CCNC releases Election Primer for Chinese Canadians urging them to vote and make a difference

Chinese
Canadian National Council

News
Release: December 23 2005

Chinese
Canadians Launch 2006 Election Primer; Urges Community To Vote

TORONTO. The
Chinese Canadian National Council launched its 2006 Election Primer today.
“Head Tax redress has become a key community driven election
issue,” Colleen Hua, CCNC National President said today.
“We’ve developed a questionnaire of 12 questions on a range of
topics for the Party Leaders and for the community to use when candidates knock
at their door.” 

With most of the more than one million
Chinese Canadians living in urban ridings, the federal Parties need to pay
attention to the concerns of the Chinese Canadian community. “There are
no less than 14 candidates of Chinese descent running for elected office and
Chinese Canadians are involved at all levels of this federal campaign,”
Dr. Joseph Wong, Founding President of CCNC said today, “CCNC and
equality-seeking groups urge prospective voters to register, to become familiar
with the issues, to ask questions of candidates and to vote in this upcoming
election.” 

The youth vote is important in this
election if we want an elected government that reflects all aspects of Canadian
society.  “Currently International Students are being directed to
contact their local Embassy for assistance in the case of an emergency,”
Christine Li, Co-Founder of the Chinese Canadian National Youth Council said
today.  “What is the federal government’s responsibility to
safeguard and attend to the well-being of thousands of international students
living away from home?”

NGOs face a funding crunch every year due
to the elimination of core funding some years ago. “Actually, it was
then-Finance Minister Paul Martin who delivered that lump of coal a few years
ago,” Victor Wong, CCNC Executive Director said today.
“Community-based organizations contribute greatly to society by promoting
positive social change and their efforts should be supported by the
Parties.”  

CCNC is a national human
rights organization with 27 chapters across Canada. CCNC is joined in the
campaign for redress of the Head Tax and Chinese Exclusion Act by the Ontario
Coalition of Chinese Head Tax Payers and Families, BC Coalition of Head Tax
Payers Spouses and Descendants, Chinese Canadian Redress Alliance, the Association
of Chinese Canadians for Equality and Solidarity Society, and Metro Toronto
Chinese and South East Asian Legal Clinic. 

-30-

For media interviews with Chinese
Canadian National Council, please contact

Colleen Hua (647) 299-1775
Sid Tan (604) 783-1853

2006 CCNC ELECTION PRIMER

 REDRESS 

Canada's
“National Dream” was realized when the Last Spike was driven to
complete the transcontinental railway in 1885. The ceremony excluded the
Chinese railway workers who blasted through the Rockies
and lay the tracks and, for thousands, gave their lives to the building of this
country.

Instead of gratitude, the government
imposed the head tax on all new Chinese immigrants – $50 in 1885,
increased to $100 in 1900 and finally $500 in 1903. In all, $23 million in head
taxes was paid. Finally, in 1923, the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed to stop
Chinese immigration altogether until the legislation was repealed in 1947.

Question
1:
Do you support an all-party Parliamentary resolution to acknowledge the
injustice and racial discrimination, and to recognize the suffering of
individual Chinese Canadians, their families, and the entire Chinese Canadian
community that resulted from this legislated racism, including the emotional
and financial hardship, and the forced separation of families?

The Chinese Canadian National Council
(CCNC) started in 1984 to campaign for redress for the 62 years of legislated
racism. Over 4,000 head taxpayers and families registered with CCNC across Canada.
But after 20 years of foot dragging by successive federal governments, there
are only a couple hundred head tax payers or surviving spouses alive today.

Question
2:
Do you support the return of a symbolic amount to the approximately 250
surviving head tax payers and surviving spouses? 

In its 2005 federal budget, Prime
Minister Paul Martin’s government set aside $25 million to address
redress claims from several communities but it set preconditions on the
so-called Acknowledgement, Commemoration and Education [ACE] program: “no
apology, no compensation”. Despite widespread opposition, the government
rushed to sign an agreement in principle to allocate $2.5 million from the ACE
program to the National Congress of Chinese Canadians which accepted the
preconditions but which does not represent head tax families.

Question
3:
Will you rescind the agreement in principle signed with the Congress and stop
payment on the $2.5 million ACE program funds identified therein? 

The process of reconciliation cannot
begin until the federal government deals directly with those most affected: the
head tax families. It must also negotiate in good faith with groups that the
head tax families themselves chose to represent them, not those that the
government chooses for them. 

Question
4:
Do you support good-faith negotiations with the representatives of head tax
families as to the nature and extent of redress for the impact of 62 years of
legislated racism on head tax families and the Chinese Canadian community as a
whole, including a transparent and legitimate process of gathering input from
the head tax families and the broader Chinese Canadian community?

