Happy Hogmanay - listening to BBC Radio Scotland Live!

It's almost midnight in Scotland.
I am listening live to BBC Radio Scotland, as they count down the minutes.

15 minutes ago when I tuned in, they were playing Elvis Presley, followed by Dolly Parton's "9 to 5".... then there was Tom Jones...

Now they are going live to Edinburgh....
A pipe major plays the bagpipes.
There is a countdown.... 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1....
Then everybody sings a song - what is it??
It's not Auld Lang Syne!?!?!
It's some song about Happy New Year!

The hosts come back and ramble on like New Year's hosts do...
They pop a champagne cork.
Now I hear accordion music... sounds like a polka - no it's not.
It's some song about Caledonia...
I've never heard it before.
"Come in, come in...here's my hand..."
Oh - it's Andy Stewart... whoever he is...

Now they thank Radio Scotland listeners from around the world.
Oh- here's a song I recognize.  "I Would Walk 500 Miles" by the Proclaimers.  This reminds me of the 2003 GHFC dinner when my musician buddies Pat Coventon and pd wohl played their own version with a "Eat Haggis" bridge, and words about Toddish McWong.

Happy New Year everybody!!!!

Scottish Hogmanay New Year + Asian Canadian style =  Gung Haggis Fat Choy

What better way to celebrate Hogmanay, the Scottish New Year tradition, than by releasing the 2006 Gung Haggis Fat Choy poster?

The origin of Gung Haggis Fat Choy started when I was asked to participate in the 1993 Robbie Burns Day celebration at Simon Fraser University.  In 1998, I decided to host a dinner for 16 guests that blended Robbie Burns Day(January 25th) with Chinese lunar New Year (late January to early February). 

The result has been a dinner event that has grown steadily to a 2005 dinner of 600 guests, a CBC television special, an annual poetry night at the Vancouver Public Library, a recreation event at Simon Fraser University.... and media stories around the world!

Hogmanay is the Scottish New Year's Eve, and it is celebrated on New Year's Eve with a Grand Dinner. It can be very similar to Chinese New Year's in many ways:

1) Make lots of noise.  Chinese like to burn firecrackers, bang drums and pots to scare the ghosts and bad spirits away.  Scots will fire off cannons, sound sirens, bang pots and make lots of noise, I think just for the excuse of making noise.

2) Pay off your debts.  Chinese like to ensure that you start off the New Year with no debts hanging onto your personal feng shui.  I think the Scots do the same but especially to ensure that they aren't paying anymore interest.

3) Have lots of good food.  Eat lots and be merry.  Both Scots and Chinese enjoy eating, hosting their friends and visiting their friends.

4) Party on dude!  In Asia, Chinese New Year celebrations will go on for days, lasting up to a week!  Sort of like Boxing week sales in Canada.  In Scotland, the Scots are proud partyers and are well known for making parties last for days on end.

Come to think about it... the above traditions can be found in many cultures... I guess the Scots and Chinese are more alike than different with lots of other cultures too!

2006 Gung Haggis Fat Choy: Dinner event poster - original design by Jaime Griffiths, updates by Carole Lee



It is Hogmanay - Scottish New Year and we are celebrating the release of the 2006 poster for....
Gung Haggis Fat Choy: Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner.

The original design was by Jaime Griffiths who is an incredible interactive multi-media artist.  She dances, she paints, she does computer graphic design, she conceptualizes far ahead of the curve.  For more of Jamie's work, check out www.jamiegriffiths.com

Carole Lee made the 2006 updates.  She is the Art coordinator for Ricepaper Magazine.  She has attended the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner for the past two years, as a volunteer.

What:  Gung Haggis Fat Choy: Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner

When: 6pm, January 22, 2006,
            Sunday  Reception at 5:30pm

Where: Floata Restaurant
             #400 - 180 Keefer St.
             Vancouver Chinatown

Tickets: Firehall Arts Centre
              604-689-0926

Advance Premium price: $60 single / $600 per table.
includes wine and Ricepaper Magazine subscription

Advance Regular price: $50 single / $500 per table
includes Ricepaper Magazine subscription

After January 7th - Premium price $70 each / Regular price $60 each.  Children 13 and under 50% off (no Ricepaper subscription).

The origin of Gung Haggis Fat Choy started when I was asked to participate in the 1993 Robbie Burns Day celebration at Simon Fraser University.  In 1998, I decided to host a dinner for 16 guests that blended Robbie Burns Day(January 25th) with Chinese lunar New Year (late January to early February). 

The result has been a dinner event that has grown steadily to a 2005 dinner of 600 guests, a CBC television special, an annual poetry night at the Vancouver Public Library, a recreation event at Simon Fraser University.... and media stories around the world!

