
programming.

Please support our missions of supporting and developing emerging writers,
organizing reading events, and to spread multiculturalism through
dragon boat racing – or come join our teams!

The FOOD

This year haggis dim sum appetizers will
be on a long buffet table – available at 5:30 pm.  This is going
to be culinarily exciting.  We have featured deep-fried haggis won
ton since 2004.  In 2005 we introduced haggis spring rolls. 
On City Cooks with host Simi Sara, we also introduced haggis stuffed tofu. 

6:30 pm Dinner event begins. People
are seated, and the Piping in of the musicians and
hosts begins.  We will lead a singalong of Scotland the Brave and give
a good welcome to our guests, only then will the dinner courses
appear.  You want to eat, you have to sing for your supper! (which should appear by 6:45 pm).

From then on… a new dish will appear every 10 to 15 minutes –
quickly followed by one of our co-hosts introducing a poet or musical
performer.  Serving 50 tables within 5 minutes, might not work
completely, so please be patient.  We will encourage our guests
and especially the waiters to be quiet while the performers are on stage.
Then for the 5 minute intermissions, everybody can talk and make noise
before they have to be quiet for the performers again.

This year's
dinner show will emphasize the show over the dinner.  In past
years, we have always tried to alternate food dishes with
performances.  But with the high quality of artists, we need to
highlight them… so this year… the show takes priority!

The Performances

Expect the unexpected: I
don't want to give anything away right now as I
prefer the evening to unfold with a sense of surprise and
wonderment.  But let it be known that we have an incredible
array of talent for the evening.

Priya
Ramu, CBC Radio host for “On The Coast” will be co-host with me for the
evening.  We have already created a mini-kilt for Priya and she is
looking forward to the event.

We welcome the return of Silk Road Music and Heather Pawsey to the Gung Haggis program.  Qiu
Xia and Andre bring their musical fusion performed on pipa and
classical guitar.  Opera soprano Heather Pawsey will perform in
Mandarin and a special suprise…

Joe
McDonald and his celtic-fusion band Brave Waves is again our “house
band.” We always delight in having Joe and his bagpipes.  This
year Joe and the band will deliver a Canadian surprise with a
multicultural twist.

Author
Lensey Namioka, author of the young adult novel “Half and Half” will
introduce us to the trials of Fiona Cheng growing up half-Scottish and
half-Chinese in Seattle.  Her brother is red-headed and prefers
martial arts to highland dancing, and she really really would love to
wear his kilt and dance – but her parents and her grandparents would
prefer her to wear a chinese dress to go with her black hair.

No
Luck Club – the instrumental hip hop band, recently returned from a
cross-Canada tour will be providing “ambient groove music” during our
reception.  But I think they might even get in on our version of
“The Haggis Rap.”

Our non-traditional reading of the “Address to the
Haggis” is always a crowd pleaser.  But
this year, audience members will be reading a different Burns poem to
tie their tongues around the gaelic tinged words.  Will it be “A
Man's A Man for All That,” “To a Mouse,” My Luv is Like a Red Red Rose,” or maybe even “Tam O-Shanter?”

I
hand-pick members of the
audience to join us on stage to read a verse.  Past participants
have included former federal Multicultural Secretary of State Raymond
Chow, Qayqayt
(New Westminster) First Nations Chief Rhonda Larrabee, , a
descendent of Robert the
Bruce, a doctor from White Horse, a UBC student from Scotland, somebody
doing a vocal impression of Sean Connery.  Last year we invited
Faye Leung, Kelly Ip, Jim Harris (then national leader of the Green
Party) and NDP federal candidates Ian Waddell and Mary-Woo Sims – both
dressed in their Scottish and Chinese finest.

Who will it be for 2007?  We leave it up until the evening to decide.

The evening will wrap up somewhere between 9:00 and
9:30 pm, then we will socialize further until 10pm.  People will
leave with smiles on their faces and say to
each other, “Very Canadian,”  “Only in Vancouver could something
like this happen,” or “I'm telling my friends.”

Year of the Pig stamp launched today in Toronto

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Year of the Pig stamp launched today in Toronto
To Year of the Pig
Feb 18, 2007, marks Chinese New Year of the Pig.  Canada Post celebrated with a new stamp in Toronto today on January 5th.