IMMIGRATION

It is unfair and discriminatory that
there are serious backlogs in processing immigration and sponsorship
applications in Beijing and Hong Kong locations
where Chinese applicants are concentrated, especially in comparison to other
locations such as Paris or London.  Delays are particularly long
for sponsorship applications.

Question
5: 
What would your Party do to reduce the long waiting time for these applicants?

Many Canadians feel that the current
point system is too stringent and screens out many qualified applicants. Its
emphasis on language capability discriminates against immigrants who are not of
Francophone or Anglophone background. In addition, Canada's immigration levels are not
meeting target levels, despite the continuing need for workers to build our
economy.

Question
6:
What is your Party's plan to reduce barriers to independent immigrants to Canada?

INTERNATIONAL
STUDENTS

This past summer, international students
attending university in St. John, New Brunswick, were attacked by local youth;
the story making national headlines. The Canadian Government for all its good
intentions, has not been effective in curtailing the growing number of violent
incidents targetted at international students.  Recently, two
international students were shot to death in Ottawa.

Question
7:
What is your Party's policy on the role of the Canadian Government in guarding
the well-being of International Students after they enter Canada?

CORE
FUNDING

Community-based organizations no longer
receive core funding for their daily operations and staffing resources which
has significantly impeded the participation of organizations in supporting
social change and community capacity building.  While transparent
processes and accountability are important, it is also important that the
government recognize and acknowledge the contribution of non-profit
organizations in maintaining and sustaining a stable, healthy Canadian
society.  Project funding is time limited, targetted, and does not
acknowledge the infrastructure needed to implement and deliver results.   

Question
8:
What will your Party do to restore core funding to community-based
organizations?

HEALTH

Canada is known
for its universal health care system that provides free health care for all its
citizens and ensures there are no barriers to accessing health care in every
jurisdiction of the country. 

Question
9:
What will your Party do to ensure that Canada’s Health Care System
continues to be a universal right of every Canadian and prevent the growth of
the private for-profit system? 

Health care is a right of every Canadian,
but many people living in Canada, who are not citizens, continue to contribute
to the growth and development of Canada’s economic system while waiting
to be naturalized.   

Question
10: What will your Party do to ensure that people who are not
citizens living in Canada,
continue to have access to health care while they are waiting to be
naturalized?

Canada is a
diverse country that is composed of people from a variety of different
cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds.  Along with languages, and
culture, people bring with them different approaches and understandings of health
and health care. 

Question
11: What will your Party do to work towards the recognition and
resourcing of different approaches to health care?   

EMPLOYMENT

There is a built in assumption that our
immigration eligibility criteria matches the needs of the country, particularly
with respect to employment opportunities.  Because of a lack of
coordination and resources on the part of the government, many newcomers who
are successful in their applications to come to Canada, are not able to find
employment in their area of expertise and find themselves unemployed or working
in jobs where they are enormously over qualified.   

Question
12: What will your Party do to ensure that a plan is developed
and implemented to facilitate and expedite the accreditation process for
internationally trained professionals?

Partial
List of Federal Candidates of Chinese Descent (2006 Election)

Bloc
Quebecois

May
Chiu                    
Quebec
Meili
Faille                   
Quebec

 Conservative
Party

 Michael Chong            
Ontario
Joe
Li                          
Ontario
Inky
Mark                   
Manitoba
Kanman Wong
            British Columbia

 Liberal
Party

Raymond Chan
            British Columbia
Soeung Tang   
            Quebec
Dobie
To                     
Alberta
Simon
Yu                    
British Columbia

New
Democratic Party

John
Chan                   
Alberta
Olivia
Chow                
Ontario
Mary-Woo
Sims          British Columbia
Helen
Yum                  
Saskatchewan

Head Tax on CBC TV with Oliva Chow vs Raymond Chan

CBC TV hosted Toronto Councillor & NDP candidate and Raymond
Chan Minister of State (Multiculturalism) on TV this morning. 
This issues is becoming big and bigger as more and more Chinese
Canadian head tax descendants become more aware of the issue.  I
just had a phone call from a stranger that saw the broadcast – and
asked me how to find her grandfather's documentation.  Expect this
more and more…

Host(s): MIKE DUFFY

MIKE DUFFY: Well a murky chapter in Canadian history has resurfaced in this
federal election campaign. Just prior to the fall of the minority government,
the Liberals announced an agreement with the Chinese-Canadian community. They
would be given millions of dollars to build an educational facility to
acknowledge that Canada had put restrictions on Chinese immigrants called a
head tax which was in place from 19, I'm sorry 1885 to 1923. But many
people say the deal doesn't go far enough. Others say it will open up a
Pandora's box of litigations from other ethnic groups. Joining me tonight in
Vancouver, the Minister of Multiculturalism, the Honourable Raymond Chan, and in
Toronto the NDP candidate in that city Olivia Chow. So, Ms Chow, what's wrong
with the proposal the government's put forward to recognize that the head
tax was a wrong thing?

