Public Service Alliance of Canada BC

My name is Kiran Arora and I am a Ph.D. student at Syracuse University, in the Marriage and Family Therapy department. I am conducting a research study which seeks to understand the impact of political violence in Punjab India, on Sikh diaspora in Vancouver.

Specifically, I would like to understand your views on what it means to be living in Vancouver, Canada as part of the Sikh diaspora. Further, I would like to understand how the political violence in Punjab, India has impacted you, your relationships and your position in the world, as a member of the Sikh diaspora in Vancouver.

This study will be pioneering in the field of Marriage and Family Therapy because this topic area has not been studied before. Bringing forth the unique experiences of the Sikh diaspora will be informative for those working in the mental health field. It will also allow the unique stories and voices of Sikh diaspora to take space in academia, where these voices can be acknowledged, and understood.

I am looking for potential volunteers for my study and hope that you will consider participating. If you wish to participate you must meet the following criteria:

1. You must be born outside of India, to parents who were born in India.
2. You must have experienced (first hand or second hand) some of the events affecting the Sikh community in the 1980’s and 1990’s.
3. You must reside in Vancouver.
4. You must self identify as a Sikh.

Participation in this study would be completely voluntary and you may withdraw at any time if you choose to participate. Your confidentiality is of utmost concern, and measures have been put into place to ensure that your confidentiality is protected.

I would be happy to discuss this with you in detail on the phone. The format of this study will be interviews, where I would be interviewing you for 90 to 120 minutes.

If you are interested in this study, please phone/email me. I will give you further information at that time, and also answer any questions or concerns you may have.

Kiran S.K. Arora
kiransarora@gmail.com
315.383.5400 – Syracuse, N.Y.
604.719.1871 – Vancouver, B.C.

Lawyer, senator, union leader agree minorities are unwelcome

Don Butler, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Justice Canada is a “very poisonous, toxic department” that drives visible minorities out the door, says a high-profile former Justice lawyer.

Mark Persaud, who left Justice in 2003, told a Senate committee the atmosphere during the decade he worked there was rife with “overt racism and intimidation of employees.”

His testimony came on the heels of charges by a senator and the Public Service Alliance of Canada that racism is blocking visible minorities from being properly represented within the federal public service. Nova Scotia Senator Donald Oliver, who is black, bluntly asserted at Monday night’s Senate committee meeting that “it is racism that is preventing visible minorities from progressing in the public service.”

And Ed Cashman, a PSAC vice-president, told senators that racism is “the elephant in the room” that nobody in government wants to talk about.

(more…)

Roy Mah passed away on June 22, 2007 at the age of 89.

Mah was born in Edmonton in 1918. In 1943 at the age of 25, Mah was recruited as a union organizer for the IWA while still a history student at the University of Victoria. He was also the Secretary of the Chinese Youth Association in Victoria.

Even though he was born in Canada, Roy and thousands of other Chinese Canadians were not recognized as citizens. Roy attended a segregated school in Victoria and instinctively rebelled against inequality and other forms of discrimination.

As an IWA organizer, Roy began organizing workers of Chinese origin into the Victoria local of the IWA. He traveled up and down the Coast organizing workers in such places as Duncan, Youbou, Nanaimo, Comox, and Port Alberni.

(more…)

Source: The Vancouver Courier, May 11, by Cheryl Rossi-Staff writer

When families who were affected by the Chinese Head Tax celebrate 60 years of citizenship Saturday, they’ll be recognizing how far they’ve come in gaining rights and respect for Chinese people in Canada.

But according to Sid Tan, co-chair of the Head Tax Families Society of Canada, they’ll also highlight problems migrant workers face today as echoes of what their families endured.

“The issues of guest workers, the issues of seasonal and temporary employment, live-in caregivers and domestics, all these issues are not that different from what the early Chinese suffered,” said Tan. “These are people that are good enough to come to Canada and do the dirty and menial work or the work that a lot of Canadians won’t or aren’t willing to do, and they have no rights. There’s something wrong with the picture, and a hundred years ago this is what happened to the Chinese.”

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Via PSAC BC Human Rights Committee

This is the office building I work in. It would be good if the Union (PSAC) or union’s EO committee could issue a statement in support of the demand for name change. If not, then UEW. – Anne Marie Sleeman, UEW 20729

Japanese-Canadians want MP’s named removed from building: Accuse Howard Green of racist remarks in ’30s, ’40s

Japanese-Canadians are demanding Ottawa change the name of a building it named after a former Conservative MP known for his racist remarks in the 1930s and ’40s.

They say that honouring Howard Green is wrong and that Ottawa should change the building’s name.
“I was pretty shocked myself,” said Prof. Roy Miki at Simon Fraser University and author of Redress: Inside the Japanese Canadian Call for Justice.

“From a Japanese-Canadian point of view, he was one of the most feared politicians in Canada because he was pretty relentless in his hatred of Japanese-Canadians.”

Public Works Minister Michael Fortier announced in September that an eco-friendly federal building at 401 Burrard St. would be named after Green. A dedication ceremony was held at the 19-storey building, whose tenants include Environment Canada and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

“Howard Green exemplifies the notion of service to one’s country,” Fortier said at the time.

