Meena Wong held a press conference at Vancouver City Hall this morning at 10am. Attending were various English language and Chinese language media.
Also attending in support of Meena were city councilors David Cadman and George Chow, school trustee Al Blakely, former city councilor Ellen Woodsworth, Sid Tan, Gabriel Yiu, Mel Lehan, Harvely Lee, and Ron Chin.
Since moving to Vancouver from Toronto, where she had worked as assistants to Ontario legislator, and Toronto city councilor Olivia Chow, Meena has quickly built up a wonderful network in Vancouver.
She counts me as one of her first friends when she arrived in Vancouver in 2002, and asked me to introduce her:
When people have asked me, who in the Chinese community should run for City Council. The name Meena Wong is spoken.
When I first met her, she was newly arrived from Toronto, and she came out to volunteer for the Vancouver Asian Heritage Month opening event that I was organizing.
Meena cares about our youth. She has worked with the SUCCESS youth leadership millenium program. She has worked with foreign college students helping them learn about Canadian culture, Vancouver history and finding them ways to participate and volunteer. She connected me to the YLM program as a mentor.
Meena cares about the environment. She helped build awareness of environmental issues in the Chinese language community, by creating outreach for the Western Canada Wilderness Committee where she worked with executive director Andrea Reimer. I see Meena at info booths in Chinatown night market and at cultural festivals.
Meena cares about people. She cares about human rights. This is why she was active for the Chinese Head Tax Redress campaign. Even though she is not a head tax descendant, she helped bring the message to both Chinese and English language communities. We helped conduct meetings and convey information together.
Meena builds bridges. She has worked for many non-profits and served on many boards including: Little Pear Garden, Asian Canadian Writers Workshop and COPE. Every month she hosts a dim sum luncheon for "progressives". She introduces people to people, community to community. She introduces amazing people, people like Libby Davies, Mel Lehan, Ellen Woodsworth, Sid Tan, David Cadman, Gabriel Yiu, or Olivia Chow from Toronto.
During the past Vancouver civic and provincial elections, it was Meena Wong helping COPE and NDP reach out into the Chinese language communities. She helps people discover that they have more commonalities for progressive thinking people that can overcome cultural and language barriers.
Meena Wong knows what the issues are, and how to get results. She knows how city hall works, and she wants to make it more accessible for everybody no matter what language they speak. Meena speaks English, Mandarin and Cantonese... and even a little French.
I know Meena personally. She is my friend. She has supported me on many of my endeavors such as Gung Haggis Fat Choy, Chinese Head Tax campaign, dragon boat teams, Asian Canadian literary events... She is constructive. She builds consensus. She builds bridges. She is respectful. She is understanding.
This is why Meena Wong will make a great contribution to Vancouver's city council.
When I first met her, she was newly arrived from Toronto, and she came out to volunteer for the Vancouver Asian Heritage Month opening event that I was organizing.
Meena cares about our youth. She has worked with the SUCCESS youth leadership millenium program. She has worked with foreign college students helping them learn about Canadian culture, Vancouver history and finding them ways to participate and volunteer. She connected me to the YLM program as a mentor.
Meena cares about the environment. She helped build awareness of environmental issues in the Chinese language community, by creating outreach for the Western Canada Wilderness Committee where she worked with executive director Andrea Reimer. I see Meena at info booths in Chinatown night market and at cultural festivals.
Meena cares about people. She cares about human rights. This is why she was active for the Chinese Head Tax Redress campaign. Even though she is not a head tax descendant, she helped bring the message to both Chinese and English language communities. We helped conduct meetings and convey information together.
Meena builds bridges. She has worked for many non-profits and served on many boards including: Little Pear Garden, Asian Canadian Writers Workshop and COPE. Every month she hosts a dim sum luncheon for "progressives". She introduces people to people, community to community. She introduces amazing people, people like Libby Davies, Mel Lehan, Ellen Woodsworth, Sid Tan, David Cadman, Gabriel Yiu, or Olivia Chow from Toronto.
During the past Vancouver civic and provincial elections, it was Meena Wong helping COPE and NDP reach out into the Chinese language communities. She helps people discover that they have more commonalities for progressive thinking people that can overcome cultural and language barriers.
Meena Wong knows what the issues are, and how to get results. She knows how city hall works, and she wants to make it more accessible for everybody no matter what language they speak. Meena speaks English, Mandarin and Cantonese... and even a little French.
I know Meena personally. She is my friend. She has supported me on many of my endeavors such as Gung Haggis Fat Choy, Chinese Head Tax campaign, dragon boat teams, Asian Canadian literary events... She is constructive. She builds consensus. She builds bridges. She is respectful. She is understanding.
This is why Meena Wong will make a great contribution to Vancouver's city council.
