Category Archives: Main Page

Saltwater City TV: featuring Larissa Lai, Daphne Marlatt, Roy Miki, Ula Shines and Sean Gunn

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Here's the latest programming for Saltwater City
- courtesey of Sid Tan

Saltwater City TV:
Featuring Larissa Lai, Daphne Marlatt, Roy Miki, 
Sean Gunn and Ula Shines

Sunday July 3 at 1:00PM
Monday July 4 at 10:30PM
Thursday July 7 at 2:30PM
Saturday July 9 at 11:30AM

Larissa Lai reads from her novel-in-progress - The Corrupted Text - and
shares some thoughts on activism, criticism and creativity. Includes
introduction by Daphne Marlatt, Writer-in-Residence at Simon Fraser
University. Saltwater City TV premieres this broadcast Sunday July 3,
2005 with repeats (schedule follows) on $haw cable 4, the community
channel.

Taped June 23, 2005 during the transCanada Literature - Institutions -
Citizenship conference at Simon Fraser University. Volunteer-produced 
by Roy Miki and Sid Tan with many thanks to the volunteers, organisers and
participants.

Also on the show, Head Tax Blues (with new visuals) performed by Sean 
Gunn and Ula Shine. This music video is also on-line www.ccnc.ca courtesy 
the Chinese Canadian National Council Culture On-line youth project.

On $haw cable 4 - the community channel - in Greater Vancouver and
Fraser Valley. Saltwater City TV broadcasts thanks to ICTV exercising
its entitlement to access to Shaw cable 4, the cable community channel.

If you want copies, set your VCR to record it. Or ask a friend. It
takes alot of time to respond to requests for copies, especially since
this is volunteer community television and we have hard costs for 
tapes,transportation and refreshments. And yes, you are always welcome to 
sendin a couple of dollars to support ICTV and citizen-access to the public
airwaves. Make cheque out to ICTV but put transmitter fund on it.


Mother Tongue TV Show airs in Toronto – all about female ethnic heroines…

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Here's a message
from my Toronto friend Susan Poizner who has produced a very cool new
television show about female heroines from Canada's culturally diverse
landscape.

SNEAK PREVIEW OF MOTHER TONGUE TV SERIES ON SATURDAY

When: Saturday July
2, 2005 @ 12.30 EDT
Network: TVOntario
What:  Mother Tongue,
Which episode:
“Eliza Parker:
Fighting for Freedom”
For more information:
www.mothertongue.ca

Those who participated in the development of the
Mother Tongue series can see what the series will look like when it premieres
this fall by tuning in to TVOntario this Saturday at 12.30.

TVO will be playing a new, re-packaged version of the
pilot program about Eliza Parker, a runaway slave and freedom fighter who was
involved in an uprising against slavery in 1851.

In “Eliza Parker: Fighting for Freedom”,
Eliza’s  great-great-granddaughter Toni Parker tells her ancestor’s
dramatic story. In the new version there are updated graphics, music, sound-mix
and editing.
The Mother Tongue series proudly celebrates the
“herstory” of 13 true-life heroines from Canada’s
diverse ethnic communities, ranging from the Chinese in BC to the Acadians in New Brunswick.

The Mother Tongue website is up and running at www.mothertongue.ca
– here you can
explore the stories featured in this year’s series – or submit the
story of one of your ancestors.  The top submissions may be chosen to feature
in an upcoming episode of Mother Tongue.

Check the website from time to time to verify
broadcast times for each of the shows as new broadcasters come on board. Also,
broadcasters sometimes need to change their launch dates last minute.

Thanks for participating in Mother Tongue and keep in touch!

Best wishes,
Susan Poizner
Producer
Mother Tongue
www.mothertongue.ca info@mothertongue.ca

TRIBUTE TO THE VANCOUVER ASAHI BASEBALL TEAM – at Nat Bailey Stadium

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Here's something fun and historical at the same time.
The Vancouver Asahi Baseball team is set to receive more 
accolades and acceptance from Vancouverites.

also... Check out the NFB film: 
Sleeping Tigers: The Asahi Baseball Story 
about this very special team, which will also be shown at the 
Vancouver Public Library on August 11,
at the Central Branch Alice Mackay Room. 



The Vancouver Canadians Professional Baseball Team presents:

TRIBUTE TO THE VANCOUVER ASAHI BASEBALL TEAM

Tuesday, July 5, 2005
7:00 PM
General Admission $8

Nat Bailey Stadium
4601 Ontario St. (E. 30th Ave. at Ontario St.), Vancouver

The Vancouver Canadians Baseball Team pays tribute to the 
legendary Vancouver Asahi in a ceremony held between innings 
at the Canadians'  baseball game on the evening of Tuesday, July 5. 
Kaye Kaminishi, Asahi third baseman and one of six surviving 
Asahi players, will be presented with a certificate during the tribute.

