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Published Articles, Published Articles by Tung

A Stronger Voice is needed

Tung Chan, Sept 7, 2009

There are more than 10 elected officials who are of Chinese heritage in various levels of Governments in B.C. Many of them owed much of their electoral success to strong financial and organizational support from the Chinese-Canadian community. Yet the community has placed very little political demand on them to advance the community’s interests. And none of them have openly stated that they are there to represent the Chinese-Canadian community.

Douglas Jung, the first MP of Chinese descent once told me the Chinese-Canadian community was his best ally as well as his harshest critic during his tenure from 1957 to 1962. Raymond Chan, the present day MP from Richmond, was relentlessly criticized for his change of stance in the human rights issue in China. The strongest voice of criticism came from the Chinese-Canadian community.

There is a Chinese proverb that says: “The more you care about an individual, the more critical you are of that individual.” Many Chinese-Canadians certainly live up to that proverb fully in dealing with political leaders from their own community.

Yet there is a lot of pride when members of the community were elected to political positions. After I was elected to office in 1990, I was invited by a friend from the Taiwanese-Canadian community to a dinner to celebrate my success. When my wife and I arrived at the venue, we were surprised to find there were over 200 people there ready to meet their newest “father and mother official” as municipal officials were called in old China.

The community is known to rally behind aspiring politicians during the nomination and election process. People who are intimately involved in the 1993 federal election will remember the nomination fight in the Tory camp between Dr. K. K. Wan and Geoff Chutter and in the Liberal camp between Raymond Chan and Herb Dhaliwal. Literally thousands of people from the Chinese-Canadian community turned out to support Dr. Wan and Mr. Chan. They also worked hard during the election and volunteered for the multitude of jobs that were required in an election campaign. Many even worked across political lines in both campaigns.
With that kind of effort, one would expect that members of the Chinese-Canadian community would want to vote overwhelmingly for one of their own. Surprisingly, that is not the finding of a survey conducted in 1996. Only 5.1% of the 948 Chinese speaking respondents in the poll commissioned by Ming Pao and the Vancouver Sun named ethnic origin as one of the three key factors in their selection of a political candidate. The top three key factors identified were programme (31.6%), ability (24%) and achievements (16.4%).

And what does the community expect of their politicians once they are elected to office? The community certainly expects their politicians to attend a great many number of banquets and events. Every Chinese-Canadian politicians in town will tell you it is not uncommon for them to attend three to four banquets a night during the Chinese New Year season in the month of February. Cutting ribbons in official openings of businesses is another chore that Chinese-Canadian politicians have to perform a lot more than their non-Chinese counterparts. During my three years as a Councillor of Vancouver, I had cut ribbons for businesses in Vancouver, Burnaby and Richmond.

What about on a more serious note? In May of 1995 a series of articles were written by several columnist of Sing Tao Newspaper about whether politicians of Chinese descend should fight for the welfare of the Chinese-Canadian community.

The question in itself would seem odd to the uninitiated. Politicians elected from B. C. are expected to fight for the welfare of British Columbians. In the same token, one would assume that Chinese-Canadians expect politicians elected from their community to fight for the welfare of their community. Surprisingly again, this traditional point of view did not gather much support from the established columnists. The proponents of the classical point of view were actually held in contempt for preaching reverse racial discrimination! They were ostracized for being too narrow minded and undemocratic.

Guo Ding, an editorial writer for Ming Pao seemed to capture the wishes of the Chinese-Canadian community in his editorial after the 1996 civic election. He suggested that the Chinese-Canadian incumbents should first act on their election promises. He admonished them to make policy decisions from the perspective of the whole community (not just the Chinese-Canadian community) and be careful not to use a double standard when dealing with the Chinese and the non-Chinese community.

There is a divergence of value between the recently immigrated Chinese-Canadian community and the rest of the Canadian society. The presence of a strong work ethic, the value placed on education, the yardsticks used to measure success, the affinity towards one’s own community and the strong group identity are some of the characteristics that set the new Chinese-Canadian community apart.

But this divergence of value has not led to a divergence of interest. The interests of the Chinese-Canadian community, by and large, are that of the interest of the larger community.

The voting intentions and expectation of politicians from their own community demonstrate clearly that Chinese-Canadian voters want members of their community to be part of the governing body. They want to take part in the action as full participants rather than staying on the sideline as spectators. They want to be part of the process rather than part of the equation.

The support given by the community to the aspiring politicians indicates the community’s desire to have someone to articulate its aspirations. The community is craving for someone to represent their point of view in the political process. They want someone who is sensitive to their cultural values. They need someone who is willing to address their issues. Issues such as English language training, job training, unemployment, under-employment and recognition of foreign training and work experience.
The Chinese-Canadian community is looking for “facilitators” rather than “spokesmen.” There isn’t any one single person or group whom can be the sole representative of the 300,000 plus, multifaceted and diverse Chinese-Canadian community.

The Chinese-Canadian community will welcome in future elections stronger voices that can express their diverse values. Politicians from all communities who can successfully articulate the new immigrants’ points of view will play a useful role in helping them to integrate into the Canadian society.

Published Articles, Published Articles by Tung

Beyond Multiculturalism

This article is extracted from a speech I gave at a dinner in May 2007 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the right to vote for Canadians of Chinese heritage.

Multiculturalism, contrary to popular belief, is not new to this country.  As early as 1903, Sir Wilfred Laurier had declared: “For here in Canada, I want the marble to remain the marble; the granite to remain the granite; the oak to remain the oak; and out of these elements, I would build a nation great among the nations of the world.”

