Author Archives: Todd

Lewis Perinbam was an outstanding Canadian – he passed away last week

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There are some people who grace your life fleetingly, and you wished you had known them better.  I first met Lewis Perinbam 3 years ago when I joined the Canadian Club Vancouver board of directors.  Lewis Perinbam was an incredible Canadian and an Officer of the Order of Canada. Last week, he passed away on December 12th.

Few people can have the impact he had, as through his lifetime he helped develop many of Canada's international development programs such as CIDA, CUSO, World University Service of Canada, UNESCO as well as the Commonwealth of Learning.  I am simply amazed at all the tributes I am finding in the media and on the internet.

When Lewis learned about my Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner, he shared with me that he had been raised in Malaysia and studied university in Edinburgh, Scotland.  I think he got a hoot learning about my Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner that served deep-fried haggis won ton.

Lewis had first introduced himself to me as the Chair of the Commonwealth of Learning, a role he was very happy and proud of.   The COL has written a very nice tribute to Lewis Perinbam and state that  “members of
the development community throughout the world will miss Lewis' wise
and humane contribution to their work.”My friend Linda Johnston, who is now the vice-president for Canadian Club Vancouver shared this with us:

“Lewis Perinbam recruited me to the Canadian Club and was President when
joined. I had met him through my work with the Commonwealth of
Learning. He was an amazing man as you can see from his biography. He
was also charming and witty, with a passion for Canada and for social justice.  We have lost a very special Canadian.”

The following is from the Commonwealth of Learning tribute on their web site at
http://www.col.org/colweb/site/pid/3007

Dr. Lewis Perinbam, O.C.

LEWIS-PERINBAM-2002-newweb.jpg

Lewis Perinbam, 1925 – 2007
Chair, COL Board of Governors, 2003 – 2007

The
Commonwealth of Learning and the international development community
are deeply saddened by the loss of Lewis Perinbam, O.C., LL.D., who
died on Wednesday, 12 December 2007, after a brief illness. He was
elected to chair COL's Board of Governors from April 2003, having
served from 1991 as a Special Advisor to COL's first two presidents,
Dr. James Maraj and Dato' Professor Gajaraj Dhanarajan.

Lewis
Perinbam was born in 1925 in Johore, Bahru Malaysia, into a family with
roots in Madras (Chennai), India. He became a world citizen at the
young age of 12 when he was sent unaccompanied by ship to Scotland.
There he was a received by an uncle who had assured his father that he
would see to it that Lewis received a “proper British education.”

Lewis
never saw his father again. World War II broke out and Lewis was unable
to return to Malaysia until it ended, by which time Japanese soldiers
had raided his home and killed his father; a tragedy that was not
disclosed to the young teenager until he finally returned to Malaysia.

After
completing his formal education in Scotland, Lewis immigrated to
Canada, where he steadily acquired a national reputation for fostering
Canada's role in international development through his involvement and
achievements with many organisations. His appointment as an Officer of
the Order of Canada and his many awards and honorary degrees express
the esteem in which he was held. As a writer and author he was best
known for his book, North and South: Towards a New Interdependence of Nations, which carried a foreword by Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau.

His
distinguished career in the Canadian Federal Public Service led him to
work also in various international organisations, notably the World
Bank and UNESCO, and in the non-governmental (NGO) and private sectors.
He was the first Secretary-General of the Canadian National Commission
for UNESCO, the founding Executive Director of Canadian University
Service Overseas and Executive Director of World University Service of
Canada. He represented the World Bank at the United Nations and at the
UN's Specialised Agencies in Europe.

As
Vice-President of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
for seventeen years he inspired the creation of CIDA's Non Governmental
Organization and Industrial Co-operation Programmes – the first of
their kind in the world – and launched numerous initiatives to involve
the private, non-governmental and institutional sectors in
international development. He led Canadian Government delegations to
many international meetings and served as an advisor to the United
Nations, the Commonwealth Secretariat (London, England) and the
National Academy of Sciences (Washington, D.C.). He was especially
proud of his role in chairing the 2000 Canadian Government Task Force
on the Participation of Visible Minorities in the Federal Public
Service.

Lewis
also provided a lifetime of service in governance capacities to civil
society and community organisations. After retiring from CIDA he
settled in Vancouver and dedicated himself to helping the Commonwealth
of Learning through his extensive contacts and global networks. In
praising this contribution COL President Sir John Daniel said, “At an
age when most people would be enjoying a well earned retirement Lewis
came to his office at COL most days. He was an inspiring friend to
members of the staff and during his time as Chair of the Board COL's
governance practices became a model for intergovernmental
organisations. It was a privilege to serve under him.”