The Pig Year should be filled with good feasting and friendship. 
It is also a very good year for people born in the Year of the Rat, like me!

Check out these stories.


CBC British Columbia		 Pig puts stamp of good fortune on new year

Vancouver firm's stamps mark Year of Pig
Globe and Mail, Canada – 27 Dec 2006

12/20/2006
 – Canada Post welcomes the Year of the Pig with fortunate stamps
   “From February 18, 2007 to February 6, 2008, it will be the pig's turn to rule the Chinese zodiac. …”

Kilts Night at Doolin's – 1st Thursday of January 2007: I meet Rob MacDonald – kiltmaker and bagpiper

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Kilts Night at Doolin's – 1st Thursday of January 2007: 
I meet Rob MacDonald – kiltmaker and bagpiper

Every first Thursday of each month we celebrate Kilts Night at Doolin's
Irish Pub in Vancouver.  This time, no sooner had I walked in and
was heading toward the stage looking for friends when a stranger called
out “Toddish McWong!” and came over to shake my hand.

Rob MacDonald, greeted me.  I had never met the man before.  But I recognized the name immediately. 

“Kilt maker,” I nodded in recognition, recalling a 2004 article Hearts in the Highlands in the Vancouver Courier that had interviewed us both about Robbie Burns Day. 

Rob and I had a great talk, turns out we have been aware of each other
since the 2004 article and in Google circles but had never met in
person… although people we knew in common kept saying “You should
meet Rob McDonald” or “You should meet Toddish McWong.”

Rob makes kilts, and his website is www.westcoastkilts.com. 
He regaled us with stories from his days in the Seaforth Highlanders
where he first learned to make kilts.  This man is full of great
entertaining stories.

He has a wonderful “Imortal Memory” address for Robbie Burns, and he
offered to present it for my Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese
New Year dinner.  Alas but the program is fully booked, as Dr. Ian
Mason, of the Burns Club of Vancouver, is our Burns expert for the
evening, and Joe McDonald is our bagpiper.  But I invited Rob to
come to the January 15th Gung Haggis Fat Choy World Poetry Night at the
Vancouver Public Library.  Hopefully we can fit him in.  For
January 28th, at the GHFC dinner?  We'll see….

Kilts Night is the 1st Thursday of every month at Doolin's Irish Pub in Vancouver.

First BC Baby of 2007 born to my friends Rod Barham and Mimi Yui

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First BC Baby of 2007 born to my friends Rod Barham and Mimi Yui

Here are more news stories about baby Tasha born to my friends Rod Barham and Mimi Yui.  Guess Rod won't be coming out to any kilts night events or dragon boat paddling anytime soon.

New Year’s baby born to Burnaby couple at RCH
Burnaby Newsleader, Canada – 6 hours ago
The Burnaby accountant gave birth to eight-pound Tasha Margaret Barham at 12:03 am New Year’s Day at Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster. …
2007's first baby arrives at 12:03 24 Hours Vancouver
all 2 news articles »

Vancouver Sun (subscription)		 Accountant surprised by Jan. 1 birth
Vancouver Sun (subscription), Canada – 2 Jan 2007
She phoned her husband, Rod Barham, 43, who was at home with their first child. He picked her up and drove her to Royal Columbian Hospital. …

Accountant surprised by Jan. 1 birth

Meet baby Tasha, the Lower Mainland's first newborn of 2007

The first baby of the year, born at 12:03 a.m., Jan. 1, is Tasha, here with mom Mimi Yui.

Doug Ward, Vancouver Sun

Published: Tuesday, January 02, 2007

NEW WESTMINSTER – As she enjoyed dinner on New Year's eve at the
home of a friend, Mimi Yui had no expectation that hours later she
would give birth to the Lower Mainland's first baby of the year, a girl.

The 42-year-old Burnaby accountant was two days overdue but labour did not seem imminent.

“I
didn't think she was going to be born for another week because I didn't
feel anything at all,” said Yui, in her hospital bed, Monday. “I was
very, very surprised.”

Yui began to feel contractions Sunday
night while celebrating with her friend. She phoned her husband, Rod
Barham, 43, who was at home with their first child. He picked her up
and drove her to Royal Columbian Hospital.

The couple arrived at
the hospital at 9:45 p.m. and, as Yui recalled, “things progressed
quickly from there. The pain was getting to be unbearable.”