Sir Wilfred’s remarks were echoed some 58 years later in 1961 by another Prime Minister, the Right Honourable John Diefenbaker: “Canada is a garden . . . into which has been transplanted the hardiest and brightest flowers of many lands, each retaining in its new environment the best qualities for which it was loved and prized in the native lands . . .”
Then in 1971, Prime Minister Pierre Eliot Trudeau formally introduced multiculturalism as a state policy.  The spirit of multiculturalism was enshrined in our Constitution in 1982 in Section 17 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms: “This Charter shall be interpreted in a manner consistent with the preservation and enhancement of the multicultural heritage of Canadians.”

The state policy of Multiculturalism finally became law under the Mulroney government in 1988.

But what does it all mean to us, particularly for those Canadians who are members of the multicultural communities?

Two policies in the Multiculturalism Act of 1988 are of particular relevance:

e.    Promote the full and equitable participation of individuals and communities of all origins in the continuing evolution and shaping of all aspects of Canadian society and the elimination of any barrier to that participation.

f.    Encourage and assist the social, cultural, economic and political institutions of Canada to be respectful and inclusive of Canada’s multicultural character.

In addition to the two policies mentioned above, the Act specifically charged all government agencies, departments and Crown corporations to provide leadership in the implementation of all policies listed in the Act.

While considerable amount of time and energy were spent on promoting “multiculturalism”, the efforts has produced results that can at best be described as mediocre when measured against the policies and objectives stated above.  In terms of equitable participation, the number of elected representatives coming from the multicultural communities is small relative to their population base.  In terms of inclusion, members of visible minorities’ participation in public hearings, public debates and public consultations are rare occurrences.  A casual glance at the weekly recap of appointment to senior corporate positions in one of the nation’s business newspaper tells the story that the power corridors of this nation’s economic institutions are not yet reached by members of the cultural communities.

In the very Government agencies and departments that were charged by Law to promote inclusion, the number of senior department heads who are of Asian heritage is negligible.

The sad part is that while the government’s efforts over the years have not succeed in its stated goals, multiculturalism was criticized as divisive because it emphasis what is different, rather than the values that are Canadian.  Some says that under multiculturalism, “Canadians become strangers in their own land.”

Their point of view is best reflected in a speech by a member of parliament who spoke in the House of Commons in 1975: “(Asians) are imposing a great social burden in this country. Chinese people … who cannot be absorbed properly into the country and who cannot find jobs suitable to them are being admitted under the Immigration Act…. These people are coming in so rapidly that they are not fitting in properly to the fabric of society. They are locating in ghettos, dozens to a house… They come in planeloads, 350 at a time, and there is just no way to assimilate them.”

While I fundamentally disagree with such sentiments, the slow pace of new Canadians integrating into our society socially, culturally and politically does pose a challenge to our country.  Many recent arrivals may also mistakenly believe that under Canada’s multicultural policy, not only they can retain their own cultural identify; they are under no obligation to learn and adjust to a Canadian identity.

The challenge for us as Canadians is to articulate clearly what constitute a Canadian identity.  We need to let our new compatriots know in a systemic fashion what we stand for.  With that in mind, I believe we need to:

•    Strengthen our education system to teach Canadian values such as equity, due process of the law and fairness.

•    Include the teaching of Canadian values in the citizenship process.  Prospective citizens do not have to agree to those values but they need to at least know that those values are what set us apart as Canadians.

•    Cross promotion of the various cultures that make up our communities.  While most Canadians, Christians or not, celebrate Christmas, not many, other than Asian Canadians, celebrate the lunar festival.  Wouldn’t it be nice if, as Canadians, that more of us also observe Yom Kippur, Vaisakhi, Diwali, Ramadan or other significant cultural days regardless whether one belongs to that particular culture?

•    Ensure political leaders, government bodies and media institutions to be more reflective of our multicultural society.  The importance is not just the counting up the number of people with a different skin color but to ensure that these people’s point of views are listened to and respected.

•    Government institutions need to put processes and systems in place to ensure that different cultural perspectives and interests are brought into play in the design of policies and programs.  In order to ensure full participation in the consultative process, governments need to go into the different communities’ natural gathering places, provide interpretation services and, to the extend possible, include people from various cultural communities on the consultative panels.

Integration is not a one way street, new Canadian communities also need to:

•    Encourage full participation of community members in the consultative processes of government policies.  Community leaders need to set a good example but ordinary folks need to invest their time and effort to voice their opinions.

•    Encourage the promotion of their own culture and value to people outside of their own cultural community:

•    There need to be more English publications covering the ethanol cultural communities. Publications such as the Chinatown News of old and Rice Paper, Asian Post and the Canadian Immigrant Magazine play an important role as windows for the larger community to understand the new comers’ communities.

•  Share programming between non-English language news outlets with English language news outlets. The cross ownership of the Toronto Star and Sing Tao Newspaper is, in my view, an under exploited opportunity.

•    Encourage participation in the political process, not just during election time but in policy conventions of political parties.

As we are about to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the election of Douglas Jung, the first Member of Parliament from the Chinese Canadian community, it would be a great tribute to his pioneering work by resolving to working harder to make every cultural community an integral part of the Canadian mosaic.

© The Vancouver Sun

Published Articles, Published Articles about Tung

Accumulating Good Deeds

It’s been quite a journey for Vancouver businessman Tung Chan.

Chan, a Hong Kong native, immigrated to Vancouver in his early 20s, waiting tables to put himself through school.

Today, his list of accomplishments is as impressive as it is varied: District Vice-President with TD Bank Financial Group, City of Vancouver Councillor and currently CEO of SUCCESS, are just a few of his career highlights.

