Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

via BC Human Rights Committee

History is never neutral. Framing is everything. Take Vancouver’s anti-Asian riots of 1907.

On September 7 of that year, the Asiatic Exclusion League led a parade to City Hall at Main and Hastings streets, calling for an end to Asian immigration to British Columbia. More than 8,000 people, including local politicians, labour leaders, and members of fraternal organizations, rallied with banners reading Stand for a White Canada.

Only 2,000 could fit in City Hall, so crowds drifted to Chinatown, a block away. A rock thrown through a store window touched off a rampage of smashed signs and glass, and looting that continued into neighbouring Japantown, where the crowd faced some resistance before police showed up to quell the violence.

In the following days, Chinese and Japanese armed themselves with guns, preparing for another siege. They held a general strike, refusing to go to their jobs in homes, restaurants, and mills.

William Lyon Mackenzie King, then federal deputy minister of labour, held hearings on the riot. Almost a year later, damages were awarded: $26,000 to the Chinese, $9,000 to the Japanese.

Henry Yu, an associate professor of history at UBC, sees 2007 not just as the 100th anniversary of the 1907 riots but marking three other key years in the history of Asian immigration to Pacific Canada: 1947, 1967, and 1997.

Continue reading at straight.com

By Philip Emeagwali, Harare

Globalisation, or the ability of many people, ideas and technology to move from country to country, is not new. In Africa, it was initiated by the slave trade and given impetus by colonialism and Christian missionaries.

The early missionaries saw African culture and religion as a deadly adversary and as an evil that had to be eliminated. In 1876, a 27-year-old missionary named Mary Slessor emigrated from Scotland to spend the rest of her life in Nigeria. For her efforts in trying to convert the people of Nigeria, Mary Slessor’s photograph appears on Scotland’s ten-pound note, and her name can be found on schools, hospitals and roads in Nigeria.

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Media Advisory – August 25, 2006

Head Tax Hip Hop for Redress in Saltwater City: no luck club (NLC) and Funk In Da Attic at Carnegie Hall!

Vancouver, BC – BC Coalition of Head Tax Payers, Spouses and Descendants invites citizens to a petition signing and letter writing dance party with music by no luck club (NLC) and performance by Funk in Da Attic. Colleen Hua, president of the Chinese Canadian National Council, will also be in attendance.

• Date: Sunday, September 10, 2006
• Time: 10:00am call time – program to begin shortly after
• Place: Carnegie Community Centre Main Hall, 401 Main Street at Hastings, Vancouver

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On August 6, Prime Minister Stephen Harper came one step closer to issuing a federal apology over the Komagata Maru incident. At a meeting with Indo-Canadian community leaders in Surrey, Harper declared that the federal government’s decision in 1914 to refuse entry to more than 350 South Asian passengers—all British subjects—“remains a source of sorrow”.

“I also want you to know that the government of Canada acknowledges the Maru incident and we will soon undertake consultations with the Indo-Canadian community on how best to recognize this sad moment in our history,” Harper said.

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In light of the recent arrests of 17 young Muslim men, media sensationalism and government statements have stirred public frenzy about “homegrown terrorists”, revealing a shallow multiculturalism and reinforcing the racialized national space of Canada. This discourse within the context of the War on Terror further justifies an increasingly aggressive and crusading police, security, and military apparatus both within and beyond these borders. A critical perspective, rooted in the historic and current reality about Canadian domestic and foreign policy, is necessary to address the climate of paranoia, racism, repression, and war-making. Join us for speakers, films, and discussion….

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Chinese Head Tax/Exclusion Redress Second Step Subject: BC Coalition Calls Head Tax Families Community Meeting

Vancouver, BC – The BC Coalition of Head Tax Payers, Spouses and Descendants will convene a community meeting to discuss the completion of the two stage framework presented by redress groups to Canadian Heritage Minister and Beverley Oda and Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister Jason Kenney at a March 24, 2006 consultation in Toronto.