Hogmanay is the Scottish New Year's Eve, and it is celebrated on New Year's Eve with a Grand Dinner. It can be very similar to Chinese New Year's in many ways:

1) Make lots of noise.  Chinese like to burn firecrackers, bang drums and pots to scare the ghosts and bad spirits away.  Scots will fire off cannons, sound sirens, bang pots and make lots of noise, I think just for the excuse of making noise.

2) Pay off your debts.  Chinese like to ensure that you start off the New Year with no debts hanging onto your personal feng shui.  I think the Scots do the same but especially to ensure that they aren't paying anymore interest.

3) Have lots of good food.  Eat lots and be merry.  Both Scots and Chinese enjoy eating, hosting their friends and visiting their friends.

4) Party on dude!  In Asia, Chinese New Year celebrations will go on for days, lasting up to a week!  Sort of like Boxing week sales in Canada.  In Scotland, the Scots are proud partyers and are well known for making parties last for days on end.

Come to think about it... the above traditions can be found in many cultures... I guess the Scots and Chinese are more alike than different with lots of other cultures too!

Hosted by Todd Wong and Prem Gill (City TV's multicultural director and host of Colour TV)

Special performing guests are: 

Rick Scott and Harry Wong, creators of "5 Elements" children's cd and show - featured at Vancouver International Children's Festival in 2004

Joy Kogawa O.C.
Award winning author and poet, of Obasan (Vancouver Public Library's 2005 choice for One Book One Vancouver) and Naomi's Road (Vancouver Opera's production for Opera in the Schools)

Joe McDonald & Brave Waves
Bagpiper, band leader, combining traditional scots, gaelic, celtic and Canadian songs with Asian and South Asian music and instruments.

La La
Exciting blend of contemporary soul and hip hop music with Asian roots and traditional Canadian songs.

Sean Gunn
Singer /Songwriter - Head Tax Redress activist and composer of "The Head Tax Blues"

Jeff Chiba Stearns
Classical Animator - creator of award winning animated film "What Are You Anyways?"

The Shirleys
Seven sassy soulful females singing accapella songs of protest and lullabyes.

             
            



 

Paul Martin’s statement on Chinese Head Tax Not Good Enough! - Mary-Woo Sims

Mary -Woo Sims is a long time human rights advocate and a friend of mine.  She helped Gim Wong on his motorcycle Ride for Redress, motorbiking up to Craigelacchie, the site of the "Last Spike" with him in 2004.  She is running as an NDP candidate for Port Moody/Westwood/Port Coquitlam.

MEDIA RELEASE

For immediate release December 29, 2005

 

Paul Martin’s statement on Chinese Head Tax Not Good Enough!

 

Port Moody-Westwood-Port Coquitlam - NDP candidate Mary Woo Sims and long time human rights advocate says Paul Martin’s statement that he feels “deep sorrow” over the Chinese Head Tax imposed in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s is not good enough.

 

In an article published in a major Chinese daily Ming Pao on December 28, 2005, Paul Martin, who met with Chinese community leaders in Montreal on Dec. 28, 2006 reportedly said that he felt deep sorrow over the Chinese Head Tax and that he would take the advice of Raymond Chan and David Emerson to review the situation after the election.

 

“Why won’t he just come out and apologize to Chinese Canadians for the imposition of the Chinese Head Tax and the subsequent Chinese Exclusion Act?” said Sims.  “They have used the words ‘deep regret’ and now ‘deep sorrow’.  Why don’t they take the next step and make a formal apology to Chinese Canadians like New Zealand’s Prime Minister the Rt. Honourable Helen Clark did in 2002 over similar treatment in that country of its Chinese citizens earlier in the last century?”

 

Sims, who has been actively working on the Head Tax and Exclusion Act redress movement for years and who started the “Gim Wong Ride For Redress” rode with 82 year old Wong to Craigallachie, BC in 2004 to try to bring attention to this historic injustice.  “Raymond Chan has failed Head Tax payers and their descendents in his attempts to divide Chinese community leaders on the appropriate way to redress this issue and David Emerson’s use of a Chinese insult to describe Jack Layton shows that he simply doesn’t understand the sensitivities of the community” said Sims.

 

Sims supports canceling the deal made by the Liberals to redress the Head Tax just before the election call.  “Today in Toronto, our leader, Jack Layton said that ‘we need to have a response from our government that starts with an apology – an open and complete apology to the Chinese community.  That has got to be the starting place for redress.’  I agree with the stand that my leader has taken and look forward to working with him in Parliament to achieve a just redress for this historic racist injustice” said Sims.

-30-

 

For more information call:  Joy Langan 604-868-6123

Vernon BC's Silver Star resort is a wonderful winter wonderland

Is there anything lighter and fluffier than Okanagan champagne powder snow?


Todd makes a snow angel in a snow bank - photo by girlfriend

I took my girlfriend Deb ice-skating at Silver Star Resort's outdoor ice skating pond on Wednesday, Dec 28th.  It was amazing... A huge frozen pond with an island in the middle to skate around.  People played ice hockey at one end in their own rink, while we skated in a whole other huge rink.