A passionate philanthropist, Chan has a long history with Vancouver Foundation. In addition to serving on the Foundation’s Development Advisory Committee, in 1998 Chan and his wife started the Tung and Shirley Chan “Ji Shen” Fund, meaning “accumulation of good deeds.” His goal? To leave a lasting contribution that will live on beyond his lifetime.

“I wanted to leave a legacy behind by setting up an endowment fund with Vancouver Foundation,” says Chan. “I also wanted to set an example for others to show that if someone like me, who was a poor immigrant, can do this, than anyone can “and should” do it too.”

“I also wanted to set an example for others to show that if someone like me, who was a poor immigrant, can do this, than anyone can – and should – do it too.” — Tung Chan

In 2006, the Tung and Shirley Chan “Ji Shen” Fund provided grants to an array of organizations, including the Richmond Public Library, the Ji Shen Award at Kwantlen University College and the Boys’ and Girls’ Club of Greater Vancouver.

© (Story written: 2006)

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The encore, and for some an aria

CAREER STRATEGY
After years in the rat race, many boomers are taking on careers with less pay – but a lot more meaning
DAVID HUTTON
July 30, 2008

Newspaper about Tung ChanWhen Tung Chan was first approached about leaving his post as Toronto-Dominion Bank’s vice-president of Asian banking to join a Vancouver non-profit organization, he laughed.

At 54, he was one year away from his planned retirement and looking forward to getting off the corporate ladder, to spend more time with his wife and daughters, and enjoy some well-deserved relaxation. He planned to write a book and travel the world with his wife, a promise he’d made years before.

Running a non-profit was not in his plans. But the idea slowly took hold of him.

He had been a volunteer with SUCCESS, one of British Columbia’s largest non-profit immigrant settlement organizations, and realized that his fluency in several languages and contacts across ethnic lines could make a difference. He’d already been contacted by a headhunter to help find a new chief executive officer for SUCCESS. When a suitable candidate wasn’t found, Mr. Chan was contacted again – to be interviewed for the job.

He talked it over with his family and started months of soul-searching before accepting the opportunity. “I had to convince my wife to postpone the travel plans,” he says. “But she said: ‘Tung, follow your heart, just go for it.’ “

So, in 2006, he left behind 30 years at TD Bank to become CEO of SUCCESS. It was a huge step down in salary and seniority, Mr. Chan admits. And while the option to retire was tempting, he was glad to work in a field where the results could be measured in ways other than number crunching.

“I loved what I did but I wanted something that was closer to people, where I could make a difference in lives. I had accumulated all this experience and was able to find a social service agency where I could use those skills.”

It’s called the “encore career” – and Mr. Chan is among a growing number of people who are forgoing retirement for less lucrative but more satisfying work later in life.

The term was coined by social entrepreneur and author Marc Freedman, who defines it as a late-in-life career that combines personal meaning and social impact in areas such as the non-profit sector, health care and education.

“People are finding themselves working far longer than previous generations,” Mr. Freedman says. “And so they are asking questions about what kind of work they’re going to do. Is it going to be another 10 years at the grindstone or is it going to be work they’re proud of?”

A U.S. survey by the MetLife Foundation, a social sector funding agency, and the Civic Ventures think tank found that nearly 10 per cent of the 3,500 people aged 44 to 70 surveyed have already launched encore careers. And more than half of the rest want to do so.

According to the study, those pursuing encore careers aren’t retirees; they tend to be between the ages of 51 and 62, are female and they value work-life balance. Those involved in encore careers in the social services sector typically are affluent and university graduates. And 75 per cent said they are earning sufficient income and benefits.

The number of midlife meaning-seekers is growing in Canada, too, as more boomers move out of the work force, says Joseph D’Cruz, a management professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management.

He says he receives calls monthly from senior business executives looking to move into teaching or the non-profit sector as they’re closing in on retirement.

What’s at work here is the intersection of several social forces, Prof. D’Cruz says. Social enterprises, where the priority is helping people rather than making money, have become a growing force in Canada, championed most recently by former prime minister Paul Martin, and they’re in need of expertise.

People are also living longer and searching for a job with purpose after spending their life in corporate environments, he says.

Bill Young, the CEO of Social Capital Partners, which invests in for-profit companies that hire people on social assistance, took on his encore career after a life in the telecommunications industry.

With major profits pocketed from his investment in Red Hat Inc., an open source software company that hit it big during the dot-com boom, Mr. Young saw an opportunity to do what he had always wanted to do: Give back.

“It wasn’t where I was needed or belonged, it felt like,” Mr. Young says of the booming tech sector in the late 90s. “I was no longer driven by ways of figuring out ways to make more money.”

But these aren’t always easy transitions, says Burnaby, B.C., retirement coach Kristi Nielsen, author of Retirement Inspirement. She coaches retirees through this transition period and often recommends work in the non-profit sector when the situation is right. She advises people to do their homework on the field they’re going to enter and make sure they have the right certifications, if necessary, and background.

But the U.S. survey reports that the majority of those in encore careers haven’t encountered any of the difficulties Ms. Neilsen warns about. Rather, most find their jobs satisfying.

While there is a booming industry in the field of retirement support services, career transition resources that focus on non-profit businesses are lacking in Canada, Prof. D’Cruz says. There just aren’t any dedicated places for people looking to launch significant second careers in an area of social importance, even though such services are desperately needed, he says.

Helen Chandler, 55, followed her heart, although it’s been a circuitous route to get to her encore career. Eight years ago, she was writing software with IBM Canada in Toronto. But she became disillusioned by the work and decided on a whim to move to Nova Scotia, where she’d visited in the past and found herself “inexplicably drawn.”