The
baby was in a posterior position, which meant she had gone down into
the pelvis with the back of her head towards her mother's spine. That
often means a long and painful labour. So the physician and his patient
worked to turn the baby around.

The difficulty of the posterior
position made the labour longer and probably delayed delivery enough
for Tasha to be born in 2007, said Yui. After 31/2 hours of labour, Yui
gave birth to eight-pound Tasha Margaret Barham at 12:03 a.m.

Nursing staff wore party hats as they and the parents welcomed the newborn and the new year.

Tasha spent most of her first day of life sleeping.

“She's a very good baby,” said Yui. “No fussing at all. Totally different from her big brother.”

The couple have a 21-month-old boy, Thomas.

Asked whether she had any New Year's wishes for her baby, Yui said: “I just want her to grow up to be happy and healthy.”

Yui,
whose family immigrated to Canada 30 years ago from Hong Kong, said
that, according to the Chinese calendar, her baby was born in the Year
of the Dog.

People born in the Year of the Dog — it is said in
Chinese traditional lore — have a deep sense of loyalty, are honest
and inspire other people's confidence because they know how to keep
secrets.

dward@png.canwest.com

© The Vancouver Sun 2007


New Year’s baby born to Burnaby couple at RCH

 
 
MARIO BARTEL/NEWSLEADER

Mimi
Yui, of Burnaby, snuggles with her newborn daughter, Tasha Margaret
Barham, the first baby born in the new year, at Royal Columbian
Hospital.


By Grant GrangerNewsLeader
Jan 04 2007

When Mimi Yui had her second child early – very early – Monday morning, her mother found out in a very unusual way.

The Burnaby accountant gave
birth to eight-pound Tasha Margaret Barham at 12:03 a.m. New Year’s Day
at Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster. She was the first baby
born in B.C. in 2007. But Yui’s mother didn’t know because she was out
celebrating the new year.

“I tried to call her and I
couldn’t reach her,” said Yui just before being released from RCH.
“[Tuesday] she showed up at hospital and said, ‘Oh I only knew because
your brother saw it on the news.’ That’s how she found out.”

Although she was a couple
of days overdue, Yui felt it would be all right to go to a mom-and-kids
dinner at a friend’s house to celebrate New Year’s Eve. At about 8:30,
however, she started to feel something.

“I still didn’t realize I
was in labour. It was my friend who told me, ‘I think you’re in labour,
better call your husband,’ ” said Yui.

So she called her husband,
Rod Barham, who had just dropped her off, at their home in Simon Fraser
University’s UniverCity. “He said, ‘What? I just rented a video,’ ”
said Yui.

Needless to say, the
video, Casanova, stayed in its package and he picked her up and headed
to RCH. They arrived at 9:45 p.m. and although Tasha was ready to be
born she was coming out in the posterior position and had to be turned
around delaying her birth until after midnight.

“I talked to some other
moms who said make sure she’s born before the New Year because of
problems with school because they’re a year behind [those babies born
in December],” Yui said of giving birth to B.C.’s first baby.

Yui, 42, is employed at an
accounting firm near Granville Island while Barham, 43, works at
Tekion, a fuel cell manufacturer in Lake City. They picked out Tasha
partially because they liked the sound of it and because it made their
first child, 20-month old Thomas, smile every time he tried to say it.

• The first baby born at
Burnaby Hospital was Marko Antonio Medeiros who arrived at 11:16 a.m.
on Jan. 1 weighing seven pounds one ounce. His parents, Juliana and
Roberto Medeiros, live in East Vancouver.

ggranger@burnabynewsleader.com

1st baby born in Vancouver Lower Mainland – Tasha Barham!

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1st baby born in Vancouver Lower Mainland – Tasha Barham!

“Todd – come watch tv!” shouted my parents excitedly. “It's Rod.”

“What's going on?” I asked.

My
friend Rod Barham was being interviewed on Global News.  He was
holding his two year old son Thomas.  The reporter was asking him
about his new daugther, the first child born in Vancouver's Lower
Mainland for 2007.

The
camera also showed mother Mimi Yui holding baby Tasha Elizabeth
Barham.  Tasha looked well with a healthy head of black
hair.  Mimi sounded very cool and unfazed.

