Vancouver Sun:  Daphne Bramham column addresses politicians, multiculturalism and Sid and Todd's adventures at a Raymond Chan press conference in Mandarin

Vancouver Sun columnist Daphne Bramham has been exploring interesting angles in the Chinese Head Tax issue, that many media are calling the surprise election issue.  Check out Politicians must represent Everyone: Holding separate news conferences for ethnic media goes against multiculturalism goal, Friday, December 16th, p. B1 & B4.

Bramham explores that while English and French are Canada's official languages, other languages are becoming increasingly prevalent in major urban centres such as Vancouver, Surrey, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary and Richmond.  In an increasingly culturally diverse Canada, she pleas that our politicians must use our common language in order not to isolate, or ghettoize specific cultural or ethnic groups.

Bramham recalls the December 2nd press conference held by Richmond MP and Minister of State (Multiculturalism) Raymond Chan at his campaign office in Richmond, which was conducted in Mandarin Chinese for the Chinese language media.  English speaking media were not invited to discuss the controversial issue of Chinese head-tax redress and ACE program which Chan has signed with the National Congress of Chinese Canadians. 

This issue has been criticized by both members of the media and the community for its exclusion of both and apology and individual tax refund or compensation - not to mention an almost complete exclusion of negotiating with the Chinese Canadian National Council which has registered 4000 head tax payers and descendants.  This issue has clearly divided the Chinese community in all its myriad forms of pioneers, new immigrants, multi-generational descendants, old immigrants and more.

Bramham included details from my visit to the Chan press conference wrote:

"Two journalists were there who don't speak fluently in either Mandarin or Cantonese - Sid Chow Tan, who works for Vancouver Co-op Radio, and Todd Wong, who was writing a piece for the Web magazine, The Tyee.  both speak English as a first language and, incidently, both disagree with Chan and the Liberal government's handling of the redress issue.

"Chow Tan and Wong had to rely on other journalists and later translators to get the gist of what was said.  And it was heady stuff.

Bramham goes on to describe the content of the translation of Chan's Dec. 2 press release in which Chan accused the Chinese Canadian National Council and "some members of the NDP of using the issue of the head tax, the suffering of the head-tax payers and untruthful information to deepen the conflict within the Chinese community, attack a political party, many community volunteers and myself in order to benefit a certain political party and organization."

"This is a violaiton of justice.  Their words and action are dispicable," continues Chan.

Bramham goes on to point out that "This is headline-grabbing stuff that got prominent attention in the Chinese media and might have in most other Canadian media.  "Why were only Chinese-speaking journalists invited," she asks.  "Head-tax redress is not a Chinese issue.

Bramham points out that how Canada deals with head-tax redress will demonstrate what it means to have a compassionate, inclusive and multicultural country, using the 1988 redress settlement for the Japanese Canadians who were interned during World War 2. 

Clearly our notions of our country change with every wave of immigration.  How did the initial French and English pioneers treat the First Nations people?  How are the new immigrant Chinese treating the established mainstream English speaking community now?  Multiculturalism has been under attack in recent years for becoming a "cottage industry" that perpetuates itself according to writer Neil Bissoondath.

As a 5th generation Chinese Canadian, I grew up with stories about how difficult it was for my ancestors and my parents to find acceptance in Canada - even little things like finding an appartment, getting a job, going to University - without racial discrimination.  But today, many new Chinese language immigrants take it for granted that they can live completely in Vancouver without having to speak in English. 

At the end of her column Bramham writes:

Multiculturalism is about the kind of real integration that results from mutual respect, equal economic and social opportunites and substantive equality.  Barriers to integration of individual Canadians are barriers to the progress of Canada as a whole.

She then attributes the eloquent quote to Raymond Chan's speech when he opened a conference in October.  She concludes by stating "Apparently when it comes to multiculturalism, a lot is lost in the translation of word to action.