Members
of the development community throughout the world will miss Lewis' wise
and humane contribution to their work. He leaves his wife, Nancy
Garrett, a sister and three brothers.

A
service of remembrance will be held in Vancouver on 28 December 2007 at
2:00 p.m. at St. Helen's Anglican Church (Trimble & 8th) and in
Ottawa in the New Year.

In
lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to the Lewis Perinbam Award
in International Development c/o WUSC, 1404 Scott Street, Ottawa K1Y
4M8, Telephone 613 798 7477, fax 613 798 0990 or on line at www.wusc.ca.

Newspaper obituary

Todd Wong and Gung Haggis Fat Choy featured in a grade 5 school text book

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Todd Wong is featured in a new Grade 5 Canadian text book called:

LITERACY IN ACTION – STUDENT INSTRUCTION BOOK
– published by Pearson Education Canada

The following is found on pages 10-11


TODD WONG


His Words:

“This is what Canadian society is all about, introducing each other to
our cultures and welcoming other cultures into our families.”


A New Idea

Gung Haggis Fat Choy.  What do you think that is?  It sounds like Gung
Hei Fat Choy, which is what many people say to each other to celebrate
the Chinese New Year.  But haggis is the national dish of Scotland!  To
understand Gung Haggis Fat Choy, you need to meet Todd Wong.  It was
all his idea.

Todd Wong is a Chinese Canadian whose family has lived in BC since the
1800's.  In 1993, Todd was a student at Simon Fraser University in
Burnaby BC.  On January 25, Robbie Burns Day was to be celebrated.  On
that date each year, people of Scottish origin celebrate the life of
their national poet, Robert Burns.  Todd was asked to help with the
celebration, but siad no.  He just couldn't picture himself dressed in
a Scottish kilt.  It was too weird! But no one else would volunteer, so
Todd finally agreed.  This was the start of something big!


What a Party!

Now, let's go back to Gung Haggis Fat Choy.  In 1998, Chinese New Year
and Robbie Burns Day were only two days apart.  Todd planned to cook a
Chinese New Year's dinner for some friends.  Why not combine the
celebration with Robbie Burns Day? he thought.  And so the Gung Haggis
Fat Choy dinner began.  For that day, Todd would be known as Toddish
McWong.  To entertain his guests, he would play Scottish songs on his
accordion.  He would read poetry by Asian Canadians and Robbie Burns.

That party was a great success.  The next year's party was an even
greater success.  In following years, more and more people attended. 
There are now hundreds of guests and everyone enjoys delicious food and
great entertainment.  The money raised goes to project such as the
Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop.  Todd has been heard on radio across
Canada and in Scotland.  One simple idea has touched so many people.

+ two pictures

Some thoughts about The Current's show suggesting necessity for Canada's 3rd official language

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Should Canada have a 3rd official language?

That was the discussion on CBC Radio's The Current this morning, Friday Dec 14th, with guest host Wei Chen.

Ever since Wolfe and Montcalm
died just hours apart on the Plains of Abraham, Canada has been defined
by its linguistic duality. It was made official in 1969, with the
adoption of the Official Languages Act, a law that gave English and French equal, official status in Parliament and all federal institutions.

The latest Statistics Canada data show that Canadians report more
than 200 different languages as their mother tongue and that a fifth of
the population reports a mother tongue other than English or French.
We'll ask if Canada should move from bilingualism to multilingualism
and maybe even add a third official language.

Listen to The Current:Part 2


I was a guest panelist on the show, and now I am trying to write down everything on the blog that I didn't get a chance to say on air.  It was a very tight 10-15  minutes with guest panelists from Toronto, Newfoundland and Vancouver.

Dorothy Chin, is President of the Chinese Lingual Cultural Centre of Canada AND Retired education officer Ontario Ministry of Education. 

Cyrilda Poirier, Director of the Federation of Francaphones of  Newfoundland and Labrador

I wasn't a native French speaker, I wasn't a native Chinese speaker... I guess I was probably brought in to provide a third
option as an English-speaking multi-generational Chinese descendant who spoke
better French than Chinese. I should also acknowledge that I did attend a 6 week Chinese language and culture program in Taiwan when I was 20 years old, and the following year participated in the Summer language bursary program to study in French.

I tried to acknowledge history and the importance of Canada's First Nations heritage, by first acknowledging the Coast Salish traditional territory of the Musqueam and Tseil-Waututh nations.

I was introduced as a community activist, and the creator of Gung Haggis Fat Choy, a website covering intercultural events and issues.

But I forgot to explain that Gung Haggis Fat Choy celebrates BC's pioneering
immigrant cultures of Scottish and Chinese, as well as Canada's future
with inter-cultural babies born of all cultures and ethnicities, as more and more people from around the world who come to Canada, meet each other and fall in love.