OLIVIA CHOW (NDP Candidate): I don't know, Mike, why it's so difficult for a
Canadian government, the Liberal party, to actually say “sorry”, apologize for
the wrong so that the 250 people that are still left, that are still alive that
have paid a head tax could at least get a sense of justice. Apologize and
then begin the reconciliation talk so that they can perhaps get a symbolic
compensation. Doesn't have to be too much. We did it for the Japanese-Canadians.
Why can't we do it for the Chinese-Canadians?

DUFFY: Let me just go back over the ground for people who may not be aware of
this issue. What the government is saying is that instead of giving money to
individual people who were harmed by this, as the Mulroney government did for
the Japanese who were interned during the Second World War, the Martin
government is saying let's give a general grant to the community and let the
community use it to build a kind of cultural centre, a memorial museum to remind
future generations of what happened. So there is a different approach between
the two.

CHOW: It's also, the way the money's being doled out is not at all
transparent. And one of the groups that are receiving the money is not formally
established yet. The Montreal Cultural Centre that was announced actually
doesn't quite formally exist. So it's murky in the way that where is the money
going, what's the formal application process, who is qualified? Are these people
are special connected friends of the Liberal party? Is that why they are getting
the money?

DUFFY: No, no, they would never do that.

CHOW: Well I don't know what the Gomery inquiry is all about.

DUFFY: The culture of entitlement. Well, we've lost Minister Chan somehow.
The satellite went down. We're working on that.

CHOW: Maybe it is the ghost of the people that have actually passed away.
It's actually quite sad.

DUFFY: It's not a very good omen. But while we try to get him back, how
serious is the division within the Chinese-Canadian community?

CHOW: If you consider the day that this was announced, this deal was
announced, it was all very secretive, but when it was announced, one of the
local Chinese stations did a poll. Eighty-eight percent of the Chinese-Canadians
that phoned in said, no, this is terrible. This is not good. Twelve percent said
ah, maybe this is a good thing. So you can tell that a lot of people said, look,
already a lot of these seniors have passed away and shouldn't we at bare minimum
apologize and then do the reconciliation so that a historical wrong can be
overcome. And just going, just throwing the money out there is a wasteful of
money and it doesn't do anything.

DUFFY: So the choice, and we're still trying to get Minister Chan, so the
choice is between giving several million dollars to a community centre to build
a kind of museum, and giving cheques to individual people. Would it be the same
amount of money? What if somebody who doesn't know this says, oh, they're just
looking for free money from the government.

CHOW: Well, actually there are certificates that they have to pay. It doesn't
have to be a big amount. It could also just be a symbolic amount. And maybe some
of these head taxpayers don't even want the money. I think the key thing is
respect them, ask them what they want to do with the money. Some of them may not
want the money. They may want to use it for education purposes. Fine. But at
least ask them, respect them. One of the group that…

DUFFY: Ms. Chow, I'm sorry, the Minister is back on the line. Minister, our
sincere apology, I don't know what happened. You've been able to hear our
discussion? RAYMOND CHAN (Minister of Multiculturalism): Yes I have been
listening.

DUFFY: We just didn't have your picture and sound. So now you've heard Ms
Chow's point of view. Tell us why the government did what it's doing and what
you hope the reaction from the community will be.

CHAN: First of all, the head tax thing is a very terrible thing that
the past government have done in the 100 years ago. And…

DUFFY: Maybe some Canadians don't understand that. Any Chinese coming to
Canada during that period from 1885 to 1920, whatever, had to pay how much for
every single person? They had to pay the Canadian government to come here.

CHAN: Close to about $500. And it is something that is terribly wrong.

DUFFY: And in those days it was a heck of a lot of money.

CHOW: You could buy a house.

CHAN: The issue is, Mike, is that the government's position is that we have
to acknowledge that this kind of thing was terribly wrong, and then we have to
commemorate and educate our children and the children of our children to the
dark pages of our history and make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen again.
But the issue is that an apology would open up the Canadian taxpayers for
unlimited liability, financial liability, and that's why you can't do it.

CHOW: Oh, excuse me. You know, this whole case has gone to the Supreme Court,
and the courts have said that this is a political issue, that apology is fine,
and they have the court case.

CHAN: No.

CHOW: They have a court case, and legally there is no other route to go, so
don't hide behind the legal pressure. Japanese-Canadians had no problem. They
had a compensation.

CHAN: The court has said that the government is not liable, but even if they
are not liable and yet we still apologize and pay out compensation that would
open up all the cases for everybody else.

DUFFY: It becomes an admission of guilt. You are afraid it becomes… CHAN:
And also legally liability.

CHOW: No.

CHAN: For limited financial cases.

CHOW: Minister, it has gone to the, Minister, it has gone to the court.