Asahi fans and supporters are invited to attend the game, 
and will be seated together in the Red Seating Area of Section 2, 
along the first base line. Tickets for the game may be purchased
from the Vancouver Canadians by phone (604-872-5232), 
online (www.canadiansbaseball.com) 
or at the Nat Bailey Stadium Box office before the game. 

Radio station Jack FM is sponsoring community appreciation 
activities at the game, and tickets will be two-for-one at the 
Nat Bailey Stadium Box office if you say "I listen to Jack"
 when purchasing tickets. Please note that the discount applies 
to box office sales on game day only. 

The Asahi baseball team has been honoured on several recent 
occasions.  These honours include induction into the BC Sports 
Hall of Fame in 2005 and into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame 
in 2003. 

The Japanese Canadian National Museum will have a small Asahi 
exhibit and will sell Asahi merchandise at the stadium that evening.  Funds 
raised from Asahi merchandise sales go toward the upcoming 
Asahi exhibition at the JCNM. Contact: Jason Lee at the Japanese
Canadian National Museum.

E-mail: jlee@nikkeiplace.org
Tel: 604-777-7000 ext. 113

The Asian Mystique – author Reading by Sheridan Prasso

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From the Vancouver Public Library Website

www.vpl.ca

This event is also co-sponsored by Asian Canadian Writer's Workshop and Rice Paper Magazine
Author Reading
Presentation  The Asian Mystique by Sheridan Prasso
Program highlights  Prize-winning journalist and Asia expert Sheridan Prasso reads from her new book The Asian Mystique: Dragon Ladies, Geisha Girls, & Our Fantasies of the Exotic Orient.
This is a provocative critique of the West's eroticized illusions about
Asia and how profoundly these illusions colour our social, cultural,
business, personal, and political interactions.
Date  Wednesday, June 29th 2005
Time  7:30pm
Location 

Central Library
Alice MacKay room – Lower Level
350 W. Georgia St.
Phone: (604) 331-3603
Admission  Free

Todd joins the Canadian Club of Vancouver

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The Canadian Club is one of Canada's oldest and prestigious
associations, founded in 1906.  There are chapter clubs all across
Canada.
Click here for the list
http://www.canadianclub.ca/The%20Clubs%20Actitivities/
Clubs.htm

I was invited to join the board of the Canadian Club, and was elected
at the 2005 Annual General Meeting on Tuesday, June 28th.  And so
I join other illustrious board directors such as the Hon. Garde Gardom,
former Lt. Gov. of BC.  Tuesday's luncheon honoured all the
winners of the SOARS program, which recognizes excellence for high
school students in the areas sucha as academics, sports, citizenship.

Following the luncheon,  The Hon. Garde Gardom made a gracious
point of congratulating each of SOARS winners as well as the new board
directors.

The Canadian Club is planning on presenting more special events rather
than their monthly luncheons.  This is both to reflect the
increasing diversity and specialness of Canada.  I  know that
I am looking forward to contributing to the programming and
presentation side of theses events.

Busy multicultural Weekend – BC Highland Games + Greek Day

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With Sunnette Jones and Bruce Jarvis – photo by Margaret Ferguson

What a busy multicultural weekend!

I attended both BC Highland Games in Coquitlam and Greek Day in
Vancouver.  Both were very promotional of their respective
cultures, but each had a very different atmosphere.

BC Highland Games is
held at Coquitlam Town Centre Stadium.  There are competitions for
Highland Dancing, Piping, Drumming as well as sports events such as
caber tossing etc.  There is also a “market” set up for vendors +
information booths for the various clans and Scottish heritage
societies. The beer garden opened up in the late afternoon. For the
evening there is a concert.  The big highlight is the Grand parade
of the Pipe Bands.

Greek Day is a multi-block long
“block party.” All the restaurants set up mini bbqs on the sidewalk +
there are food stands for Greek foods + wine and beer.  There were
two main stages set up on cross streets that featured Greek traditional
dancing and musical performances.  We were able to catch the
closing ceremonies where all the VIP's got a chance to say
something.  These included the consul from the Greek Consulate,
Premier Gordon Campbell who introduced the new provincial finance
minister Carole Taylor and former Vancouver Mayor Art Phillips, Acting
Mayor Fred Bass (in Larry Campbell's absence) + some of the key
festival organizers. 