It was a lively discussion that host Wei Chen said “could have gone on and on” as I got the final words in about emphasizing culture without language, while “Dorothy is shaking her head….”

Hmmm…. at least both of the other guests acknowledged agreeing with me on some points… as I would disagree or agree with them on other points.

I believe it is really important to acknowledge that Canada's First Nations languages were here before English and French settlers.  This adds to our Canadian identity.  I did state that Peter Gzowsky once had three different First Nations people on his show and asked them for the word which they use to call themselves other than First Nations, aboriginal, or Indian.  The result was three different words in three different mother tongues.  But it emphasized how diverse our First Nations people are, and how difficult it is to try to package or generalize any ethnic group or language into one simple box.

I instead suggested that we need to acknowledge the individual communities where languages are spoken, rather than create a top-down overall official 3rd language.  By pointing out that only New Brunswick has two official provincial languages and that the three territories are bilingual, I wanted to emphasize that we should address language needs locally first – even if unofficially.  Since appearing on The Current, I have learned that Inuktitut/Inuinnaqtun, is the 3rd largest official language in Nunavut.  But more importantly, the Northwest Terrirtories official languages act recognizes 11 official languages of Chipewyan, Cree, English, French, Gwich’in, Inuinnaqtun, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, North Slavey, South Slavey and Tłįchǫ.

Wei Chen introduced the current issue of how official language rules block immigrants from donating blood, stem cells.  She introduced a sound clip by Tung Chan,  Chief Executive Officer of SUCCESS, a Chinese language immigrant services organization.

I agreed that it was a good example of how organizations must be more responsive to the communities they served.  I brought in my personal experience of leukemia patient James Erlandsen's quest for a bone marrow donor.  James is hapa – half Asian and half Caucasian.  Chances of finding a matching donor are increased if Asian blood donors are included.  But Canadian Blood Services is arguing that providing translators do not overcome all the safety aspects that can be technical in nature.  Tung Chan argues that tranlators and translations should be provided.

I also told a story of how the Vancouver Public Library where I work, provides many books and services in Chinese language.  This is a great example of how public services cater to meet the needs of Canada's increasingly larger allophone immigrants.  But sometimes, I have patrons coming to me, asking if I am Chinese or if I speak Chinese.  On the rare occasion, I have had people tell me that I should speak Chinese, when I am several generations removed from my ancestors arrival from China.  I think that this illustrates the wide gap between government services for new immigrants, and the need for new immigrants to learn Canada's official languages of English or French.

“Je
peux parler en francais plus mieux que parle en chinois,” I said, and
Wei Chen aptly translated as “he speaks better French than Chinese.”

Dorothy Chin agreed with me that the language issue for Canadian Blood Services should be looked into.  She also shared that her Chinese-Canadian daughter is a French teacher in the education system.

Wei Chen's last topic introduced a clip of a speaker who recognized that China is a growing economic force, and that it would be wise for Canada to take advantage of the business opportunities by emphasizing learning the Chinese language.

I admit I played devil's advocate by quickly dismissing that businesses are in it for the profits and that politicians are in it for the votes from the Chinese language block.  Astute businesses will always be aware of opportunities in other language markets, whether it be Spanish, Chinese or others.  And politicians have grown savvy in courting ethnic voting blocks by attending ethnic festivals and learning to address each group in their own ethnic language.

Oops….
I recounted how the present Stephen Harper Conservative government apologized to for
the Chinese Head Tax and mistakenly said he apologized in the Cantonese Chinese language, when I meant to say Mandarin –
which he actually did.  Cantonese was
the language of the Chinese railway builders and the head tax payers – so I found it strange that Prime Minister Harper would speak Mandarin to native Cantonese head tax payers, spouses and descendants.  Either he was mistaken in assuming that both languages are Chinese or was he actually speaking to potential Mandarin voters? 
Mandarin has only most recently become a dominant Chinese language in
Canada, as immigration from Taiwan and the People's Republic of China
increased, especially since 1980.  It is actually Cantonese that has
the most historical and cultural context for Chinese-Canadian culture,
which more readily explains why Canada was known as Gum San (Gold
Mountain) and Vancouver known as Hahm Siu Foh (Salt Water City), in
Cantonese language.

In stating that emphasis is on culture and not language, I wanted to
state that Canada is known to be multi-cultural – not multi-lingual.  We can all eat Chinese food, First Nations food, Scottish food…  We can all enjoy (with subtitles) a French movie, Japanese movie, Italian movie,
go tango dancing, highland dancing, or watch First Nations dancing… And dance or  instrumental music translate very well without words.