My friends Jen, Deb and Jeff smile while snowflakes fall all around them - photo Todd

The snow fell lightly.  Six centimeters of light fluffy snow lay on the snow, that we could easily skate through.  People cleared paths in the snow with snow shovels while a small bobcat snowblower drove on the ice clearing the larger sections.


Todd and Deb enjoying the winter skating - photo by Jeff Stearns

It was very romantic.  It was kind of a blind double date with my friends Jeff and Jeni from Kelowna as Deb had never met them before, except for seeing their pictures on my website.


Jeff and Jen strike a pose while people play hockey in the background - photo by Todd Wong

Jeff Chiba Stearns is the award winning creative force behind the animated film "What Are You Anyways?"  His girlfriend Jeni has just joined the Save Kogawa House committee with me.  I first met Jeff and Jeni at the Vancouver Public Library for a community days display set up for the One Book One Vancouver program which was featuring Joy Kogawa's novel Obasan.


Todd skating and making turns on the ice - photo by girlfriend

It was the first time I had been to Silver Star Resort since skiing there as a teen in 1977.  I used to love it there... especially when my parents would take us out of school for a week of ski lessons.  Deb grew up skiing at Silver Star because her parents live just south of Vernon on beautiful Kalamalka Lake.

We had a wonderful time teaching Jeff how to play "crack the whip," playing tag on the ice, doing spins, and just experiencing the wonderful ambience of the gentle snow flakes falling down on our faces.  I made snow angels in the snow, and we had hot chocolate and poutine before walking around the quaint western style village.

Province editorial on Liberal's attempt at Head Tax redress, calls on PM Martin to admit his mistakes

Here is an editorial in today's Province newspaper. I have made my comments in parenthesis and a comment following the article.

* * * * The Province Published: Wednesday, December 28, 2005

It is becoming increasingly clear that a federal government plan designed to atone for almost a century of injustice inflicted on the Chinese-Canadian community is not merely insufficient, but risks adding insult to injury.

When community groups from across the country were flown to Vancouver Nov. 24 to hear details of the plan from multiculturalism minister Raymond Chan, their expectations were high. (especially when $100,000 came from Chan's ministry of Multiculturalism)

For more than 20 years, prominent community leaders have campaigned for an apology and compensation for victims of the notorious head tax, imposed on all Chinese immigrants to Canada from 1885 to 1923.

But the agreement in principle with four community groups that Chan announced offered only funds for educational projects and memorial plaques. (No apology, and no individual tax refund for surviving payers or spouses)

Leading intellectuals among the Chinese community in Vancouver say the negotiations that produced the deal were held with groups "hand-picked" by Ottawa and were not representative of the community at large. (The Chinese Canadian National Council which has registered up to 5,000 head tax payers and descendants are not included in negotiations because they did not agree to the Liberal program's preconditions of No Apology, and No individual compensation.)

They say the realization that an apology would not be part of the deal came as a major shock.

At a meeting this week, they estimated that as many as 90 per cent of Chinese-Canadians now want the government to rescind the agreement.

Most adamant in its opposition is the Chinese Canadian National Council, whose founding president, Joseph Wong of Toronto, has warned that the issue could tilt the balance against the Liberals in ridings where there is a substantial Chinese-Canadian vote.

Since the early 1980s, the CCNC has been compiling a register of those who paid the head tax, which rose over the years from $50 to a staggering $500. The list, which includes descendants of victims, contains some 4,000 names.

Community leaders say the demand for compensation is more symbolic than it is about the money.

"We want honorable redress for our Chinese pioneers," says Thekla Lit, a Vancouver social worker and prominent activist.

The Liberal government's hasty attempt to put right a historic wrong on the eve of an election smacks of opportunism.

The head-tax scandal already grubbies the pages of Canada's history books and any redress should not be tarnished by an association with cheap political advantage.

Prime Minister Paul Martin should admit his mistake, cancel the agreement and promise to think again. After Jan. 23.

- - -

What do you think? Leave a brief comment, name and town at: 604-605-2029, fax: 604-605-2099 or e-mail: provletters@png.canwest.com

C The Vancouver Province 2005

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What is wrong with this picture about redress and the Liberal Party?

Three opposition parties, NDP, Bloc Quebecois, Conservatives + Green Party all say that apology, individual compensation and inclusion of head tax payers and descendants is important.

Why doesn't Minister of State (Multiculturalism) Raymond Chan include the 4000 + head tax payers and descendants registered by the Chinese Canadian National Council? Doesn't he feel that they should be part of the process that he wants to address?

Chan and the National Congress of Chinese Canadians do not have written aggreement of the supposed list of 300+ community organizations which is actually dropping in numbers as more and more organizations say they did not give permission to use their names.  It is difficult to find a listed  organization that has anything to do with Chinese Canadian historical or human rights issues - except the CCNC that was  excluded from the negotiation process but was mistakenly included on the original list, or the Chinese Canadian Military Museum that stands to gain funds for a specially proposed project.