She moved to Bridgewater, a town of 8,000 on the province’s south shore, but found herself unemployed. The transition was difficult, Ms. Chandler says. She dwelled on what other people thought of her when she was unemployed and fought depression for a short time.

Then Ms. Chandler turned her mind to finding a career where she could give back. She was inspired, she says, after getting involved in Reiki, a Japanese healing practice that focuses on spirituality.

First, she renewed a teaching certificate she’d received decades earlier and began work as a substitute high school teacher. She also applied to work with the Acadia Centre for Social and Business Entrepreneurship, which helped guide her through her own transition. She now also teaches one of its courses aimed at helping older workers transition back to work after they’ve retired or been laid off.

“It took a long time to figure out what was missing,” she says. “But I just wasn’t driven by a personal vision.”

For Mr. Chan. the change of pace was difficult at first. When he tried to race through the first staff meeting, his employees told him he needed to slow down, he says.

But since coming on board Mr. Chan has enacted major structural reform in the non-profit, using the management expertise he gained at the corporate level to forge closer ties between Vancouver’s ethnic communities and marshal resources from a variety of other immigration organizations.

Mr. Chan plans on working until they kick him out, which might be hard, all things considered. He recently donated $100,000 to the organization.

“It’s funny,” Mr. Chan says. “I work way harder now.”

His youngest daughter now teases him that he worked the first half of his life making money while he’s spending the second-half making change.

“I didn’t ever see it that way,” he says. “Maybe she knows more about me than I know myself.”

CASE STUDIES: BRAVO
Here are case studies of three individuals who packed it in from the corporate world to make an encore by heading up worthy causes.

Bill Young
Age: 54
Toronto

FORMER EMPLOYMENT
Mr. Young was an executive at Optel Communications Corp. and Hamilton Computers in Toronto before shifting gears in 2000. He had made millions of dollars investing in Red Hat Inc., an open-source software company founded by his cousin, Robert.

CURRENT EMPLOYMENT
In 2001, Mr. Young created Social Capital Partners, which invests in for-profit companies that hire people on social assistance, particularly at-risk youth. The company now has a wide-ranging portfolio, including a property management firm in Vancouver, a renovation business in Winnipeg, and a bicycle courier service in Toronto.

WHY THE CHANGE?
Mr. Young says he wanted to do something every day that made a difference. He saw the small fortune he had made as an investor as an opportunity to change careers – from making money to giving it away to others who shared his social values. “The wheel of fortune spun my way and I was ready for a change to do something I felt actually mattered,” he says.

IMPRESSIONS
“Most of all, I love the challenge,” he says. “Any time you’re trying to figure out a new approach to doing things, it’s engaging. There’s a real collective energy to the social sector.”

ADVICE FOR OTHERS
Don’t expect too much too fast, Mr. Young says. “It takes a while to learn a new field and build a new network and find the right people to engage with.”

Helen Chandler
Age: 55
Bridgewater, N.S.

FORMER EMPLOYMENT
Ms. Chandler, spent more than 25 years at IBM Canada, writing software programs.

CURRENT EMPLOYMENT
The Acadia Centre for Social and Business Entrepreneurship where she teaches a course aimed at helping older workers make the transition back to work late in life; she also works part-time as a teacher in Bridgewater, N.S.

WHY THE CHANGE?
Ms. Chandler says she became fed-up with the corporate world. “It took a long time to figure out what was missing,” she says. “But I just wasn’t driven by a personal vision.”

IMPRESSIONS
The flexibility of the non-profit environment gave Ms. Chandler a freedom she didn’t enjoy in the business world, she says. “I watch too many people accept unsatisfactory situations and allow them to be treated badly because they fear they will lose their jobs.”

But on the downside, the transition was difficult and she fought bouts of depression and relied on part-time jobs, and little money, as she adjusted. “It has been a process of letting go of what the outside world thinks is important and embracing what I believe to be important.”

ADVICE FOR OTHERS
It’s about taking stock of who you are, she says. “But it’s tough. People have ingrained ways of being that are tough to break. You have to look at it as a spiritual break … not an opportunity to make money.”

PAUL McGRATH
Age: 65
Toronto

FORMER EMPLOYMENT
He worked in various roles with TD Bank, rising to vice-president before retiring at 59 after 35 years with the organization. His last job was to help mesh the operations of TD Bank with Canada Trust after their merger.

CURRENT EMPLOYMENT
In 2005, Mr. McGrath became the executive director of the food bank at Toronto’s Timothy Eaton Memorial Church, which feeds about 150 people. He works part-time, organizing finances and working on food drives with volunteers. He has begun to re-organize the structure of the charity, focusing more on volunteer recruitment.

WHY THE CHANGE?
“A lot of senior executives do their best work at the board level,” he says, “but there you never see the customer. I wanted to get down a bit from there. If I really had the guts I’d be working on the streets but this seemed like a good fit.”

IMPRESSIONS
The toughest part, Mr. McGrath says, is managing. In the corporate world, everyone was moving in the same direction. But now that he’s working with volunteers, the commitment level among individuals can differ and he had to learn to adjust his expectations of what can be accomplished. “There’s not a hierarchy any more,” he said. “And there’s nobody around to delegate the little things to.”

ADVICE FOR OTHERS
“Put some thought into it and only do it if you’re healthy and you have the resources to do it. It’s a different life.” – David Hutton

ENCORES: DO YOU HAVE ONE IN YOU?
Making the transition from the corporate world to the public or non-profit sector can be difficult. Marc Freedman, author of Encore: Finding Work that Matters in the Second Half of Life, has some advice for those considering the change.