All of the above can be done in either English or French, by people
who speak Punjabi, Chinese, Tagalog, Italian, Gaelic, Swedish, or
whatever…  It is our shared appreciation of music, dance, food, beer or hockey
that can bind us together in a shared unity, overcoming barriers of
language.

I really appreciate the arguments made by both of the other guest panelists. Cyrilda Poirier emphasized that despite it's official language status, the present organizational structures fails to fully support the French language in Newfound Land and other places. 

Dorothy Chin really emphasized that despite no assistance from the government, it has been important for Chinese communities across Canada to learn the Chinese language to help maintain the culture. Without language, she says that the culture becomes hollow.  I guess that is why so many Chinese language speakers call non-Chinese-speaking Chinese-Canadians like myself “hollow bamboo” – believing that we are “empty” of Chinese culture. 

It was because of the massive racial discrimination in the 19th and 20th Centuries that Chinese and other immigrants emphasized trying to assimilate and to leave behind their mother-tongue language and cultures.  Canadian laws such as the “Potlatch law” legislated against First Nations people having traditional gatherings, and structural racism prevented Chinese and other non-whites from having voting privileges.  Newspaper articles and editorials stated that Chinese were inferior races and would never fit in.  Supporters of the Chinese Exclusion Act stated that allowing Chinese immigration to Canada would undermine the fabric of Canadian society.

Yes, there is cultural attrition with each successive generation in a new land – but it also exists in mother-tongue countries too!  Language scholars travel to Quebec to study archaic forms of the French language, as it became “preserved in time” as the migrants came to Canada.  Just the same way that Chinese-Canadian pioneers preserved the Chinese culture of the last imperial dynasty, when they arrived in Canada in the late 1800's, or the pre-turnover culture of Hong Kong when they arrived in the 1980's.  But the French Canadians also differentiated themselves from French culture, with the creation of a distinct French-Canadian culture.  We see it alive today with the artistic works of playwright Michel Tremblay, songwriter Gilles Vignault, singer Celine Dion,and  film maker Denys Arcand.

Similarly, I believe that Canadian born Chinese, are also the leading edge of
a new Chinese-Canadian culture that speaks and thinks in English
language.  We read the books of Wayson Choy, Paul Yee, SKY Lee and now
Jen Sookfong Lee.  We watch the movies of Julia Kwan (Eve and the Fire
Horse), Mina Shum (Double Happiness) and Justin Lin (Fast and the
Furious: Tokyo Drift). And we listen to U2, Bryan Adams, Sarah
McLachlan and Arcade Fire instead of Chinese traditional music. 
Because we are “cut-off” from the mother-tongue language, we have had
to find new ways to express ourselves, and to also connect to our
ancestral heritage. 

How much Chinese can I speak?  Enough to order dim sum, and play mah jong…

Do I wish I was fluent in Cantonese or Mandarin? It would be nice to be fluent in many languages.  I believe that language skills help to broaden the mind and increase cultural understanding and experience.

Should Canada adopt a new official 3rd language?  I think the energy would be better used to increase understanding our present history and cultural mis-understandings, to allow us to better move forward without the same mistakes or continued resentments. 

I wish
that I had been able to summarize on air, that my focus on historical
issues such as the First Nations residential schools and the Chinese
head tax issues, is to emphasize that Canada should recognize it's
historical unfinished business before trying to consider languages that
are only recently being made significant by recent rises in
immigration.  Additionally, language issues should be dealt with more
immediately on local levels, perhaps giving recognition to more un-official languages
supported in each community, while simultaneously encouraging new
immigrants to learn English or French.  It's
all so easy to contemplate after the show is over… but important to
explore the possibilities and viewpoints for future issues.


Gung Haggis Fat Choy 2008 Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner

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You are invited to the

10th Anniversary
Gung Haggis Fat Choy: Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner


January 27th, 2008 – SUNDAY
Floata Seafood Restaurant
#400 – 180 Keefer St.
Vancouver Chinatown.

click on poster
   
Details for 2008 event to be released soon.

Gung Haggis Fat Choy –
The infamous Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner.
The “little dinner that could” and did:



To celebrate our 10th Annual Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner.…
Look for the return of:

Joe McDonald and Brave Waves


New for 2007:
George McWhirter – Vancouver Poet Laureate
Blackthorn – Celtic Band
+ many more musical and literary surprises!

This is a fundraiser event for
Historic Joy Kogawa House
Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop / Ricepaper Magazine
and
Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dragon Boat team


For Tickets:
stay tuned….
tickets will be sold through Tickets Tonight – Vancouver's Community Box Office
NEW ORDER BY PHONE # – 604-631-2872



Todd Wong – guest panelist on CBC Radio's “The Current” for Friday Dec 14

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I will be on a panel discussion on CBC Radio's  The Current

Friday Dec 14
somewhere between 8:30 and 9:30am.