Why should the ACE program give $2.5 Million to the NCCC whose executive director Ping Tan has stated that a signifcant amount of money will be used to create the Chinese Canadian Community Foundation to administer proposals to the ACE program? Wasn't the Canadian Race Relations Foundation set up as part of the 1988 Japanese Canadian redress settlement to do exactly this? Administer programs to foster multiculturalism and better race relations for ALL Canadians? Why re-invent the wheel, unless there are other unspoken interests at stake?

An "apology" was made by Brian Mulroney to the Japanese Canadians in the House of Commons as part of the redress package that included individual compensation.  To date, no Canadian has ever sued the government over this issue.

Canadians want resolution, strong and true - not a lipservice to wrong doing, that gives money to a questionable organization with no track record of Chinese Canadian history or human rights such as the National Congress of Chinese Canadians.

Canada in 2005 is inclusive - Our Chinese Community includes 6th and 7th generations who also include Scottish, French, English, African, South Asian and First Nations bloodlines., Our Canada includes immigrants of Chinese descent not only China, but Taiwan, the Carribean, England, South Africa, Maylaysia, Singapore and Brazil.

Canadians want recognition for the head tax pioneers and descendants who have fought for Canada in WW2 and other wars, fought for the 1947 vote for all Chinese in Canada, for true patriot love and who stand on guard for thee.

- Todd Wong

Separated at birth: That is the headline for a picture of Chinese Canadian MP candidate Olivia Chow, contrasted with a Chow Chow dog. This was posted on a personal blog site (since removed) by Mike Klander, vice-president for the Ontario Liberal Party. This type of attitude is unfit for somebody who wants to lead public office or to be associated with the political backrooms, and is an unforgivable example of where such kinds of thinking leads to in ill-conceieved sponsorship scandals, head tax redress bungling, and consistent perpetuation of Asian stereotypes..... But especially in the middle of a federal election campaign, where the Liberals are being criticized for their ill-conceived attempt at head tax redress, it demonstrates an insensitivity to complex issues where thousands of head tax payers and descendants are being purposely ignored over the decision to only "consult" with hand-picked "community leaders" sympathetic to following the "rules" set out by legal advisors, when the Supreme court of Ontario and the Unitied Nations have both already stated that Canada must address these issues on a political level.   more »

Here’s a transcript of CBC Radio One’s interview with Joy Kogawa about the Kogawa House project from my friend Ann-Marie Metten - also a coordinator for the Save Kogawa House campaign. ~~~ To her great pleasure the interview was broadcast twice on Boxing Day, first in the morning at 10 a.m., accompanying a half-hour interview with Leslie Uyeda - the artistic director of Vancouver Opera’s Naomi’s Road school program and the composer of music inspired by the haiku written as part of the Vancouver Public Library’s program to promote Obasan as the 2005 One Book One Vancouver choice. The interview with Joy Kogawa was also rebroadcast later in the day, on “Night Time Review” at 8 p.m. ~~~~~~    more »

Boxing Day Head Tax stories in Media: Vancouver Sun and CKNW

VANCOUVER SUN Tuesday » December 27 » 2005

Head-tax redress a top issue in several ridings Liberals and Conservatives have opposite views on an issue that could sway some Lower Mainland constituencies

Jonathan Fowlie
Vancouver Sun

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Redress for the head tax Ottawa once imposed on Chinese-Canadians is becoming a significant election issue in some ridings in B.C. and Ontario, Chinese community leaders told a news conference Monday.

"With the Conservative party and the Liberal party taking diametrically different positions on this, that could have an effect," former Vancouver councillor Tung Chan said.

Tung cited Burnaby-Douglas and Richmond as two examples of Lower Mainland ridings where the issue is key.

"Richmond has 40 per cent Chinese-Canadians living there, so that could well be one of the ridings where this could have a major impact," Chan said.

Joseph Wong, president of the Chinese Canadian National Council, agreed, saying the head tax and the recently announced $2.5-million plan by Ottawa to address the issue are starting to be of major concern, especially in ridings with a substantial Chinese community.

In November, the Liberal government announced a $2.5-million plan to recognize the historic injustice of the head tax, but it did not apologize or offer individual financial redress to victims and their families.

"As far as we are concerned, the Chinese community across Canada is voicing our disapproval of that type of settlement," said Wong.

"We absolutely would not accept this type of settlement imposed upon us by the federal Liberal government," he added.

Wong, who is also a recipient of the Order of Canada, said there are are at least 10 Ontario ridings where the Chinese-Canadian community accounts for at least 10 to 15 per cent of voters, and where the head tax issue could affect the outcome.

While campaigning in Ontario earlier this month, Conservative leader Stephen Harper changed his position on the head tax issue and joined the New Democratic Party and Bloc Quebecois in condemning the government's $2.5-million plan as inadequate.