It
was just Dec 23rd when I called Rod on the phone, asking him how the
baby was coming along.  His parents had walked into the library
where I was working that day, and I had showed them a picture of me
holding my own new niece born on Halloween morning.

“It might be New Year's Day,” he replied.

Rod
and I have been friends since about 1994 when he moved into a shared
accomodation with us beside Burnaby Lake.  Rod attended my first
“friends only” Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner in 1998, following a Chinese
New Year dinner in our home in 1997.

Rod
and Mimi met in 1997, when I convinced Rod to join a dragon boat team
that I was coaching.  Mimi was already one of the paddlers on the
team.  Four years later, in 2000, they held their wedding at the
Alcan Dragon Boat Festival site. After the festival had shut down for
the evening, Rod picked up Mimi at the Science World water ferry dock,
with a dragon boat full of ex-team mate paddlers.

I
was best man, MC, and music director.  As the dragon boat was
paddled back to the Plaza of Nations dock, with Rod steering, and Mimi
sitting in her wedding dress, I played O Solo Mio on my accordion from
the steps above the dock.  It was a beautiful wedding.  The
reception was fun too, filled with friends and family.

Congratulations
to Rod and Mimi for having the first 2007 baby born in Vancouver's
Lower Mainland. A baby born of Chinese and English (and maybe Scots)
descent!

Rod sent me this e-mail:



Hey Toddnik. Thanks for the email eh!

What a kick New Years has been. I am amazed how many people watch the
news as total strangers keep coming up to me and giving me their
congratulations. Who would have predicted…



One thing I would have added to your
biography is how you managed to get me to join the team – very
reluctantly! Fortunately you persisted and voila! A child is born!




See this story from 24 Hours:

By ROBYN STUBBS, 24 HOURS


It's a girl!

A proud – and understandably tired – Burnaby couple was busy
celebrating yesterday after the birth of their daughter went down in
the books as the Lower Mainland's first baby of 2007.

Weighing in at eight pounds, Tasha Margaret Barham made her
grand entrance at 12:03 a.m. on Jan. 1 at New Westminster's Royal
Columbian Hospital.

She's a “good baby so far, not fussing at all,” said mother
Mimi Yui yesterday, adding the labour was painful but thankfully quick
at just three-and-a-half-hours long.

Yui and her husband, Rod Barham, already parents to
20-month-old Thomas, both thought three minutes past midnight would be
too late for Tasha to be the New Year's baby, but “with kids,
everything is a surprise,” said Barham with a smile.

Chinese Canadian Head Tax issue one of 2006's top events

2 Replies

Chinese Canadian Head Tax issue one of 2006's top events



So was it? or wasn't it?

The Chinese head tax issue made
top newsmaker in every chinese media's year end review.  But was
rarely seen in English Language media year end summaries. 

Top
Chinese-Canadian stories listed by Susanna Ng includes Head Tax redress
apology plus the resignation by Michael Chong over recognizing Quebec
as a “nation” within a united Canada.  see Susanna's Chinese in Vancouver: Year end review  and her stories on Chinese Head Tax.

But
Chinese head tax should be more than just an “ethnic issue.” It is a
Canadian issue.  Canadian parliament charged a head tax from 1895
until 1923 when parliament creeated the “Chinese exclusion act” which
lasted until 1947.  That's 52 years of legislated racism! Oh…
plus an additional 49 years without an apology – not to mention a tax
refund.

Chinese
language media was a leading force in the head tax issue, covering it
almost  every day during the election campaign after November
25th, when 200 people protested the Liberal signing of the ACE program
– see
Chinese Head Tax: Protest in Vancouver Chinatown.

English Language media still seemed slow on this issue, often relegating it to ethnic issue side bar stories.  The first real head tax story in the Vancouver Sun was from Toronto head tax descendant Brad Lee who wrote The liberals bungle a great opportunity to do the right thing: This was followed by Daphne Bramham's Dec, 2 column
Compensate Chinese immigrants fairly:  I didn't see an actual news story in the Vancouver Sun, until Dec 8 when
Stephen Harper and Conservatives jump on the Head Tax apology band wagon.   


But also notable was the coverage by the Georgia Straight's Charlie Smith. Head tax unites activists,
Georgia Straight: Harper Stickhandles Redress as well CBC Radio did a number of audience call-in shows + interviews with head tax redress activists. 