The topic is “Canada's 3rd Official language”

As
you may know…. Stats Canada released last week that Chinese languages
are now Canada's 3rd most widely spoken language following English and
French.

I get to give pros and cons for Chinese, Scottish, First Nations, Punjabi, etc.

I
am a multi-generational Chinese-Canadian that speaks better French than
Chinese.  I claim English as my first language, and Italian as my 2nd
language… because I learned to read music fluently at a young age. 

But maybe my 2nd language should be Cantonese Chinese, because that's what my paternal grandparents always spoke to me.  Can you claim a language if you are not fluent in it?  If I can play mah jong and order dim sum at a Chinese restaurant, does that count a a fluency?

Yesterday I wrote down some of my thoughts on this topic:

Canada's new immigrants have now made Chinese languages #3 in Canada:
CBC Radio's “The Current” asks me about the possibility of a 3rd
official language for Canada

Interesting twist:
The CBC producer who phoned me is Farha Akhtar.  She shared with me that her father was from India and her mother from the Phillipines.  Their common language was English… now she is Canadian.  Very cool… very Gung Haggis!  I told Farha that I am hoping to create a Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner for Toronto, and it would be great if she could attend!

Whatever happened to the Hapa baby born in Madame Butterfly: Hiro Kanagawa and David McIntyre debut stage reading of their musical drama “Tom Pinkerton”

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Vancouver is full of hapa people, born of two different cultures, races etc…  But what about the baby born in the opera Madame Butterfly to Cio-Cio, after her former American naval officer “husband”, B.F. Pinkerton, had abandoned her then returned to claim the three-year old child, and take him to go live in America to be raised by his American wife Kate?

Vancouver's Hiro Kanagawa and David McIntyre have written a musical drama based on this big “what if”?

They are offering a FREE public reading

Tom Pinkerton
Friday, December 14th
3:00 pm
Canadian Memorial Church
corner of Burrard & West 16th Ave.




December 14, 2007

3pm – 6pm

Canadian Memorial Church

1825 West 16th Ave

Vancouver, BC

ADMISSION IS FREE!!!

Produced by Rumble Productions, their website says:

At the end of Puccini's opera Madama Butterfly, the 3-year-old child of
Cio-Cio and B.F. Pinkerton is whisked away to America to be raised by
Pinkerton and his American wife, Kate. Set 20 years after these events,
Tom Pinkerton finds the child struggling to become a man and searching
for the mother he never knew. We travel with the youth, now called Tom,
as he revisits the Nagasaki of his birth to find love and
self-realization. But is he fated to repeat the sins of his father? And
what has become of Mr. Sharpless, Suzuki, and the others?

Both a return and a
departure, Tom Pinkerton is an exciting new collaboration between
playwright Hiro Kanagawa and composer David MacIntyre that combines the
heightened emotions and theatricality of its operatic forebear with the
tragic realities of Japan’s wondrous and sinister march through the
early years of the 20th century.


Hiro has been a very creative playwright, writer and actor in Vancouver.  Last year he helped perform a staged reading of the Dorothy Livesay radio documentary poem “Call My People Home” for the Joy Kogawa House fundraiser event at Christ Church Cathedral. Written in 1949, it is
one of the first written pieces to criticize the internment of Japanese
Canadians. See my review of the event: 
Joy of Canadian Words: April 25th fundraiser for Kogawa House – Actors read Canadian Literary works to Astound!

My opera soprano friend Heather Pawsey is a member of the Tom Pinkerton cast and she alerted me to this stage reading.  Heather has performed at numerous Gung Haggis Fat Choy events, so she knew how interested I would be to hear about it.  She writes:

“The music and story are imaginative and compelling, and the cast fantastic.
If you're looking for something different than the usual
seasonal fare, please come and enjoy this marvellous new work.”

Check out Tom Pinkerton at http://www.rumble.org/

Vancouver Irish-Indo fusion music: Delhi2Dublin releases cd

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Delhi2Dublin is having a cd release party!

Thursday December 13th, doors 9pm
The Red Room (398 Richards)

If you have ever seen spritely violinist Kytami perform with Delhi2Dublin's tabla drums and hip hop turntables – then you already now how much fun this Vancouver secret is!

I can say that I loved this group at their very first event for Vancouver's Celtic Fest.
Here's my review of that first event St. Paddy's Eve in Vancouver – What is a man in a kilt to do?