CHAN: That's right.

CHOW: The court said that there is no case for it. So the whole liability,
the legal issue is a red herring. Why wouldn't you apologize? Brian Mulroney,
even though I'm not a Tory, apologized. There was no legal case. Nothing
happened. He apologized.

DUFFY: But Ms Chow.

CHOW: So why is that a problem?

UFFY: Sorry, we're almost out of time.
Interesting, Pierre Trudeau said no way to any group, not to the Japanese, the
Chinese, no one because he said we are not responsible for the sins of our
fathers. Brian Mulroney opened to the Japanese, and now minister, you've got all
of this on your plate, not just the Chinese but many other groups, right?

CHAN: Everybody else, because the issue is that even though the courts have
said that we're not liable. but at the same time if he decided to come and
apologize then that will lead the government to be liable for everything that
the courts said we're not liable for. And that would expose the Canadian
taxpayer for unlimited financial liability.

CHOW: So let me ask you then, if you don't want to apologize, you don't want
to compensate, why are you putting aside that money, and why isn't that money
open for different groups to apply. What is it the criteria? You know that $2.5
million there is no criteria.

CHAN: This is a problem of you that you keep on… CHOW: Canadian household.

CHAN: You keep on saying that we hand out money, and now you are saying that
we have not handed out money.

CHOW: You did.

CHAN: We have not. We're just coming together with the Chinese community to
form a foundation with people from the success, from the Chinese cultural
association across Canada, with the Chinese Free Masons. We never seen that kind
of historical support from across the country of the Chinese community on one
single government project. They come together to form a foundation and then they
would judge which project they should finance and which ones they shouldn't.

DUFFY: Mr. Minister, Olivia Chow, thank you both for joining us. Terribly
sorry for the technical problems earlier. That's what happens sometimes with
live TV. We appreciate you both for coming in tonight.

–30–

Successful Dec 18 meeting for head tax payers and descendants

A good meeting today with lots of action and movement.  Sid counted
about 85 people attending our meeting.  I chaired, with interpretation
from Gabriel, and Joseph.  Also speaking were Sid, Foon, Thekla and
our special Toronto guest Dora Nipp.

We followed the agenda with a few additions which were:
1 – Do we organize officially under the societies act and with what name – generally the answer was Yes – and same name
2 – Eric Chan is doing a documentary and interviewing people willing to share stories about head tax and exclusion
3 – Talk by Dora Nipp, and what is happening in Toronto and Ontario
4 – Cynthia is doing an art project and would like copies of head tax certifcate images

Lots of people commented on what we could
do.  They brought photocopies of head tax certificates, and they signed
petitions, and they took petitions and information sheets home with
them.

Our strategy for the Christmas break is to go enjoy our
parties with families and friends, and share with them the head tax
redress issues.  It is important that our numbers will grow.

In January we will:
1 – hold workshops on how to research your family head tax certificate
2 – hold information sessions/meetings on head issues as we have been doing.
3 – collect stories on head tax payers and descendants
4 – organize all-candidate meetings on head tax issues.

Our next meeting will be January 8th – 1:30pm
Sunday at Quan Lung Sai Tong Association
164 East Hastings St. – just across the lane from Carnegie Centre.

For more information
please contact myself Todd Wong 604-240-7090
or Sid Tan 604-433-6169

Foon Chang presents head tax certificate copy to NDP leader Jack Layton in Vancouver

NDP
leader Jack Layton accepts a copy of the Head Tax certifate of Foon
Sing's  now deceased father-in-law, with NDP candidate Mary-Woo
Sims – photo Ron Kidd.

At an NDP rally this morning in Vancouver at
Subeez Restaurant.  Foon Chang cautiously and courageously approached
NDP federal leader Jack Layton with a copy of the head tax certificate
of her now deceased father-in-law.  She is a Chinese language speaker
and unsure of her English language skills.

Mary-Woo Sims, NDP
candidate for Port Moody-Westwood-Coquitlam translated to Jack Layton
that Foon Chang had wanted to give a copy of the certificate to him,
and that she had made a promise to her dying father-in-law that she
would continue to seek redress for him.  Jack expressed his thanks to
Foon Chang, and Foon Chang said that she felt deep gratitude in being
able to ask Layton for his support, and that he was willing and
committed to helping resolve a fair redress.

Layton told Foon
Chang that the NDP has been working for 20 years to seek redress in
parliament for head tax payers.  He also told her that his wife Olivia
Chow is a head tax redress advocate in Toronto, and said a few words of “thank you” in
both Mandarin and Cantonese.

Foon Chang told me that she is looking foward to the 1pm meeting on
Sunday, Dec 18th, organized by the BC Coalition for Head Tax Payers and
Descendants, to be held at Quan Lung Sai Tong Association at 164 East
Hastings St.

picture to follow soon!