The Government of Canada Promotes Historical Recognition for Chinese-Canadian Community's Immigration Experiences

The Bill Reid Gallery opening is wonderful...  

I love Bill Reid art.  I could stare at the Raven and the First Men, at the Museum of Anthropology for hours.  And the Killer Whale in front of the Aquarium... that is Bill Reid too. 

In 1990, I visisted Haida Gwaii, ancestral home of the Haida nation.  On my hand I wear a gold eagle wrap ring, carved by Garner Moody, who apprenticed with Bill Reid in Haida Gwaii.

On Saturday May 10th, I attended the packed opening at the Bill Reid Gallery on Hornby Street.  I missed the opening ceremonies at 10am, but we saw the 2pm ceremonial dance by dancers and drummers from Haida Gwaii, presided by artist Jim Hart, who is also known by his hereditary name of Chief Edenshaw.   Charles Edenshaw was the great Haida carver of silver, gold and argillite, and it was his work that first inspired Reid to carve.

Coast Salish chiefs celebrate Bill Reid gallery opening

VANCOUVER - When Bill Reid art was chosen to adorn the $20 bill, it was a sign that the Haida artist had become a Canadian icon. Now the organizers of the new Bill Reid gallery in downtown Vancouver are hoping it will capitalize on the growing interest in art of the Northwest Coast and catapult Reid to an international art superstar.

Artist Jim Hart prepares the raven to be placed atop the "tribute to Bill Reid" totem pole before the opening of the Bill Reid Gallery in Vancouver.

Stuart Davis/Vancouver Sun

"I think we could say already that he as the status of a national icon," said George MacDonald, an anthropologist and expert on Haida art who was instrumental in bringing about the Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art.

"What we hope to do with this gallery is to make him an international icon. In doing that, we're promoting Northwest Coast culture and art as much as we're promoting Bill Reid as a practitioner of that style."

9th Annual Asian Comedy Night: 
 
Etch-YOUR-Sketch 2! 
MAY 9 - Friday - 8pm
  
SKETCHOFF!#$%!! People's Choys Award
MAY 10 - Saturday - 8pm



Roundhouse Community Theatre
181 Roundhouse Mews, Vancouver
www.roundhouse.ca

Asian Comedy Night is always funny.  Lots of stereotype bashing, lots of Asian-type jokes you 
can relate to, or grew up with.  

Host Tom Chin has also performed at the 2005 Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner event.

From the explorASIAN website:

Come CHEER the Etch-Your-Sketchers 2 on!
Wild, ZANY, Gut-aching, peeing in pants - FUNNY! Ask anyone from the 2007 competition.
Celebrity Judges award the coveted Vancouver Rice Bowl to one team only - Winner takes all!
The second night, teams are judged by the audience - measured by YOUR applause.
The highest decibel readings take 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize.
We have 9 teams entered this year to battle it out for the coveted Vancouver Rice Bowl
and PEOPLE's CHOYS Award. 3 brand new teams with 6 returning teams promise an evening
of hilarity, camaraderie and just plain ol' fun and laughter!

Celebrity judges include: Ms. Lainey Lui, eTalk Entertainment Reporter and founder
of laineygossip.com; Ms. Lauren Toyota, Host and Segment Producer with MuchMusic's Going Coastal;
and Edmond Wong, local actor “The Professor” on CBC’s Dragon Boys.
This is an event - you don't want to miss!

Tickets: $15 in advance, $20 at door - plus service charges.
Tickets at the Roundhouse Community Centre or by phone at 604.713.1800 or online at www.vact.ca
Group rates, please call 778.885.1973

I was very fortunate to be in attendance at Government House in Victoria for the presentation of the BC Community Achievement awards to Peggy Chute of Lytton and Ben Roy of Cache Creek.

Accompanied by Chief Byron Spinks of the Lytton First Nation, Mayor John Ranta of Cache Creek and hundreds of other proud British Columbians, we witnessed the very definition of what it means to be a citizen in our great Province.

The recipients came from communities large and small and Lieutenant Governor Steven Point and Premier Gordon Campbell offered the thanks of all of us to a dedicated group of BCer’s who have made large contributions to the lives of their communities. It was humbling, since all of the recipients represented the silent, hardworking volunteers who make our communities work.

Communities are made up of individuals - and these are the individuals upon whose shoulders we stand as your elected representatives. Without them there would be no community clubs, fire departments, hospices, festivals and every manner of activity which contributes to the vitality of our towns. These are the people who have successfully converted the “I” to “We” and in an ironic twist have elevated the “I” in all of us to be the very best we can be.

While this text may be full of clichés, the actions of these people is certainly not. Each of them has demonstrated the imagination, commitment and sheer willpower - their work is pure creativity of ideas and actions.

For the following, I have borrowed from the text accompanying the awards but I encourage you as the reader to go to the BC Community Achievement Award website to see the full contribution made by the 2008 recipients: www.bcachievement.com/community/2008/

For the past 40 years, Ben Roy has quietly and effectively created positive change within the Cache Creek and Thompson Nicola Regional District. He has served as mayor, volunteer fire chief, chamber of commerce member and was instrumental in establishing a local radio station. While Mayor, Ben championed the landfill project as a way to provide jobs for Cache Creek. Ben Roy has also played a pivotal role in the revitalization of the Gold Country Communities Foundation, an organization founded to serve the economic needs of a number of adjoining rural communities.

It's May... time for Asian Heritage Month again.


Last year I met Dadawa, the featured performer for the explorASIAN festival. My friend Andrew Kim performed in Dadawa's band, at the Chan Centre. photo Todd Wong collection.

This is when I scan the explorASIAN website, check my calendar for the annual Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre Sketch-Off event May 9 & 10.