Streams of people moved East and West along Broadway and I found I
missed the sea of kilts I experienced the previous day. It was amazing
to be immersed in “Everything Scottish” and I wished it could have been
for so for Greek Day too… but walking admidst all the people enjoying
the Greek theme block party… I decided I would love to see a
“Hawaiian Day” party somewhere in Vancouver – where everybody could be
“Hawaiian, and we could celebrate the Hawaiian pioneer culture in BC,
where the “kanaka's” lived in Ft. Langley and on Saltspring Island, and
where Hawaiian culture is celebrated every winter by Vancouverites
travelling to the Hawaiian Islands…  oh and I want to start a
Scottish Day festival… where everybody can walk around in Kilts –
maybe along Water St in Gastown, and we can celebrate the Scottish
pionneers who helped build Vancouver in the 1800's.

Gim Wong's “Ride for Redress” arriving in Toronto ON. Dinner at Bright Pearl Restaurant with CCNC.

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Gim Wong and son Jefferey arrived in Sudbury Ontario, 
Their Toronto arrival is expected for Sunday.

Lily Cheung <lily@ccnc.ca> wrote:

Hi Everyone, 
I just got off the phone with Yew from Sudbury. He mentioned Gim and 
Jeffery will be arriving between 5pm - 6pm in Toronto at CCNC tomorrow 
(Sunday). 
Would anyone be interested in meeting with them before heading down to
Bright Pearl Restaurant for 6:30pm? I'll be at the CCNC office in the
afternoon to make some phone calls. Just call and let me know.
Cheers,
Lily
416-977-9871


Gim Wong's “Ride For Redress” covered by “The Sudbury Star” newspaper

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See below for a newstory from
The Sudbury Star.

http://www.thesudburystar.com/webapp/
sitepages/printable.asp?paper=
www.thesudburystar.com&contentID
=115184&annewspapername=The+Sudbury+Star


By Laura Stradiotto/The Sudbury Star

Saturday, June 25, 2005 - 11:00

Local News - Gim Foon Wong has just finishing riding 1,000 km in the 
last two days on his Gold Wind motorcycle.

“It’s a miracle we’re here,” said Wong, tired but alert after arriving 
in Sudbury at 3 a.m. Friday.

The 82-year-old left Beacon Hill Park in Vancouver on June 3 and is 
travelling across Canada in an effort to raise awareness about the Chinese 
Head Tax and deliver a message to the Prime Minister.

His son, Jeff, is travelling behind in a 1979 Chev van with a handmade 
wooden trailer that snapped in half in Winnipeg.

The father-son team is trying to get back on schedule in order to 
arrive in Ottawa on Canada Day, the same day 82 years ago that the Canadian 
government implemented the Chinese Exclusion Act, which stopped Chinese 
immigration until it was repealed in 1947.

Wong, a World War Two airforce veteran, plans to dress in his old 
uniform, drive up to Parliament in his motorcycle and hand over a petition 
demanding a redress of the immigration tax.

Between 1881 and 1885, Chinese men were recruited overseas as a cheap 
source of labour to perform some of the most dangerous jobs building the 
Canadian Pacific Rail.

The Canadian government imposed a $50 head tax in 1885 and later 
increased the fee to $500 — the equivalent of two years salary — in 1903.

Wong’s father had to pay the hefty fee, which could have bought two 
houses in Vancouver’s Chinatown back then.

He borrowed money from his brothers and family back home, but was still 
paying it back in the 1930s.

“During the Depression, people were poor, but they were twice as poor,” 
said Jeff Wong.

The father-son team was greeted by Sudbury’s Chinese community, many of 
whom have parents and relatives who paid the head tax.

Yew Lee’s father George, a long-time Sudbury restaurateur, was forced 
to pay the tax.

George Lee, although now deceased, came to Sudbury in 1913 from Hoi 
Ping, China.

He had to borrow $500 from his family back home to be granted 
“permission” to stay in the country.

“It was like having a mortgage to belong to this country,” said Yew Lee 
on Friday.

“But you still couldn’t vote and you couldn’t go into public 
facilities.”

His parents were separated for 14 years. Because of the Chinese 
Exclusion Act, his mother Chow Quen Lee was not allowed into Canada until 
1950.

Back in China, many women who were waiting for their husbands died of 
starvation, said Lee.

“It’s a terrible history and a shame. There should be an apology.”

The Chinese Canadian National Council is one of Wong’s sponsors. The 
council continues to seek a redress on behalf of the surviving head 
taxpayers and their families and urges the Canadian government to negotiate 
a resolution.

