Todd Wong's Burnaby performances at Westridge Elementary School's multicultural Chinese New Year Celebration

Today and tonight was very busy.  I was a guest speaker at Westridge elementary school in Burnaby.  One of the parents had seen my picture in the Burnaby News Leader local community newspaper and immediately liked my multicultural angle for Gung Haggis Fat Choy.  I was the featured performer for Westridge's Chinese New Year concert and party, which for the first time took on a multicultural angle, as all children were encouraged to dress in ethnic costumes and to celebrate any aspects of their ancestral heritage.  Even the principal was wearing plaid pants to celebrate his Scottish heritage and my appearance.

Watching the children file into the gymnasium, I was reminded of how many of our Vancouver area schools are filled with 1st or 2nd generational Asian students who come from homes where Chinese is probably the main spoken language.  To me, it seemed more important that multicultural concerts now introduce the cultures of Canada to an ever increasing Asian immigrant population, rather than introducing immigrant cultures to a dominant Caucasian Canadian population.

I lead off by asking the children if they knew what I was wearing and which country it came from.  They correctly identified that a kilt came from Scotland.  I asked who had Chinese ancestry, and who had Scottish ancestry.  Then I asked my trick questions - who shares the Scottish and Chinese cultures of Canada.  We all do, in informed the children.  As Canadians we get to celebrate every culture that has come to Canada.

Then I invited all the teachers to come to the front with me to sing "When Asian/Scottish Eyes Are Smiling."  All the children enjoyed this immensely - even though I suspect they were unfamiliar with the song.

Next I spoke about how both Scots Canadians and Chinese Canadians played important roles in the building of Canada, citing Sir John A. MacDonald as the first prime minister of Canada, and explained the similarities of Scottish Hogmanay and Chinese New Year. This was the perfect introduction to playing a short clip from the CBC TV Special "Gung Haggis Fat Choy."

The children appeared to be fascinated and really laughed when the animated story of Robbie Burns came on.  The principal presented me with wrapped presents as gifts from the school, and I presented him with Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner posters, and postcards for the CBC television special "Gung Haggis Fat Choy."