Asia/Pacific Heritage Week was first proclaimed in May by U.S.President Carter in 1978, becoming Asian Heritage Month in 1992.  The following year in 1993,  Toronto started the first Asian Heritage Month celebrations in Canada. It took until 2001 before it was proclaimed as Asian Heritage Month in Canada, led by Senator Vivienne Poy.

I have spent many past Mays helping to organize events for Asian Heritage Month or attending events.  It was back in 2002, that I helped set up Wayson Choy as the keynote speaker for the exploraAsian Awards Gala when I was on the inaugural One Book One Vancouver committee.  I had also helped organize and plan the opening ceremonies held at Robson Square.

That was also the year that we created the Gung Haggis explorASIAN dragon boat team to help promote Asian Heritage Month. Six years later and the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team is taking up lots of my time as I am coaching 3 times a week.  Used to be I coached 3 different teams, once each week, instead of 1 team 3X week.  But we are making big performance improvements as we embrace our Asian heritage with Chinese, Japanese, Philipino and Hapa-Asian descendants.

This month's issue of Canadian Immigrant features a short interview with me about my views on Asian Heritage Month.

May 2008 is Asian Heritage Month

Join in celebrating Asian culture and heritage in Canada

By Noa Glouberman

Every May, communities across the country have observed Asian Heritage Month, acknowledging the long and rich history of Asian Canadians in Canada. This year in Vancouver, the annual event — titled explorASIAN — is marking its 12th anniversary, and invites Canadians of all backgrounds to join in the celebration.

Todd Wong, a past explorASIAN volunteer and former program co-ordinator, says the event isn’t simply about having Asian roots. “It’s about understanding the history of Asians in Canada, just as other ethnic groups, like the Scottish or French populations, may celebrate their heritage as part of overall Canadian culture,” he explains.

Wong, who’s involved in a variety of cultural organizations and events, and runs a website devoted to his “Asian Canadian adventures in inter-cultural Vancouver” (gunghaggisfatchoy.com), says the many Asian-infused programs, performances and events available to the public in May can help all Canadians gain a better appreciation for their own backgrounds.

“When you can look at and examine someone else’s culture and heritage, it gives you more insight into your own roots as well,” he says.

Asian Heritage Month is celebrated in cities across Canada, including Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Regina, Calgary and Edmonton. In Vancouver and other Lower Mainland communities, explorASIAN offers an exciting schedule of events in May and June. Visit explorasian.org for full details.

explorAsian highlights

explorASIAN 2008 Opening Event

Infinite Echoes from Japan: New Directions in Traditional Japanese Music

May 1, 7:30 p.m., Frederic Wood Theatre, UBC
explorasian.org/festival2008_short.html

Asian Cinema Takes a Bow on Knowledge Network
The Slanted Screen, Lai Man Wai: The Father of Chinese Cinema, Cinema Asia
May 2, 9, 16, 10 p.m., on the Knowledge Network
knowledgenetwork.ca

SMC/explorASIAN First Annual Filmmakers Showcase
Canadian filmmakers celebrated during Asian Heritage Month
May 11, 18, 25, 9 p.m., on Shaw Multicultural Channel

vancouver.shawtv.com/smc/smc_filmmakers.htm

Vancouver International Children’s Festival
Spectacular Korea, Halmang, Myth of Jeju Island
May 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, various show times/locations
childrensfestival.ca

Tailor Made: Chinatown’s Last Tailors

(this film is special because it is about my friend Steven Wong's father)
A film about two aging brothers who can no longer run their father’s shop
May 13, 14, 16, 28, various screening times/locations
explorasian.org/festival2008_short.html

explorASIAN 2008 Closing Event
Dharmakasa Concert
May 31, 8 p.m., Joyce Walley Learning Centre, Vancouver Museum
explorasian.org/festival2008_short.html

For a listing of events in other parts of the country, visit Canadian Heritage’s official site at canadianheritage.gc.ca/progs/multi/asian-asiatique/index_e.cfm.

Ned Jacob's Big Questions for Little Mountain (Riley Park) Tour Code: F-NJ2

Ingrid Steenhuisen's Little Mountain Housing (Riley Park) Tour Code: A-LMH

Fourteen years ago, Vancouver artist Naomi Singer travelled to Black Rock Playa in Nevada to attend one of the first Burning Man public art festivals. She saw thousands of people gathered in the heat of the desert sun to build a wild and diverse community, create art, perform, and celebrate, all culminating in the burning of a giant wooden structure, shaped like a standing human, which gives the festival its name. Singer was transformed. She met Burning Man founder and organizer Larry Harvey, watched what was going on at the festival, and decided "to bring something like that home to Vancouver."

She went on to create some of the key public art events now held in the city. This month, Singer received recognition for her work from the British Columbia Achievement Foundation, established by the provincial government to celebrate excellence in the arts, humanities and community service.

As artistic director of the Secret Lantern Society, which organizes the annual Winter Solstice Lantern Festival, Singer personifies what she prefers to call "community engaged art," wherein members of the public get involved to make crazy stuff that brings out the best in participants.

Singer, notable for the giant purple Alice in Wonderland-like hat she wears, credits Burning Man for advancing her artistic vision. She's just one of many Vancouver artists who say the same thing.

Read more:  Burning passion

"Raymond Louie actually lives the culturally diverse Gung Haggis Fat Choy lifestyle that is my creative world. His own family straddles many cultures and many generations, and he actively demonstrates that he understands the many facets that can make our city shine like a diamond. I have seen how Raymond makes things happen as a city councilor, bringing together different groups and perspectives such as arts, economics, heritage and cultures. As a mayor that empowers others to be their best, Raymond will be dynamic and our jewel of a city should shine even brighter."

Todd Wong, arts advocate and creator of Gung Haggis Fat Choy