Click here for related stories about Gim Wong and Redress on this blog site.

http://www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com/blog/
ChineseHeadTaxissuesGimWongsRideforRedress

Gung Haggis Fat Choy makes a splash at BC Highland Games Festival

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“You've got to be joking….”
“Is this for real?”
“I don't believe it!”
“I've heard of this!”
“Well done…”
“I've always wanted to go…”
“My friend has got to see this!”
“I saw you on television!”
“Are you really Toddish McWong?”

These are some of the comments that were provoked when attendees to the BC Highland Games
walked in the front gate and discovered a booth proudly displaying the
name “Gung Haggis Fat Choy” in big red letters.  On each side of
the tent's pillars were display boards with newsclippings about the
infamous “Gung Haggis Fat Choy” Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner.


With Sunnette Jones and Bruce Jarvis (of Seattle) at the BC Highland Games – photo by Margaret Ferguson

Draping across the front table of the booth were red cotton t-shirts
arranged from Women's XS to Men's XS proudly displaying the backs and
fronts of the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team designs.  On
top of the table were displayed shirts for sale $30 as a fundraiser for
the dragon boat team, as well as pictures of the 2004 dinners, pictures
of dragonboats and especially the “dragon boat float” that was the Gung
Haggis Fat Choy entry in the inaugural Vancouver St. Patrick's Day
Parade in 2004.

Nobody ever said “You are a disgrace to Scottish Culture, laddie!” or
“Get thee back to where you came from you Chinese heathen!” 
No…. not at all…

“Toddish McWong,” cried out Harry McGrath when he entered the main gate
and walked up to my booth.  Harry is the coordinator for the Centre Scottish Studies at Simon Fraser University.  He loves the concepts behind Gung Haggis Fat Choy.

“We are like family here,” said Jim Bain one of the festival organizers
and also a Grand Chieftain of the Sons Of Scotland.  Bain himself had just
earlier in the week attended a Chinese Mun Yet (One month old) coming
out party for his own grandchild… as his wife is Chinese Canadian,
and his children hapa (Chinese and Scottish Canadians). 

Bain was very pleased with the multicultural aspect of the BC Highland
Games.  In one pipe band there is a drummer of South Asian
descent.  There was a Chinese vendor selling hats.  There was
Mango shave ice by a Taiwanese family vendor.  And when you looked
around, observant eyes would spot the occaisional Chinese guys wearing
kilts, and families of mixed race leading children of blended ethnicity.

People were generally very happy to find the Gung Haggis Fat Choy
booth, talk about the dinner, and dragon boating.  Talk about
their experiences in multicultural families, or that their (Scottish
descendent) son has been living in China, or that their (Chinese
descendent) daughter just got back from Scotland.

They pointed to the picture of the kilted Chinese lion head figure and
laughed.  They asked how to join a dragon boat team.  They
asked me to pose for pictures with them in front of the booth.

My friend “Bear”of Bear Kilts
was there.  Bear has become one of my mentors in kilt wearing
culture, and even has his own blog titled The MacBitseach.  He checked in on me throughout the day, and was glad to
see me have a booth there and telling people that I actually did wear
my “maple leaf tartan” while paddling dragon boats.  I gave his
son “Cub” a Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat shirt, as Cub also checked
in on me, and helped relieve me to grab some food or drink.  And
at the end of the day… Bear came over to say good bye.

“I like your sgian dhu” he said…
“My skin-what?”
He nodded down to the cell phone tucked in my right sock where the ceremonial knife sgian dhu is traditionally kept.
We both chuckled and shook hands.

pictures and more stories to come….

Join the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team

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Join the award winning Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team as we plan for races:

July 9/10 – SeaVancouver regatta

July 16    – Fraser Valley DBF @ Harrison Lake
July 23/24 – Vernon DBF @ Kalamalka Lake
Aug 27/28 – San Francisco DBF
Sep 4/5     – Vancouver Intl Taiwanese DB Race

We have been racing since 2002, and have won racing medals in Portland
Oregon, and Victoria BC. We have also raced in Kelowna BC, and Seattle
WA.  Our team is a blend of rookies and seasoned veterans. Our
coaches have competed at Novice, Rec and Comp levels.

This year at the 2005 Alcan Dragon Boat Festival, we won the
prestigious Hon. David C. Lam Award for being the team that best
represented the multicultural spirit of the festival.

Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team has been featured on CBC Newsworld and world-wide on the Thalassa dragon boat documentary filmed by France 3.

We thank our sponsors The Roxy and Bear Kilts