PLAN AHEAD: Do your research and test the water by getting your foot in the door at the board level first.

BE PATIENT: Don’t think you’re going to change the world right away. The social sector is slower-moving than the corporate world. In many cases, the job is more difficult, because there are so many more stakeholders to deal with, from the end users to donors, volunteers and government.

TACKLE DEBT: Leaving a job for a lower-paid vocation is best done without the burden of debt. The aim should be to pay it off before you make the move.

ADJUST SPENDING: If a lower-paying job means you’ll have less to live on, make sure this is a lifestyle you’re comfortable with. If you’re too preoccupied with the cut in pay you’ll have to take, for instance, it’s probably not a good idea to switch to a non-profit.

© Global CareerCAREER STRATEGY

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New alderman lets ebullience lead way Series: Civic Elections ’90

PAMELA FAYERMAN. The Vancouver Sun. Vancouver, B.C.: Nov 30, 1990.  pg. B.1

Abstract (Article Summary)
Newly elected Vancouver alderman Tung Chan traces his hallmark ebullience back to days spent pitching speed-reading courses as a teenaged door-to-door salesman in Hong Kong.

When he moved to Vancouver in 1974, his first job was as a waiter at the toney Terminal City Club, where he practised his people skills and English at the same time. To demonstrate the difficulty he had with the language, the 38-year-old Chan recalls the day a club member asked for a screwdriver – Chan promptly delivered the tool, not the drink, to the thirsty customer.

Outgoing Ald. Sandra Wilking, who spoke to Mayor Gordon Campbell about Chan as a potential aldermanic candidate when she decided not to seek re-election, says Chan impressed her because of his enthusiasm and outgoing nature.

(Copyright The Vancouver Sun)
Main story: The Newcomers; profile of Tung Chan

Newly elected Vancouver alderman Tung Chan traces his hallmark ebullience back to days spent pitching speed-reading courses as a teenaged door-to-door salesman in Hong Kong.

He admits he never bothered to learn the technique so he reads the how-to-be-more-successful book, to which he is partial, at an average speed.

When he moved to Vancouver in 1974, his first job was as a waiter at the toney Terminal City Club, where he practised his people skills and English at the same time. To demonstrate the difficulty he had with the language, the 38-year-old Chan recalls the day a club member asked for a screwdriver – Chan promptly delivered the tool, not the drink, to the thirsty customer.

While attending the University of B.C. as a sociology student in the mid-1970s, Chan supported himself by working at the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club as a bartender and with several organizations, including International House and a Chinese-language student radio program.

Upon graduation, he was hired by the Toronto-Dominion Bank, which was aware of his management potential. Says TD senior vice-president W.D. McIntosh: “Tung Chan is highly regarded by the bank. He’s had an excellent career record because he’s got lots of common sense, excellent credit skills and interacts extremely well with employees and customers.

“If he performs at city hall the way he has at the bank, the city has a winner.”

After managing various other branches, Chan assumed management of the Chinatown branch three years ago. Since then, he’s been involved in several organizations that promote the successful integration of Chinese-Canadians. He also organized the Chinatown Toastmaster’s Club, where he hones his public-speaking skills.

He admits his wife, Shirley, was hesitant initially about his desire to enter civic politics, given all his other interests that take him away from her and their two daughters. He said he and his wife, a part-time nurse at Shaughnessy Hospital, were relieved to learn the bank would accommodate him by finding part-time work in the regional office.

While his involvement in the Vancouver Chinese community is deep, Chan is wary of being pigeonholed as only representing the Chinese community.

He says he hopes to alter perceptions during his aldermanic term so “people don’t just look at skin color to judge someone.”

Although it seems a minor distinction, Chan says Chinese people in Vancouver should be referred to as “Canadians of Chinese descent, not just Chinese people, because the latter denotes those who live in China.”

Chan says he hopes the discrimination against new immigrants that surfaced over such issues as monster homes will become a thing of the past.

“I agree with a friend who said that when a Caucasian lives in a monster house, it’s referred to as a mansion, but when a Chinese person lives in one, it’s called a monster house.

“Those same people aren’t necessarily racist, but they have had trouble reacting to the changes which are affecting their neighborhoods. I hope to be able to help in this regard by getting people to talk to their new neighbors more, by encouraging an atmosphere in which people try to understand each other.”

Outgoing Ald. Sandra Wilking, who spoke to Mayor Gordon Campbell about Chan as a potential aldermanic candidate when she decided not to seek re-election, says Chan impressed her because of his enthusiasm and outgoing nature.

She says the fact Chan got so many people in Vancouver’s Chinese community involved in his election campaign shows he can motivate people.

“One thing that I can tell him as a word of caution is that coming from a Chinese background myself, I was quite shocked by the adversarial nature of politics on council. In the Chinese family, this is foreign because you are raised to seek harmony and compromises, so I hope Tung Chan doesn’t have to face that value clash in such a hard way.”

© The Vancouver SunPAMELA FAYERMAN. The Vancouver Sun. Vancouver, B.C.: Nov 30, 1990.  pg. B.1

 

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Former executive relearning lesson in Chinese humility

Tung Chan moved from banking world to lead community group SUCCESS

Daphne Bramham
Vancouver Sun
Friday, February 01, 2008

A framed sheet of faded paper sits next to Tung Chan’s computer. Written in Chinese characters is the advice that his father gave him nearly 40 years ago when he immigrated to Canada from Hong Kong.