Organizer Tarun Nayar has set up a wonderful cd release party tonight.  He writes:

It should be a ridiculously good time. Come
check out this global fusion band, with a host of special guests, DJs
and dancers (http://www.delhi2dublin.com).
If you absolutely can't make the party tomorrow, CDs are now available
at Highlife, and will soon be available on line. A perfect x-mas gift
for those bhangra loving leprechauns in your life…

————————————————————————————

Beats Without Borders + A-Town
in association with Turner Music present:

The Delhi 2 Dublin CD Release Party

Thursday December 13th, doors 9pm
The Red Room (398 Richards)
tix 10$ advance @ Highlife, Zulu, Kamal; 15$ @ the door

http://www.beatswithoutborders.com

Canada's new immigrants have now made Chinese languages #3 in Canada: CBC Radio's “The Current” asks me about the possibility of a 3rd official language for Canada

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I had a very interesting phone call from Toronto on Monday… a producer from CBC Radio's “The Current” phoned me to ask my views on the latest Canadian census results on language and immigration released December 4th.

The questions considered the issues of should Canada adopt a 3rd official language. 

The CBC Radio producer also asked me if I was aware that Singapore now had four official languages.

I told her that New Brunswick is the only province in Canada with two official languages, and that Singapore is a city-state.

Hmmm…..  food for thought….

Chinese languages are now the third-most common mother-tongue group, behind English and French. The largest group of immigrants to Canada now come from the Republic of China.  Richmond BC, is the leading city for Chinese language speakers.

But where does this leave me?  I am a 5th generational Chinese-Canadian who speaks better French than Chinese?

Am I the product of a colonial Canada whose racist history purposely and methodically legislated and conspired to prohibit and block Chinese and other Asian immigrants from coming to Canada?  As well as creating a cultural genocide to its First Nations aboriginal people by taking children from their families and placing them in Residential Schools and prohibiting them from speaking their mother-tongues, as well as outlawing their cultural practices, traditions and social structure with the “Potlatch Law?”

Of course.

When I grew up in the 1960's and 1970's, my parents decided not to send me to Chinese school because they wanted to emphasize assimilation with Canadian culture.  They wanted me to get ahead in Canadian society by furthering my participation in English language activities.  So instead of going to Chinese School after “English School” I took accordion lessons, judo lessons, swimming lessons etc. 

My parents grew up during the time of the “Chinese Exclusion Act” – when no Chinese were permitted to immigrate to Canada, so what good would learning Chinese be for me?  I had to learn French in high school, and even took the Summer Language Bursary program to study French at a Canadian University.  When I went to China in 1993, I ended up speaking more French as I bumped into people from Quebec, France and Holland.  I even had Thanksgiving dinner with the Canadian Ambassador to China, who was from Montreal.

It's great that Canada can be more tolerant to new immigrants, than it was when my great-great-grandfather Rev. Chan Yu Tan arrived in 1896.  It's great that Canadians can be happy with a multiculturalism that embraces every culture from along the ancient Silk Road, as well as almost every country on earth.

But… we must also pay attention to our history.  Canada was founded as a nation including English and French cultures and languages.  The Chinese pioneers who built the railway and paid the head tax spoke Cantonese from Southern China.  Mandarin is only a more recent language as immigrants from Taiwan and Mainland China began arriving in significant numbers during the 1980's. 

If we are going to recognize the impact of Chinese immigrants in Canada, then we must also recognize the impact of Chinese-Canadian history – not just the easily identifiable Chinese-language voting block because the current political party in power wants to remain in power.

Before we can consider the luxury of a third official language, we must first consider that Canada has unfinished business.  First Nations issues must be recognized.  Treaties and land claim issues should take precedence.  Should First Nations language be considered an official language?  Which one?  I remember listening to Peter Gzowski on CBC Radio as he asked 3 different First Nations people to say the word that they used to refer to themselves instead of the words “First Nations”, “Aboriginal”or “Indian.”  They answered with three different words. 

Before we consider Chinese as even an unofficial language, we must fully consider the unresolved issues of the Chinese Head Tax redress.  The Harper government used Mandarin Chinese – not the Cantonese language of the head tax payers, when they gave the apology for the Chinese Head Tax last year on June 22nd 2006.  Less than one percent of head tax certificates have been honoured with ex-gratia payments because the government refuses to include families where the surviving head tax payers and spouses have died prior to Harper's election in 2006, even though the head tax redress was first requested in Parliament by Margaret Mitchell in 1984, even though Chinese-Canadians asked for the end to the “Exclusion Act” in 1947.

It's great that new immigrants are adding to Canada's cultural diversity, and giving Canadians a sense of global identity and culture.  But Canada's ethnic history should also be recognized, not just the latest 20 years.