• Date: Wednesday June 28, 2006
• Time: 7:00 pm
• Place: SUCCESS, Choi Hall, 28 West Pender, Vancouver

The two stage framework calls for an apology and as well as urgent appropriate redress to surviving head tax payers and spouses. This was completed June 22, 2006. The second step is appropriate redress to head tax payer families to be completed by July 1, 2007, the 60th anniversary of of the Chinese receiving the federal vote and 100th of the Chinatown race riots in Vancouver.

The BC Coalition of Head Tax Payers, Spouses and Descendants are today’s Chinese Canadians. We are from different ages, from all walks of life, all having one thing in common. They or someone in their family paid the head tax. We are neighbours, friends and family who have endured journeys of hardship, sacrifice and suffering due to the effects of more than six decades (62-years) of racial discrimination specifically targeted at the Chinese in Canada.

An Invitation to Agriculture Union Component members of PSAC …

• AAFC
• PSC
• DND
• CGC
• CFIA
• Para-Mutuel Agency
• CBSA

Come celebrate our “Harmony in Diversity” event during National Public Service Week. Bring a dish from your heritage and participate in our festivities and awareness programs! Please RSVP by email or phone (778) 230-3987 to to Jennie Chu, BC Equal Opportunity Rep.

• Location: 4th floor, 4321 Still Creek Drive, Burnaby BC
• Time: 10 am to 2 pm on Wed., June 14th, 2006

Download the Agriculture Union Harmony in Diversity event poster here. (pdf)

Descendants of passengers on ill-fated ship call on Ottawa

VANCOUVER - Descendants of passengers aboard the ill-fated Komagata Maru want to open discussions with the federal government about a formal apology and possible compensation over Canada’s racist immigration laws early this century.

Three grandsons and a great-grandson of some of those aboard the infamous ship that tried to land in Vancouver in 1914 gathered in Richmond Monday to address community leaders and the media about a coordinated strategy on the issue.

Jas Toor said his grandfather was arrested as an independence leader after he was forced back to India with the other 375 on the chartered vessel.

“My grandfather and other passengers on that ship were jailed for at least two years,” Toor said. “We are looking for the help of all our politicians…. An official apology we expect from the government.”

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Kathleen Kassam shared this information via email to the BC Human Rights Committee at their last meeting on May 10th. We are posting it for your information.

National Council of Visible Minorities

History

• Founded in 1999
• National organization of Visible Minority employees in the federal government Departments and Agencies across Canada

Vision

• To be a catalyst for the advancement of Visible Minorities in a representative in the Public Service

Mission

• The Council is the voice and face of Visible Minorities in the federal public service who wish to enter into a dialogue around decision making tables on how to build a representative federal Public Service that enhances service to the Canadian Public.

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The surprising thing about Grace-Edward Galabuzi, author of a new book entitled Canada’s Economic Apartheid: The Social Exclusion of Racialized Groups in the New Century, is that he is a gentle, scholarly man.

He uses facts, not polemics, to make his case. He acknowledges that Canada has been good to him since he fled Uganda at gunpoint in 1982. There is nothing angry or strident about him.

But passion is not measured in decibels. And Galabuzi is nothing if not passionate about resisting the formation of a non-white underclass in his adopted home.

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March 21, 1960 – there must have been excitement and fear that day as the residents of Sharpeville, South Africa gathered to peacefully protest the Apartheid “pass laws.” Imagine the courage each of the equity warriors demonstrated as they peacefully stood together against those that were familiar with using brutal violence to enforce racial injustice. Students and neighbours came together in a common commitment to seek change, to pursue equity, and to demand the elimination of racism within a country that had legitimized inequality.

It must have been an exhilarating dream.

Forty-six years ago, they stood together for this dream. Today, we remember their bravery. That day, sixty-nine black demonstrators were killed and 180 wounded by armed South African police, in what history records as the Sharpeville Massacre.

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OTTAWA – A new study by the Canadian Labour Congress confirms that the job market discriminates against workers of colour, and more so against young workers who are Canadian-born.