Don’t say anything about others’ shortcomings. Don’t boast of your strengths. Don’t remember when you help people, but never forget those who help you.

Fame is not something to strive for; being generous, gentle and fair is.

Touch your heart and think clearly before you move. Don’t feel hurt by rumours and gossip.

Never allow your reputation to be exaggerated. Appear to be less intelligent than you are, it will suit you well.

Do not let even the darkest moments or the worst company influence or change you.

Hold your light and warmth inside. Be gentle and weak; it will increase longevity.

Be careful with your words and with what you eat and drink.

Early on, Chan realized the aphorisms handed down through his family of scholars and rooted in Chinese culture about being humble and self-effacing don’t translate well in Canada.

“In Western culture, if you want to be successful, you have to brag about yourself,” Chan said. “You have to let people know what you can do. … You have to show strength or people will walk all over you.”

Having bumped into the glass ceiling so familiar to immigrants and women, Chan read how-to books aimed at women, put aside his father’s exhortations to be humble, quiet and gentle. He became more assertive at business meetings.

Two years after arriving, Chan wrote in his diary (in English): “This is hopeless. I’ll never be able to express myself in this stupid language.”

But he learned all the lessons well. He now speaks fluent, idiomatic English, dreams in English and even speaks a bit of French. He rose to vice-president of Asian banking at the TD Bank. He was elected to Vancouver council.

But a year and a half ago, he acted with his heart and left the corporate world behind to become chief executive of SUCCESS, one of the province’s largest immigrant settlement societies and one of its biggest Chinese organizations.

He did it without doing the usual due diligence. So he was surprised by just how big and complex SUCCESS really is.

It has an annual budget of $22 million. It spends $11 million on health care related programs and $10 million on other social services, which are mainly targeted at helping all immigrants — not only Chinese and other Asians — get settled.

There are 350 employees (a third are part-time) working out of 14 different locations in Metro Vancouver, with another one opening soon.

Its programs range from airport reception to employment help, language classes, a Chinese help line, gambling counselling, early-childhood development programs and even a program for at-risk youth in Port Coquitlam that teaches keyboarding skills and public speaking.

Looking for efficiencies, Chan suggested closing some of the offices and dropping some of its programs. That was quickly quashed. The government funding dictated both the programs and even the office locations.

It was Chan’s first brush with the byzantine world of getting and keeping government grants.

But that wasn’t the only thing that was very different from working at the bank. When he tried to race through the first staff meeting in under an hour, his staff balked. They told him he needed to slow down, listen more. Chan started listening more and rethinking his father’s advice. He’s relearning how to be gentle and weak. He’s relearning the importance of relationships and finding ways to be critical without the other person losing face.

That said, he’s accomplished a lot. One of his goals is to make SUCCESS a truly multicultural organization, moving it away from being primarily an organization helping Chinese people to one that helps Chinese and other immigrant communities.

That’s reflected in the new mission statement: To be an innovative change agent for integrating society in the spirit of multiculturalism.

At Chan’s urging, the board has diversifed. For the first time, it has three non-Chinese directors. There have been non-Chinese directors before, but only occasionally and never more than one at a time.

Chan is forging closer ties with other ethnic communities. SUCCESS already provides services to Korean, Taiwanese, Mainland Chinese, Hong Kong, Japanese and even Iranian immigrants. By marshalling resources, Chan believes more and better services could be provided for all immigrants — services such as a multilingual crisis line.

It was his idea to work with the Vancouver Foundation, replicate its survey and come up with a report card for Metro Vancouver graded by people in the Chinese community. The results largely mirrored that of the mainstream society. But there were a few exceptions. Crime, gambling addictions, loan-sharking and a frustration about professional credentials not being accepted here are high on their list of concerns.

Even though SUCCESS is one of the largest immigrant settlement services, there is still much more that Chan and the board believe it can and should be doing. They have set up a company that will earn revenue for the social services it provides and make SUCCESS less dependent on getting those elusive government grants.

Chan wants SUCCESS to be known outside the immigrant community as something more than just the sponsor of the annual high-profile gala that showcases performers Hong Kong, Taiwan and China.

He believes it can be the bridge linking immigrants to the mainstream society, but also the link that offers Canadians a way to reach and understand newcomers. One of his dreams is to eventually turn the SUCCESS gala into a truly multicultural extravaganza with the best performers from around the world and from Canada.

Because what Chan is passionate about is building on what Canadians have already achieved — equality rights, the rule of law, free speech and democracy — and creating an integrated, respectful society.

If we do that, Chan believes Canada will be immune to the kind of racial and ethnic fissures that nearly destroyed the Balkans and that are currently ripping Kenya apart.

dbramham@png.canwest.com

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Published Articles, Published Articles about Tung

Giving Back A Way of Life For Tung Chan

This article is part of a continuing series 0f portraits of donors to Vancouver Foundation.

When Tung Chan emigrated from Hong Kong to Vancouver in 1974 at the age of 22, he decided that the best way to make friends was to volunteer his time to community organizations.

“During my first months here, I volunteered as a seniors’ group leader for S.U.C.C.E.S.S.,” recalls Chan. “That job required me to go down to Chinatown every Saturday afternoon and take a group of healthy seniors to the Villa Cathay Rest Home to visit shut-in seniors.”

“It was a very rewarding experience, talking to the single, mostly male shut-ins from the home,” he continues. “Those were the people who came at the turn of the century or soon after, leaving all their family back in China. I’ve never forgotten the stories I heard. They were pioneers who worked hard to the best of their ability but were never given the opportunity to fulfill their potential.”