The CBC radio producer liked what I had to say.  She recognized that I was neither a Chinese mother-tongue speaker nor a multi-generational White Canadian – but a little of both.  So… I might be on the panel discussion for The Current on Friday morning for Dec 14th.  Cross your fingers.  I might shake things up and challenge both the status quo and the new immigration patterns.

Check out CBC Radio's The Current's story on “Ethnoburbs” – how ethnic populations are increasingly settling in the suburbs or Canada's major city centres of Vancouver and Toronto.

The Current: Part 3


Census – Ethnoburbs

Statistics Canada has released the data on immigration from the 2006 Census,
and there are some interesting findings. More than a million people
came to Canada between 2001 and 2006. And while they're still
gravitating to major urban centres like Toronto, Vancouver and
Montreal, they're heading increasingly to big, suburban centres like Markham, Ontario and Richmond, British Columbia. In fact, both of those cities are now home to more people born outside Canada than in Canada.

Rosemary Bender joined us for a look at the hard numbers. She is the
Director General for Social and Demographic Statistics with Statistics
Canada and she was in Vancouver.

Ethnoburbs – Voices

Well, as you heard, immigrants to Canada make up the fastest
growing demographic in the country. And along with that growth, suburbs
on the outskirts of Canada's biggest cities are growing along with them.

The city of Markham sits roughly 30 kilometres northeast of downtown
Toronto. Of the 260 000 or so people who live there, 56% are
immigrants. The community is peppered with huge asian malls and
restaurants catering to its primarily Chinese community. The Current
producer Dominic Girard stopped in earlier this week to see how the
cultures are mingling — or clashing. He took in some line dancing and
snooker at the Markham Seniors Activity Centre, met with a city
councillor, and chatted up a young man working a cell phone shop in one
of the asian malls.

Ethnoburbs – Panel

Today's numbers raise questions about whether ethnic enclaves are a
place to start out in and move out of, or are they becoming a place to
stay permanently — and what is the impact of that on Canadian society.

Sudha Krishna
is a former CBC journalist and now a partner in a Vancouver new media
company called The Nimble Company, and he was in our Vancouver studio. Dr. Myer Siemiatycki
is the director of the graduate program in Immigration and Settlement
Studies at Ryerson University. And Howard Chen is the president of the Chinese Professional Association of Canada and a resident of Markham, Ontario. Both were in our Toronto studio.

Chinese singing, Greek-Canadian George Sapounidis hosts CBC TV Special about the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

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Todd Wong anbd George Sapoundis – with dancers from the Vancouver Academy of Dance – all featured in the 2004 CBC TV performance special Gung Haggis Fat Choy – photo Todd Wong collection.

George Sapounidis, that Montreal-born, Greek-Canadian, who sings in Chinese-Mandarin… will be hosting a CBC TV Special about the Beijing Summer Olympic Games.

George was featured in the CBC Vancouver television performance special titled “Gung Haggis Fat Choy.”

George is a very funny, warm human being – who loves meeting people, especially women.
I was fortunate to meet him in 2005.

Hi friends of Chairman George
 !     You are welcome to watch this Sunday at 4pm . 
I am hosting a national show on
CBC Television .
Let me know how you like it .
 
George 
Sapounidis  'Chairman George'
————————————————————
CBC
TV Special :   China-Canada Hand in
Hand – A
Celebration of the Olympics  

Host :  
George Sapounidis  'Chairman George' 

In August of 2008 China will host
more than 200 countries and their finest athletes to compete at the Beijing
Summer Olympic Games.  This CBC Television Special features some
of the finest performers from China and Canada coming together to countdown
to the Beijing Olympic Games. 

Air dates :

1) CBC TV main network : Sunday, December 9,
2007 at 4PM (ET)
2) CBC Country Canada : Saturday,
December 15, 2007 at 1PM (ET) and 7PM (ET)  

Firehall's Ecstasy of Rita Joe enthralls and bites with both performance and social commentary

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The
Ecstasy of Rita Joe

by
George Ryga

until 8
December 2007

The Firehall
Arts Centre, Vancouver

Director
Donna Spencer


This Canadian classic theatre work is still strong and disturbing.  Remounted on its 40th Anniversary for the Firehall Arts Centre’s 25th Anniversary, this production of The Ecstasy of Rita Joe stuns audiences with not only the power of its story and acting – but now with the resonance of history’s truths and tragedy.   Playwright George Ryga’s words are still haunting and critical 20 years after his death in 1987.