Harper also called on Parliament to apologize for the head tax.

Between 1885 and 1923, the Canadian government collected $23 million in so-called head taxes -- essentially fees to immigrate to Canada -- from about 81,000 Chinese immigrants. The government went a step further between 1923 and 1947 by imposing an outright ban on Chinese immigration.

At Monday's news conference, Wong called the head tax the "most racist, dirtiest part of Canadian history" and demanded it be properly addressed.

"The federal government is not taking this seriously enough," he said, slamming the recently announced Liberal plan.

Wong went on to urge Chinese Canadians to become more involved in the election because of the issue, though he stopped short of endorsing one party over another.

"I'm asking Canadians of Chinese descent to participate in the political process," he said. "I am asking people to know about the issues they are voting for, and also to know about the stance of their candidates and vote accordingly."

jfowlie@png.canwest.com
© The Vancouver Sun 200

City's Chinese community wants Ottawa to up the ante
Dec, 26 2005 - 7:20 PM

VANCOUVER/CKNW(AM980) - A group of concerned Chinese Canadians are calling on the Liberal Government to rescind an agreement in principle on the headtax redress.

Former Vancouver City Councillor Tung Chan says on Boxing Day or not this is about to become a major issue in the Federal election.

Reps from several groups are calling for an apology and individual compensation, charged Chinese immigrants between 1885 and 1947.

Dr. Joseph Wong is the founding President of the Chinese Canadian National Council, "I'm asking Canadians of Chinese descent to participate in the political process. We know the Chinese community has not been a high voter turnout within our community and I think that this is exactly the problem that we are facing."

Dr. Wong also points to recent polls suggesting 75 to 90 percent of those asked in the Chinese Canadian community aren't satisfied with the agreement offer which is 12 and a half million dollars in compensation.

The Tyee: Article on Mixed Marriage aka inter-racial marriage by Amy Chow

Amy Chow has written an article called The Face of Asian Mixed Marriage in BC
 http://thetyee.ca/Life/2005/12/27/MixedMarriageBC/ for The Tyee.ca

She tells the story of a nice Canadian boy eloping with a nice Canadian girl because his mother, has always wanted him to marry a girl that would be "more appropriate" for him and the family. It's a familiar story - not a new story... but one that most Canadians could related to and share. In this case, the boy is of Jewish ancestry and the girl is of Chinese ancestry.

I grew up in Vancouver, first meeting people from mixed marriages in the early sixties when I was a child. "Chinnie" was somebody who always was hanging out at my great-grandma's house - one of her best friends. She was white. I have recently bumped into her daughter Evelyn. It's great that we have shared history of our elders.

Mixed race marriages is common place on both sides of my family. On my mother's side, there has been a mixed race marriage in every generation since our elder Rev. Chan Yu Tan arrived in Canada in 1896. There was his son Luke, who became an actor in Hollywood. There were his grandsons Henry and Art. Incidently it was Art who married a First Nations woman, and their daughter Rhonda has become the elected band chief for the Qayqayt Nation (New Westminster), that she singlehandedly resurrected.

My mother's youngest brother married a woman of Scottish-English background, steeped in Ontario Canadian heritage. 9 of my 12 cousins on my mom's side have married caucasians + my brother. And on my father's side, 6 of my 9 cousins married caucasians.

I was the only person out of my maternal cousins that married somebody of Chinese Canadian descent. It should have worked out... our grandparents had known each other, as had our parents, our aunts and uncles, our cousins, and even their children.... but it was not to be. No regrets.

And today, I am spending my 2nd Christmas with my Canadian girlfriend of British ancestry, and her parents. I haven't seen another Asian since I left the Kelowna airport two days ago. There haven't been any racial clashes. We talk about the issues that I am involved in such as the Save Kogawa House campaign and the Chinese Canadian head tax - even with their caucasian friends.

We listened to my friends Joy Kogawa and Ann-Marie Metten on CBC radio yesterday, and we read in the newspaper about my friends Bill Chu and Gabriel Yiu and Thekla Lit who helped organize a Boxing Day press conference on Head Tax redress. And these are just Canadian issues. And the 3 dogs love all the hugs they can get. Race isn't an issue for them.


Todd out walking with dogs in Kalamalka Lake Provincial Park.

Redress: The book by Roy Miki - addressing racial identity and its consequences

It's Boxing Day morning at Kalamalka Lake, and I am not at any Boxing Day sales in Vancouver. I am reading Roy Miki's book Redress: Inside the Japanese Canadian redress movement. Roy is an amazing person. In 1994 I interviewed him for an article in the Simon Fraser University student newspaper "The Peak".