That experience led Chan to volunteer with many other organizations while he worked his way through U.B.C., earning a Bachelors of Sociology, and after he began his career with the Toronto Dominion Bank, where he is now vice president of Asian Banking. It is also why, when the opportunity presented itself in 1990, he decided to run for election as a City of Vancouver councillor.

“Even though I was established in my job as a branch manager, I felt I should take the risk to enter politics,” says Chan, whose bid was successful. “Many of the seniors that I volunteered with when I first came to Vancouver went out of their way to campaign for me. They were knocking on doors on my behalf, phoning friends and making sure people could get out to vote.”

“At that time I made a pledge to myself to work as a bridge between the Chinese –

Canadian community, between those less fortunate people, and the rest of the community. And that’s why, looking at the places that I volunteer for now, a lot are non-Chinese Canadian organizations.”

Chan’s personal website currently lists some 40 past and present community service positions, including membership on Vancouver Foundation’s Development Advisory Committee. He jokes that he posted the list “purely to impress my high school pals from Hong Kong.” In reality, it is a testament to his heartfelt desire to make a difference.

Chan opted not to run again for council in 1993, primarily so he could spend more time with his wife and two growing daughters. Instead, he became a director of the Vancouver Civic Non-Partisan Association. He was subsequently elected president of the NPA and in this capacity led the association to its last victory. “I was pretty proud of that,” he says. “I’m the kind of person that likes to get things done.”

By his own admission, Chan is not the type to “hang around” or occupy a position for life. “I like to start-up things,” he explains. “When I was in Kelowna I started up the Kelowna Chinese Cultural Society. It’s still there. I started up the Toast­master Club in Chinatown. I helped start a co-op radio program that was then the only program made for and by Chinese Canadians in English. I also started the Vancouver Chinese Choir Society. It now has 110 voices.”

When asked if he sings himself, Chan responds, “I used to, way back when. I’d sing bass, but only in a choir setting. I don’t sing solo. I like to provide support in the background.”

Given Chan’s interest in “start­up things” and his desire to make a difference

by supporting community organizations, it is not surprising that he chose to establish a Start-Up Fund with Vancouver Foundation in 1997.

“Start-Up Funds are an affordable way for someone like me, who began in this country as a waiter, to leave a personal legacy,” says Chan. “I’m by no means rich enough that I can just write a cheque for $10,000 [the minimum initiating capital to establish a fund with Vancouver Foundationi. This kind of fund, where I can commit $1,000 a year, is just perfect.”

“A lot of people at my stage in life find they have a little bit of extra money,” he points out. “We’re already writing several thousand dollars worth of cheques to charities each year.

This is an opportunity for that money to be accumulated in a permanent endowment that is both a record of our existence and a way to thank the community for our own success.”

A further advantage of Start-Up Funds, notes Chan, is that when donors reach their more senior years, they can participate to the extent they wish in allocating income from their fund. For Chan’s pert, he plans to give Vancouver Foundation wide discretion in distributing the income from the Tung and Shirley Chan “Ji Shen” Fund.

“Times change and society’s needs change. Right now, many immigrants, including myself, direct the bulk of their donations to immigrant settlement service organizations. If the government has its way in changing the criteria of immigration, the financial need of such organizations might not be as great in the future. I believe that Vancouver Foundation is in the best possible position to determine the areas of greatest need, current and future, and to direct funds accordingly.”

©(This article was first published in the Spring 1998 edition of the Vancouver Foundation Focus)This article is part of a continuing series 0f portraits of donors to Vancouver Foundation.

When Tung Chan emigrated from Hong Kong to Vancouver in 1974 at the age of 22, he decided that the best way to make friends was to volunteer his time to community organizations.

“During my first months here, I volunteered as a seniors’ group leader for S.U.C.C.E.S.S.,” recalls Chan. “That job required me to go down to Chinatown every Saturday afternoon and take a group of healthy seniors to the Villa Cathay Rest Home to visit shut-in seniors.”

“It was a very rewarding experience, talking to the single, mostly male shut-ins from the home,” he continues. “Those were the people who came at the turn of the century or soon after, leaving all their family back in China. I’ve never forgotten the stories I heard. They were pioneers who worked hard to the best of their ability but were never given the opportunity to fulfill their potential.”

That experience led Chan to volunteer with many other organizations while he worked his way through U.B.C., earning a Bachelors of Sociology, and after he began his career with the Toronto Dominion Bank, where he is now vice president of Asian Banking. It is also why, when the opportunity presented itself in 1990, he decided to run for election as a City of Vancouver councillor.

“Even though I was established in my job as a branch manager, I felt I should take the risk to enter politics,” says Chan, whose bid was successful. “Many of the seniors that I volunteered with when I first came to Vancouver went out of their way to campaign for me. They were knocking on doors on my behalf, phoning friends and making sure people could get out to vote.”

“At that time I made a pledge to myself to work as a bridge between the Chinese –

Canadian community, between those less fortunate people, and the rest of the community. And that’s why, looking at the places that I volunteer for now, a lot are non-Chinese Canadian organizations.”

Chan’s personal website currently lists some 40 past and present community service positions, including membership on Vancouver Foundation’s Development Advisory Committee. He jokes that he posted the list “purely to impress my high school pals from Hong Kong.” In reality, it is a testament to his heartfelt desire to make a difference.

Chan opted not to run again for council in 1993, primarily so he could spend more time with his wife and two growing daughters. Instead, he became a director of the Vancouver Civic Non-Partisan Association. He was subsequently elected president of the NPA and in this capacity led the association to its last victory. “I was pretty proud of that,” he says. “I’m the kind of person that likes to get things done.”