At
year end of 2005, Chinese head tax was listed in the top ten by a
number of Asian newspapers, citing it to have both importance for
Canada, as well as global importance.  Last year, this time, the
Chinese Head Tax emerged as the sleeper issue for the January 2006
Federal Election.  Three Conservative candidates broke from Stephen
Harper's former No Apology stance, to join with the NDP, Bloc Quebecois and
Green Party.  Then with the Liberals facing themselves behind the
Conservatives in polling, Liberal PM Paul Martin mumbled a so-called
personal apology about head tax on Fairchild Chinese language radio
station, but would not commit to a formal governmental apology – nor
did he repeat the same “apology” for English language media.   see:Political debate heats up over Chinese head tax.

Then on June 22nd, the 
Head Tax Apology Ceremony
finally happened.  In the days leading up, English language media
finally got on the head tax band wagon, literally, by putting reporters
on the head tax redress train from Vancouver to Ottawa. 

In October, The Vancouver Sun even put together a list of 100 Influential Chinese Canadians in BC…
listing head tax activist Sid Tan.  But while the Sun made it
their lead feature on the front page, they relegated a story about Charlie Quan receiving the first head tax redress cheque to backwater pages in the West Coast section.  Even the Globe & Mail had made it the lead story in their BC edition.

But
Head Tax redress groups say the Conservative government hasn't gone far
enough for a just an honourable redress, only honouring 0.6% of a total
81,000 head tax certificates that were issued from 1885 to 1923. 
Only surviving head tax payers and spouses will receive a $20,000
ex-gratia payment.  And it took the government months and months
to settle on the definition of a spouse, even asking that

“Proof must be provided that the person was ordinarily residing with the
Head Tax Payer in a conjugal relationship of some permanence that would
be, as an indication, for at least a year.”  see  Head Tax – Applicant's Guide


Meanwhile,
the Conservative cabinet ministers and MP's make a big photo
opportunity of presenting the ex-gratia payments to senior citizens in
the '90's, at great distress and effort on behalf of this very aged
seniors.  My own maternal grandmother is 96 years old, and is much
too weak to be trotted out for display.  And the irony is that
there will be NO ex-gratia payment for her father's head tax
certificates because he died back in the 1920's.  Any family whose
head tax paying parents or their spouses died prior to the
Conservatives reaching power in February 2006 is out of luck.  Too
bad… so sad…

Chinese-Canadian head tax redress is still burning up the blogs.  Susanna Ng has created a poll listing Top news of importance to CC society in 2006. And yes… head tax is leading the polls.

David Wong also writes about it for his year end observation the-tax-on-giving-head on his blog titiled  The Ugly Chinese Canadian and “struck a nerve” with many readers getting many comments including my own.

If
anything, the head tax redress campaign served as a wonderful history
lesson for all Canadians.  It also exposed past racism as well as
present bigotry and ignorance.

Will the Conservative government follow through on the two stage redress process proposed by the Chinese Canadian National Council, or will they stall at only honouring 0.6% of head tax certificates?

Will
the Liberals under Stephane Dion step up to the plate, eager to one-up
the Conservatives, after opening up the redress can of worms with their
appallingly underwhelming ACE program for acknowledgement,
commemoration and education of head tax redress, not even considering a
formal apology or individual compensation which the Mulroney
Conservatives did for Japanese-Canadian internment redress?

Will
the NDP, Bloc Quebecois and Green Party, continue to support individual
compensation for head tax descendants whose original payers left them
in care of the head tax certificates, hoping that one day there would
be a tax refund?

All I can say is this:
I will continue to
support head tax redress for descendants whose ancestors are
predeceased for the present Conservative ex-gratia program.
I will continue to blog and attend head tax issues and events.
I believe in social justice, and that each head tax certificate should be treated equally.

The
Chinese Year of the Dog is not over until February 18th, when the Year
of the Pig takes over.  2007 was a good year for Chinese head tax
redress.  It's been a long time since Margaret Mitchell first
raised this issue in Parliament back in 1984. 

Who would
have thought that it would take 24 years before the 1923 Chinese
Exclusion Act would repealed in 1947?  Who would have thought that
it would take until 1988, 46 years later, when the Japanese Canadian
would receive redress, after their homes and property were
“confiscated” from them from 1942 to 1945.