I am stunned by the atrocities and restrictions placed on the Canadians of Japanese descent, even though I have read many accounts. I nod knowingly when I read that Asian Canadians were "racialized" in the 1900's - particularly by the Anti-Asiastic League who wanted to create and maintain a "white Vancouver" despite the presence of First Nations peoples. I read about the 1907 meeting at City Hall, that erupted into a riot in Chinatown, where stores were attacked and damaged, before the white rioters headed to Japantown where they were repelled by a prepared community.

This was the Vancouver where my maternal grandmother was raised, soon after being born in 1910 in Victoria BC. This was the political and social climate where my paternal grandfather was given a "Chinaman's Chance" of defending a non-guilty plea for drug trafficking, because the RCMP wanted to make an example of him as one of Victoria's top community leaders that they could "take down." This was the BC, where the $500 head tax was only applied to ethnic Chinese in an effort to keep "the Yellow Peril" away from "British" Vancouver, where the early city fathers, provincial fathers and leaders of Canadian Federation had emmigrated from Scotland and England, seeking a better life.... just as the Chinese had, leaving behind a corrupt Imperial government, famines, to come to "Gum San" - the gold mountain of opportunity.

In the first chapeter of Redress, Roy Miki tells the story of Tomekichi (Tomey) Homma "naturalized as a British Subject" in Canada, who tried to have his name put on the voter's list, but was turned down no doubt, because of the stipulation in Section 8 of the Provincial Election Act which stated: "No Chinaman, Japanese, or Indian shall have his name placed on the Register of Voters for any Electoral District, or be entitled to vote in any election."

Homma decided to challange the ruling on October 19th, 1900, but was eventurally denied by a lengthy court case and both the BC and Canadian governments. The Privy council at the time had stated that "Orientals... were so inassimilable that they were incapable of participating in the democratic process." (Miki, p. 33-34)

The Victoria Times Colonist newspaper at the time had written "We are relieved from the possibility of having polling booths swampd by a horde of Orientals who are totally uniftted either by custom of education to exercise the ballot, and whose voting would completely demoralise politics... they have not the remotest idea of what a democratic and representative government is, and are quite incapable of taking part in it." (Miki, p 28)

My great-great-grandfather Rev. Chan Yu Tan, was educated at the Wesleyan Mission in Hong Kong, and arrived in Canada in 1896, following his elder brother the Rev. Chan Sing Kai - the first Chinese ordained in Canada. The Chinese Methodist Church helped teach the Chinese immigrants how to speak English. A favourite story that my grandmother tells me is that her granfather would tell his family, "We are in Canada now - we should do things the Canadian way." In every generation of his 6 descendants in Canada, there have been inter-racial marriages with Caucasians. In fact, descendants in the 6th and 7th generation are now only 1/4 and 1/8 Chinese.

Yes, Canada has had a racist history, and yes Asians have successfully integrated and assimilated. But is this alone a case for redress for past wrongs? Certainly not. The case for redress is that in the 17 years since the 1988 redress settlement there has been tremendous healing in the Japanese Canadian community. In his final chapter, Miki shares that in order to become fully Canadian, the community had to forge an identity of being Japanese-Canadian through both internment and redress.

Similarly, my grandmother's younger brother Daniel Lee, a WW2 veteran, has consistenly requested that the Canadian government apologize for the head tax. Our family elders did not have the privilege or franchise to vote in the country of their birth until 1947, while other families were kept apart because of the consequences of the head tax and Chinese Exclusion Act. I am aware that as I have grown up in Canada, I have always been racialized, as my uncles before me who were denied jobs and university admittance. These were the real consequences of the head tax and continued legislated and socialized racism. Reading the accounts of the Japanese Canadians during internment, I can only marvel at what my own ancestors endured from arrivals in 1888 to 1947, when they were finally able to vote.

Joy Kogawa featured on CBC Radio "Sounds Like Canada" on Boxind Day morning 10:30am

Joy Kogawa is interviewed about her childhood home and the Save Kogawa House campaign. Kathryn Gretzinger met Joy at the house at 1450 West 64th Avenue earlier in November for this special interview. Joy also went to the CBC radio studio for some further interviews.

Listen to CBC Radio 690 AM in Vancouver - or on the web - www.cbc.ca 10:35am Dec 26, 2005

It has been such a pleasure getting to know Joy this year of 2005. The first time I met her was in 1986, at Expo 86's Folk Pavillion for a poetry and book reading. The next time I saw her was at a reading at the Vancouver Public Library in summer 2004 for Centre A. I was amazed at how tiny and fragile she was. But over the course of this year, I have gotten to know how, humble, warm and sincere she is. She truly is amazed at all the attention she has recieved from the Vancouver Public Library, Vancouver Opera, Vancouver City Hall, and the media for the Save Kogawa House campaign.