Firehall Arts Centre artistic director Donna Spencer has assembled a stellar cast, and directed the production herself, as well as playing the role of school teacher.  And forty years later, the deterioration of Vancouver’s downtown eastside, the continued plight of urban aboriginal peoples, the issues of the Residential School system, the memories of both Oka and Gustaphson Lake First Nations stand-offs with the RCMP, play as much a sociological backdrop as the appointment of Steven Point to Lieutenant Governor of BC, international recognition of Haida and Musqueam artists, and recent Land Claim settlements.

The 1967 premiere of Ecstasy of Rita Joe was both a triumph and tragedy.  It was the first play about Aboriginal issues on a major theatre stage to be taken seriously, shocking audiences with the plight of a First Nations woman from the countryside, who is caught in a downward spiral, trapped by the unforgiving forces of the city. 

The original Vancouver Playhouse production is legendary in Canadian arts, produced by artistic director Joy Coghill, and directed by George Bloomfield, as was the remount which became the first English language play production at the National Arts Centre in 1969.   George Ryga expanded the role of Rita Joe’s father, when
Chief Dan George stepped into the role.  Ann Mortifee was the young ingénue when she wrote the music for the play, performing it in her role as musician/singer.  George was appointed an officer of the Order of Canada in 1971, while Coghill and Mortifee became members of the Order of Canada in 1990 and 1991.

But the Firehall Arts Centre's production is a worthy contender. 

Lisa Ravensberg is mesmerizing as Rita Joe, alternately capturing both the innocence and bewilderment of the young native woman, lost in the city’s bureaucratic judicial system.   Standing before the magistrate, played sensitively by William B. Davis, more famously known as “cancer man” in the X-Files, Rita Joe tells him she is confused and just wants to go home. 

But she can’t go home.  She is now a victim, stuck in a system of constantly being discriminately charged from vagrancy to prostitution. And she doesn’t know how to get out.

Rita Joe’s boyfriend Jamie Paul is trying to make something of himself in the city.  Kevin Loring steps energetically into the role of Jamie Paul, playing both the sweet and caring boyfriend, as well as the proud angry and indignant young First Nations man, that refuses to be patronized.  He rejects the old ways of Rita’s father (Byron Chief Moon) who is also Chief of the Reserve, the kindly social worker Mr. Homer (Alvin Sanders) who gives Jamie Paul, Rita and his friends “hand-outs”, and he criticizes the Indian agent and the government’s policies.

Duncan Fraser is powerfully subtle the Priest, We see him genuinely concerned at Rita’s plight when he visits her from the reserve in the city jail.  He naively talks to her about God’s love and gently touches her, but Rita repulsively rejects his hand in a move that hints at the sexual abuse of the Church’s role in the Residential School system.

Byron Chief Moon plays the Father, the role originated by Chief Dan George.  He is tall with a gentle loving and thoughtful presence.  His scenes with a young Rita are joyful, but turn sad when he risks his health to visit her in the city in an effort to bring her back to the reserve.

Tricia Collins as Rita Joe’s sister is a wonderful counterpoint to Ravensberg’s Rita Joe.  Although a minor character, Collin’s beauty and portrayal of her character’s return to the Reserve contrasts with the ugliness of Rita’s continued entrapment in the city, and the plight of urban natives with alcohol, drugs and cultural misunderstanding.

William B. Davis has the most challenging job as The Magistrate.  He must work with dialogue that seems patronizing, didactic and dated, yet still find a way to be understanding and caring.  He carries this through with a balance that is infused with the 40 year bittersweet knowledge of what the Aboriginal communities have suffered and triumphed over.  It is up to the audience to be the real judge of how society relates to Canada's Native population.

In the final scene, Rita Joe's sister and father walk out with First Nations drummer and singers.  Rita's father sings a lament.  Another song is followed by Collins and a singer.  It as much a tribute to the passing of Rita Joe, as it is to the new understandings of First Nations culture in our society.  I spoke to cast members after the opening night performance, and they told me this was an addition to the script, which they felt was a fitting and very appropriate

The Ecstasy of Rita Joe is still a powerful work, that despite its long acknowledged structural flaws, continues to work in its abilities as social commentary and wonderful vehicle for actors and production team.  One of the biggest compliments must go to actor Lisa Ravensburg, who immerses herself so convincingly in the role of  a realistically desperate First Nations woman that is all too commonly seen along the Hastings & Main vicinity, that my companion did not recognize her at the opening night reception – where I introduced him to several of the actors.

“This play carries a message all Canada should hear,“wrote Chief Dan George in the preface of the first publication.  These are words that are relevant and compelling in 1967 as they are forty years later in 2007 to go see this play.

Personal note:

I wanted to see “The Ecstasy of Rita Joe” for many reasons:

Check out these recent reviews:

Vancouver Province: Here's the definitive Rita Joe

reviewvancouver: The Ecstasy of Rita Joe