But yesterday, after criticism from Japanese-Canadians, Fortier said he will ask a volunteer committee that recommended the name to review its recommendation.

Fortier, who made the final decision, was not aware of Green’s past of making racist remarks, ministry spokesman Jean-Luc Benoit said.

The volunteer committee of community representatives evaluated more than 350 names and gave Fortier a short list including Green and Rosemary Brown, a former MLA and human-rights advocate, Terry Fox, artist Toni Onley, Pierre Trudeau and W.A.C. Bennett.

Mary Kitagawa, a member of the Greater Vancouver Japanese Canadian Citizens Association for Human Rights, said she wrote to Fortier in September asking for Green’s name to be erased from the building.

“What we want to do is have that name removed from that building because to us, he is not a hero by any measure,” said Kitagawa.

The National Association of Japanese Canadians has also written to Fortier and Prime Minister Stephen Harper asking for Green’s name to be removed from the building.

Newspaper stories from the ’30s and ’40s document Green’s campaign to oust Japanese-Canadians from B.C.
“Our stand is, and always has been, that we won’t have Japs in the province,” Green said in a Province article dated May 27, 1945. “The Liberal policy is to scatter them; the CCF want to scatter them and give them the vote. If they ever get the vote, nothing more will be done about them.”

In a Province article dated April 22, 1946, Green “warned of the danger that all Japanese might again be back on the coast.”

A Vancouver Sun article on May 17, 1945, quotes Green as saying “the Japs must never be allowed to return to British Columbia.”

The Public Works Ministry said earlier Green was chosen because he was a strong advocate of nuclear disarmament. He was also a First World War soldier and the second-longest serving MP from Vancouver, elected 11 times in Vancouver South and later Vancouver Quadra.

He died in 1989 at age 93.

source: Vancouver Province, Oct 25, pg A14.

via PSAC BC Human Rights Committee

Cracking the visible minority ceiling: Corporations face talent shortage, major study to target barriers

They helped women crack the glass ceiling in corporate Canada. Now, they want to do the same for visible minorities.

Catalyst Canada, a group that exposed the barriers to advancement for women at the highest corporate levels, announced yesterday the launch of a groundbreaking study into the problems facing talented minority employees who want to get ahead.

While not the first organization to examine this problem, the non-profit research group said it would take a deeper, broader look at an issue of emerging significance to employers, executive director Deborah Gillis said yesterday.

“What we know is Canada is facing a significant talent shortage. Many of our best-educated employees are getting ready to retire. We also know the face of Canada is changing,” Gillis said.

“If you combine the retirement of boomers with the fact that in less than 10 years visible minorities are going to represent one in five members of our workforce, we know this is a fundamental issue for Canadian business.”

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via PSAC BC Human Rights Committee
Vancouver BC – The Head Tax Families Society of Canada (HTF), successor group to the BC Coalition of Head Tax Payers, Spouses and Descendants (BC Coalition), will observe the turnaround of the Chinese head tax/exclusion redress struggle with a public forum. Invitees include Greater Vancouver Members of Parliament from the three parties represented in the House of Commons, the BC Attorney General and Minister of Multiculturalism, the three Chinese Canadians sitting on Vancouver City Council and other elected officials.

• When: 11:00am Saturday, November 25, 2006
• Where: Chinese Cultural Center – Dr. David Lam Hall, 50 East Pender Street, Vancouver

“Outside Inside” refers to last November 26 when several hundred people set up an information line in Chinatown. It attended outside a closed redress conference funded by the government at the Chinese Cultural Center and a photo opportunity for Prime Minister Paul Martin at United Chinese Community Enrichment Social Services (SUCCESS). This “on the streets” action is now considered by many in the redress movement as a seminal moment in the redress struggle.

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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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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)

On the morning of May 27, 2006, at 05.54 AM local time (at 03.54 PM Pacific Time on May 26, 2006), a powerful earthquake shook the Special Province of Yogyakarta, inhabited by 2.6 million people, located in the central part of Java Island, Indonesia. The epicenter of the earthquake, registered 6.3 on the Richter scale, is 15 miles from Yogyakarta, the capital of the Special Province of Yogyakarta. Fatalities based on the latest official report were approximately 5,136 people, mostly the residents of the Bantul Regency, in the Southern part of Yogyakarta (population more than 770.000).

In light of this recent earthquake in Indonesia, the Vancouver Asian Heritage Month Society (explorASIAN Festival) will turn its two free concert events at the explorINDONESIAN Batik and Arts Exhibition at the Roundhouse Community Centre into benefit concerts for earthquake relief. Admission to both concerts will be by donation and all proceeds will go to the Canadian Red Cross. We invite the Lower Mainland community to attend the exhibition and the two concerts and make a donation.

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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

Your are currently browsing the archives for items filed under the Human Rights category and it’s subsections – Racially Visible and Aboriginal issues, People With Disabilities, and Pride. You can find more information about the PSAC BC Human Rights Committee under the Get Involved! link on the main Human Rights Committee page. Older news and posts relating to Human Rights are archived in our old webspace.