Some significant Joy Kogawa Events I have attended for 2005 include:

May at the opening event for One Book One Vancouver at the Vancouver Public Library;
Joining Save Kogawa House committee in September

September ACWW Ricepaper Magazine 10th Anniversary Dinner where ACWW presented Joy with a Community Builder's Award in September;

Vancouver Arts Awards which included performances from opera Naomi's Road

Reading at Word on the Street for final One Book One Vancouver event

Oct 1 - opening weekend for the premiere of Naomi's Road Opera;

Nov 1st - Obasan Cherry Tree Day at City Hall - with cherry tree planting

Nov 3rd - presentation at City Hall, asking for an unprecedented 120 day delay for demolition of Kogawa House

Nov 12th Save Kogawa House - Awareness concert with Harry Aoki, Raymond Chow and performance of Naomi's Road

Here are some upcoming media coverage for Save Kogawa House events.

CBC Radio One, Sounds like Canada, Dec 26, 2005, 10am - 11am .
Vancouver Sun, Reporter Kevin Griffin, Dec 30 or 31, 2006.
CBC Radio One, “On the Coast,” Early January 2006 (air date to be confirmed).
Shaw Cable, “The Express,” January 4, 2006, 6pm and 8pm.
Common Ground Magazine, January 2006 issue.
OMNI TV: BC, “The Standard,” January 11, 2006, 9pm and January 12, 8am and 12 noon.

"Have a multi-cultural Christmas" - Vancouver Sun's Douglas Todd vs Todd Wong's experiences

Douglas Todd looks at the students and celebrations of Sir Richard McBride elementary school in Vancouver.  He compares present day activities and student ethnicity to when he attended in the early 1960s.  DT is a thoughtful writer and he explores the issues of religious holidays, political correctness, inclusion, school  cultural programming, and what the children really want and think.

Of special note, DT writes that more schools are celebrating Chinese New Year, or rather the more exclusive term "Lunar New Year," as an inclusive event that often celebrates all ethnic cultures.  I have certainly found this to be true, especially when I was invited early this year to bring my Scottish-Chinese fusion of "Gung Haggis Fat Choy" to Westridge Elementary School in Burnaby.  http://www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com/blog
/_archives/2005/2/5/303618.html

Check out DT's feature article titled
A Multicultural Christmas:
Sir Richard McBride students balance ethnicity with new traditions
Vancouver Sun - Dec 24th page C1

Personally, when I grew up at Vancouver's Laura Secord elementary school in the from 1965 to 1973 - I thought I was already experiencing multiculturalism by going to school with mostly white students.  Okay... there were a few students of Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese...etc heritage there too.  By 1973, the Chinese proportion grew significantly, and in my grade 7 class there were 6 other Wongs in the class, including the teacher.

I had started noticing more ESL immigrants of Chinese ancestry around 1970.  This was the effect of changed immigration laws in 1967, that now allowed independant Chinese immigrants, no longer only sponsored by relatives to come to Canada.  You see, even though the Chinese Exclusion Act was removed in 1947, only very limited immigration was allowed for family members only.

My experiences of Christmas growing up, involved dinners with sticky rice, turkey, cranberry sauce, stir-fried vegetables - always a combination of Chinese and Canadian food.  When we visited  my father's side of the family - there were more Chinese speakers, as his mother spoke almost exclusively Chinese, and his eldest sister had been raised in China - despite having been born in Canada. I referred to my mother's side of the family as our "English side" because the family had been in Canada longer since the arrival of my grandmother's grandfather Rev. Chan Yu Tan in 1896.  Even my great-grandmother Kate Chan was fluent in english.  So... even in my family we were multicultural... I guess.

Last year I visited my girlfriend's parents in Vernon, and we attended Christmas dinner at a friend of theirs.  I was the only, non-Asian attending, of the 10 guests.  It was my first ethnically "white" Christmas dinner.  We ate turkey with cranberry sauce, potatoes, salad... just like my own family dinners.  I felt comfortable with the company, because of shared language and values.  Nobody asked how I was enjoying the new "cultural experience" because they just assumed I was "Canadian", knowing that I considered myself a 5th generation Vancouverite.  The cultural differences and conversations were more concerned with the differences between Vancouver and Vernon. Big City culture versus Small City culture.

Culture and "multiculturalism" is relative.  Especially if it is married into the family.

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.”   more »

Chinese style bbq turkeys for Christmas.... yum yum!

Jenny Uechi of Ricepaper Magazine wrote this very interesting foodie article about turkey dinner served Chinese style for the Georgia Straight.  I LOVE Chinese style bbq duck, and was intrigued with this idea....  I mentioned it to my mother, and she told me that she sometimes would take a turkey to a Chinatown butcher/meat store, and they would BBQ it on a price per pound basis.

Jim Wong-Chu is a long-time friend and Asian Canadian Arts mentor.  We came up with the idea of haggis won ton, as he has helped advise me on the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinners over the years...  Jim loves Chinese food too!

