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

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




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

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

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

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

Check out the Vancouver Sun article by Pamela Fayerman:

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

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

Check out storis in Ming Pao

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

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

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

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

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

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

Photo by Dan Toulgoet

Rally celebrates 60 years of rights

By Cheryl Rossi-Staff writer

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Saturday's event begins at 9 a.m.

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

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Veterans fought for Respect – recognizing the contributions of Chinese Canadians

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

News
Features

Veterans fought for respect

News Features By Matthew Burrows

Publish Date: May 10,
2007

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

My Birthday for 2007

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My Birthday for 2007

I spent the afternoon playing with my “almost 4” year old nephew.
We went shopping for a birthday cake “so we can have a feast.”
We went to Earl's Downtown on Hornby St. for dinner
Saw Spiderman 3 at the Paramount
Then off to Bacchus Lounge at the Wedgewood Hotel for desserts, drinks and late night pizza.
Friends and Food – Wonderful!


Todd Wong and Deb Martin celebrating Todd's b-day with wine and bubbly – photo Christine Chin


Buddies Todd Wong and Craig making faces at celebrating yet another birthday – photo Christine Chin


Dessert platter from Bacchus Lounge at Wedgewood Hotel – Anjou Pear
with Lime sorbet, Creme Brulee with Kahlua, Apple/Blackberry Crumble –
photo Todd Wong

Chinese Canadian Veterans dinner May 12 – celebrating 60th anniversary of Canadian Citizenship

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Chinese Canadian Veterans dinner May 12 – celebrating 60th anniversary of Canadian Citizenship

This Saturday I have organized a table for the Chinese Canadian Veterans celebrating 60th anniversary of Canadian Citizenship.

Yes…
it has been 60 years since Chinese Canadians actually have citizenship
and voting rights – largely due to the lobbying and enrollment of
Chinese Canadian veterans of WW2.

Please join me in recognizing the achievements of the vets for our community.

call me to join my table… or so I can make arrangements for another table.

Cheers, Todd
778-846-7090

Below is the invitation from the Chinese Canadian veterans, Pacific Unit 280.

Dear Friends:

For the last several years, I have been the Chaplain for Pacific Unit 280, Chinese Canadian WWII Veterans.  

As we look at the vets now, most in their eighties and nineties, it's
hard to believe that this group of “grumpy old men” helped transform
Canada. Before WWII, Chinese couldn't vote, be a doctor, lawyer – or
even work at the Post Office or go to a public swimming pool.  Worse,
many had immediate family in China that were not allowed to come to
Canada.  All this changed because in WWII, these men and women were
willing to fight and prove themselves honourable to a Canada, that did
not treat Chinese, honourably.

On Saturday, May 12th, as part
of Asian Heritage Month celebrations, the Chinese Canadian Military
Museum and SUCCESS are hosting a citizenship affirmation and dinner to
celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the Chinese getting the vote and the
formation of Pacific Unit 280.  It will be held at the Continental
Seafood Restaurant at 11700 Cambie Road, Richmond.   Tickets are $45
which include dinner and a a new DVD of twenty three vignettes of some
of the vets DVD of Heroes Remember, as well as other gifts.

For many, this is a last hurrah and I'm hoping you might be able to
come and say a word of thanks to the vets.   If you are interested, you
can get tickets from me or Lt. Colonel George Ing at (604)271-0197.

Blessings all.

Wesley Lowe (604) 739-9725

explorFILM workshop with Mina Shum and Greg Chan for Asian Heritage Month

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explorFILM workshop with Mina Shum

and Greg Chan for Asian Heritage Month

This
sounds like a fun workshop for Asian Heritage Month.  I loved
Mina's films Double Happiness.  This message is from Don
Montgomery, executive director of explorASIAN.

http://www.explorasian.org/Program%20Guide%202007/May%2012/explorfilm.html

explorFILM: Workshop | Panel Discussion | Film Screening |
Q&A – May 12

Saturday – May 12 – 9:30am to
3:30pm

Vancity Theatre
1181 Seymour Street (at Davie)
Vancouver

Tickets: On sale at the door on the day of the event starting
at 9:00am

FREE admission for explorASIAN Members with presentation of
2007 Membership Card at the door. explorASIAN 2007 Memberships available at the
door (CASH only)

Non-members: $10/person without membership (CASH
only)

Ticket price includes admission to the Greg Chan Acting for
Beginners Workshop (9:30am-10:30am), the Industry Panel Discussion
(11:00am-12:30am), and the film screening/Q&A with Mina Shum (1:00pm to
3:30pm)

JOIN US FOR A FULL DAY OF INFORMATION AND INSIGHT INTO THE
WORLD OF ACTING AND FILM!

ENJOY THE 5th ANNIVERSARY SCREENING OF “LONG
LIFE, HAPPINESS & PROSPERITY” AND
MEET DIRECTOR MINA SHUM AND OTHER
MEMBERS FROM THE INDUSTRY!

> > > > >

explorFILM:
Acting for Beginners Workshop with Greg Chan

9:30am – 10:30am

Greg
got his big break in 1994 when he was cast as Uncle Bing in Mina Shum's first
feature film, Double Happiness. Since then, he's gone on to a number of roles in
television, movies and commercials.

His credits include “Once A Thief”
(1996; dir: John Woo), “Seven Days” (2001), “Dark Angel” (2001), “Da Vinci's
Inquest” (2004), “Intelligence” (2005), “Live Feed” (2006), and “Dragon Boys”
(2007).

In addition to screen and TV acting, Greg has experience doing
voice-overs for animation projects. Hear Greg share his passion for acting and
his strategies for success in the film industry.

> > > >
>

explorFILM: Industry Panel Discussion – “So You Really Want to Get
Into the Film Industry?”

11:00am to 12:30am

Meet some of the Lower
Mainland's leading industry professionals and find out what it really takes to
make it in the film industry. Q&A follows panel
discussion.

Panelists:

Olivia Cheng – Actor/Journalist (Broken
Trail, Entertainment Tonight
Canada )


Jason Furukawa – Director (Robson Arms,
Godiva’s, Cold Squad)

Derek Lowe – Producer/Actor (Dragon
Boys, Romeo Must Die, Crying Freeman)


Andrew Ooi – Talent Management (Echelon
Talent Management)

Darryl Quon – Stuntman/Actor (Alien vs
Predator 2, Night at the Museum, Dragon Boys)

Rick Tae – Actor (Robson Arms,
Intelligence, Godiva’s)

Debbie Walker – Publicist (Translucent
Publicity)

Katie Yu – Still Photographer (Kickin’
It Old School, Dragon Boys, Everything’s Gone Green)


> >
> > >

explorFILM: Mina Shum's “Long Life, Happiness &
Prosperity”

1:00pm to 2:30pm 5th Anniversary Film Screening of “Long
Life, Happiness & Prosperity”

2:30pm to 3:30pm Q&A with Director
Mina Shum and some cast and crew members from the film

> > >
> >

explorFILM 2007 is presented by Shaw Multicultural Channel
(Channel 109)

 
Hope you can join us on Saturday.  Please pass
this email forward to anyone who is thinking of working in the film
industry.  Thanks!
 
 
Don Montgomery
Executive Director

 
explorASIAN
110 Keefer Street
Vancouver, BC   V6A
1X4
Office 604.677.1383
 
MAY is Asian Heritage Month in
Canada!
Celebrating our 11th Anniversary in 2007
www.explorasian.org