Analysing closely data from Statistics Canada’s 2001 Census, the study “Racial Status and Employment Outcomes” by Leslie Cheung, a graduate student in public policy at Simon Fraser University, in Vancouver, explains that “the fact that Canadian-born workers of colour are doing badly cannot be explained away by reference to lack of Canadian credentials and experience.”

“As Canadians, individually and collectively, we must come to grips with harsh realization that every day we are straying further and further away from our goals of equality,” says Hassan Yussuff, secretary-treasurer of the Canadian Labour Congr ess about the findings of this study. “Can we predict a strong future built on hope, respect, solidarity and citizenship when racial discrimination prevents workers who are more highly educated than average to find and keep steady employment at decent wages?”

“Racial Status and Employment Outcomes” is available on the Canadian Labour Congress web site.

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Black porters and the labour movement

Black workers were a pool of cheap and docile labour… or so the Canadian railway companies thought.

At the end of the 19th century, the introduction of sleeping car services on transcontinental trains increased demand for railroad travel, which meant record profits for railway companies. Due to a labour shortage and the fact white workers were unionizing, the companies aggressively recruited African-Canadians, as well as Blacks from the U.S. and the Caribbean.

At a time when racial discrimination barred black workers from most jobs, the railway became one of few places where African-Canadians could find steady work, especially as sleeping car porters. But it meant for low pay and oppressive working conditions. Black porters were often forced to work 24 hours with no overtime pay, and the average monthly pay was $80 a month. There were no vacations, and management acted arbitrarily and fired porters indiscriminately.

Read more about how the porters improved their pay and working conditions at the national website.

BC Human Rights Committee member Katie Kassam has also sent us some links relating to Black History month, click for:

• Black History Month: a Historical Timeline
• In the 400 years that we have lived in Canada, Blacks have been part of many important milestones in Canada’s history and culture. Here is a list of some of these highlights
• Time Line of African American History, 1852-1880

Building on the success of the Chinese Canadian Culture Online Project the Chinese Canadian National Council is now launching the Asian Canadian Online Project - Vietnamese, Filipino and Chinese.

What are the experiences of an Asian Canadian youth?

What does it mean to you? Write about it!

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Black History Month: Labour history must include contributions of Black labour activists

Black History Month is celebrated in Canada to recognize the contributions of Black peoples to the growth and development of this country and their importance to its history.

The contributions of African Canadians are still far from being integrated into the mainstream of Canadian history. However, many now know of Mathieu Da Costa, a man of African heritage who arrived into this land in 1604 with French explorer Samuel de Champlain and who served as an interpreter between the Europeans and the Mik’ maq people. Many also know about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railway, a network of safehouses and individuals that helped Black people escape slavery in the United States.

Read more of the PSAC’s statement on Black History month at the national website.

You are invited to celebrate the 11th annual Dances with Dragons, which was started ten years ago by students from Mount Currie (see background below). This is not a performance but a genuine celebration of another year of journey with the First People and one more step towards reconciliation. To that end, please share the following invitation with your friends: |inline

Filipinos and their Canadian allies in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver concluded a successful national day of protest with rallies and actions last Friday, January 13, 2006 protesting the unjust deportation of live-in caregivers. The national day of protest was coordinated by SIKLAB-Canada, a national alliance of Filipino migrant workers in Canada, to mark the delivery of over 1000 signed petitions calling for a stop to the deportations to Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) Minister Joe Volpe at his Toronto campaign office. In Vancouver, REVP Patty Ducharme and members of Labour and community groups attended a rally. |inline

In recent weeks, federal politicians have attempted to court the “immigrant vote” with certain policy announcements such as hose relating to Chinese Head Tax redress and the $975 landing fee. In response to such announcements, a diverse number of community-based groups will be challenging federal politicians to address immigration issues in a substantive manner at a press conference on Thursday January 12th at 10:30 am at Philippine Women’s Center (451 Powell St, Vancouver). Head Tax redress has become a key community-driven election issue. At least three Liberal cabinet ministers and the Prime Minister have now spoken about reversing their position of “no apology, no compensation”.

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