Put a little extra red in your dinner with a Chinese-style BBQ turkey

By jenny uechi

Publish Date: 15-Dec-2005

Traditionalists will tell you that Christmas dinner just doesn’t feel complete without a roasted whole turkey as its centrepiece. The more daring, however, may want to try a new spin on this holiday favourite: Chinese-style barbecue turkey. With its reddish skin and sweet-savoury flavour, it’s a dish that not only tastes (and looks) spectacular but also reflects Vancouver’s multiethnic history.

Jim Wong-Chu, Ricepaper publisher and local Asian-food guru, takes time to meet with the Straight to recount the origins of the Chinese-style turkey. “From what people tell me,” he says, “this tradition started way back in the olden days, when none of the Chinese had ovens in their homes. So on special occasions, they asked the local barbecue houses to roast the turkey for them.” Prepared much like a traditional roasted duck, the turkey had crisply seared skin, marinade sauce, and better-preserved juices than the oven-roasting birds. “Even now, when most people have their own ovens, people crave that barbecue taste,” he says.

As proof of this, many barbecue houses in Chinatown still cater to that tradition. At Kwong Hing Co. Ltd (228 East Pender Street, 604-681-1939) and Dollar Meat Store (266 East Pender Street, 604-681-0536), turkey is sold at $4.99 a pound and can be ordered in advance. As with most stores in Chinatown, Cantonese is the lingua franca among staff: Wong-Chu advises that non–Cantonese speakers may want to order through a translator to avoid miscommunication.

For more of the story click here

The week centred on the Solstice is classically called the Saturnalia, culminating after seven days on the 25th. It is a time to honour the Lord of the Dark and the Cold. It is the bottom of the year, with no way to go but up from here. By New Year’s Day, everyone’s system will be feeling, somehow deeply seeing, the rise in light that greets the coming Spring. This is the seed, the foundation, for new growth. This is where it starts, each year. Give thanks, light a light or two, and enjoin this Festival of the Light.    more »

Winter Solstice 2006 Dong Zhi at the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Gardens

We went down to the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Gardens last night in Vancouver's Chinatown.  Chinese Winter Solstice or Dong Zhi was being celebrated as part of the Secret Lantern Society's extensive programming that took part at Chinatown, Yaletown, Westend, Strathcona and Brittania Community Centre.

Chinese Winter Solstice is also a time when there are special foods and activities, especially to be shared with family and friends. 

It was my girlfriend's first time seeing the Chinese garden all lit up with hand made lanterns and candles, and it was magically beautiful.  Even before we had walked into the garden, I bumped into musician friends Qiu Xia He and Andre Thibault who regularly perform at the Garden as Silk Road Music.

Ji Rong Huang performed erhu in the Scholar's Study, and Alcvin Ramos performed shakahachi flute in the Hall of One Hundred Rivers.  Click here for a virtual tour of the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Gardens.

Because of rain, many of the paper lanterns were not hanging on the trees, in the ritual of returning the fallen leaves of Autum, to their original trees in new forms of lanterns.  Many of these paper lanterns feauting leaf designs were instead hung along the walkways of the gardens. 

My favorite lanterns are the floating ones designed like lotus flowers.  The gentle breeze pushed them around on the ponds, and they looked gorgeous in the dark.


A floating lotus lantern lit by photo flash - photo Todd Wong

We soon bumped into my friend Meena Wong showing the garden to a friend of hers visiting from Singapore.  My first dragon boat mentor James Yu was there with his mother.  James is also restorer for the gardens, making sure it is in good maintenance and running order.  He has taught me how to steer dragon boat as well as both Tai Chi, and  many stories about the Chinese garden and traditions.


Dragon Boat buddies Todd Wong and James Yu - photo Deb Martin

As we left the Gardens, we looked around in the Gardens giftshop, and I found a lovely little amulet thingy with the Chinese character for "Love" - which I bought as a gift for my girlfriend.  We also had some fun, doing water brush strokes on a "buddha board" where I demonstrated my long lost skills of having taken a class in Chinese brush painting back in 1980.  It was also a big surprise to meet the new Gardens giftshop manager Alexis who used to run the balloon shop in Deman Place Mall.  Alexis had attended my 2002 Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner when her good actor /voice coach friend  Sonia Baker co-hosted with me.

A real big surprise was bumping into former classmates from Grade 7 at Laura Secord Elementary in Vancouver.  While I have bumped into Selina So over the past years through many Asian Canadian events, this was the first time I had seen Leslie Ikeda since 1978 - and we both fondly recounted that we had been in kindergarten together, as well as grade 7 and grade 8 Math. Winter Solstice really is a time for friends and family, as they meet at all the community events!

We met in the Terracotta Warrior gift shop, owned by my friends Charles and Grace.  It's a wonderful shop and I bought two silk ties - one with Pandas, another with dragons... and a special framed print as a Christmas present for my parents (shhh.... it's a secret for now!)


Classmates from Grade 7 Reunited - Selena So, Leslie Ikeda and Todd Wong - photo Deb Martin

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 anno