By his own admission, Chan is not the type to “hang around” or occupy a position for life. “I like to start-up things,” he explains. “When I was in Kelowna I started up the Kelowna Chinese Cultural Society. It’s still there. I started up the Toast­master Club in Chinatown. I helped start a co-op radio program that was then the only program made for and by Chinese Canadians in English. I also started the Vancouver Chinese Choir Society. It now has 110 voices.”

When asked if he sings himself, Chan responds, “I used to, way back when. I’d sing bass, but only in a choir setting. I don’t sing solo. I like to provide support in the background.”

Given Chan’s interest in “start­up things” and his desire to make a difference

by supporting community organizations, it is not surprising that he chose to establish a Start-Up Fund with Vancouver Foundation in 1997.

“Start-Up Funds are an affordable way for someone like me, who began in this country as a waiter, to leave a personal legacy,” says Chan. “I’m by no means rich enough that I can just write a cheque for $10,000 [the minimum initiating capital to establish a fund with Vancouver Foundationi. This kind of fund, where I can commit $1,000 a year, is just perfect.”

“A lot of people at my stage in life find they have a little bit of extra money,” he points out. “We’re already writing several thousand dollars worth of cheques to charities each year.

This is an opportunity for that money to be accumulated in a permanent endowment that is both a record of our existence and a way to thank the community for our own success.”

A further advantage of Start-Up Funds, notes Chan, is that when donors reach their more senior years, they can participate to the extent they wish in allocating income from their fund. For Chan’s pert, he plans to give Vancouver Foundation wide discretion in distributing the income from the Tung and Shirley Chan “Ji Shen” Fund.

“Times change and society’s needs change. Right now, many immigrants, including myself, direct the bulk of their donations to immigrant settlement service organizations. If the government has its way in changing the criteria of immigration, the financial need of such organizations might not be as great in the future. I believe that Vancouver Foundation is in the best possible position to determine the areas of greatest need, current and future, and to direct funds accordingly.”

(This article was first published in the Spring 1998 edition of the Vancouver Foundation Focus)

Published Articles, Published Articles by Tung

We should welcome the New Boat People

Let the rule of law and our Canadian compassion reign when we consider the plight of the 123 new arrivals.

Canada, as described in the preamble of our Constitution, is a country “founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law.” We are a society that espouses the social and legal values of, among others, compassion, democracy, equity, due process and fairness.

But judging from the reaction to the recent arrival of the 123 Chinese boat people off Vancouver Island, many Canadians seem to want the rule of law suspended and compassion thrown out of the window. They want these refugee claimants kicked out of Canada forthwith.

In making such demands, I wonder if these people know that in 1997 there were 22,584 refugee claimants whose cases were heard by Immigration Canada. That works out to be on average of about 62 claimants a day. In other words, these recent arrivals accounted for only about two days’ worth of refugee claimants. Each and every one of the 22,584 refugee claimants was accorded due process under the current immigration law.

So why do people want to treat so harshly and so differently these 123 poor souls who risked their lives crossing the Pacific Ocean in a dilapidated vessel to seek a better life?

A jaded community activist may argue that the outcries were simply a reflection of Canada’s racist history towards Asians. People who subscribe to this theory can point to the following historical patterns.

About 100 years ago, while Chinese immigrants had to pay a head tax to come to Canada, people from certain European countries were given land in the Prairies to settle. In 1914, while European immigrants landed by the boatload in Eastern Canada, Sikhs from India were turned back from Vancouver.

During the Second World War, while Canadians of Japanese descent were interned in prison camps, the Canadian born descendants of Axis countries that like Japan were at war with Canada were never treated as enemies of the state.

Even now, while the refugee claimants from China were subjected to a barrage of negative letters to newspaper editors, not a word of concern was raised by the public about the Cubans who defected at the Pan-American Games.

Not too many people, fortunately, subscribe to the above view. Not when you consider the people who wrote negative letters to newspapers or made angry calls to call-in shows at the Canadian-Chinese Radio station included Canadians of Chinese heritage. Not when we consider that Canadians opened our doors and wallets and welcomed tens of thousands of Vietnamese refugees in the early 1980s.

Then why are so many Canadians so upset? “They jumped the queue,” new Canadians cried. “They abused our generosity,” established Canadians shouted.

“We are too soft on bogus refugees,” a former Canadian ambassador wrote. “If the present law is not reformed, we should reconcile ourselves to an increasing flow and eventually a torrent of criminally organized illegal migrants.”

But what are the facts? According to Citizenship and Immigration Canada, between January 1995 and September 1998, only 478 out of a total of 97,640 accepted refugees came from China, a country from which “a torrent of criminally organized illegal migrants” is supposedly expected to come.

Our generous treatment of refugee claimants has been a fact since 1969, when Canada signed the United Nation’s convention and protocol relating to the status of refugees. In so doing, Canada is committed to not returning people deemed to be fleeing persecution.

Are those who land in Canada and claim refugee status jumping the queue? Are they abusing our generosity?

In 1997, the last year such sta­tistics are available, 44 per cent of refugees were landed in Canada. The rest were either privately sponsored (11 per cent), dependents abroad (13 per cent) or government assisted (32 per cent).

One might say those refugees who landed in Canada did jump the queue. But refugees, by def­inition, are desperate people and desperate people do desperate things.

Making the determination of whether inland refugee claimants meet the criteria is the responsibility of the Immigration and Refugee Board.

There seems to be broad general consensus that the current determination system takes too long and is not effective. And we are right to be upset with the criminals who profit from the trafficking of refugees.

The present government, to its credit, has recognized this and proposed changes to improve the system. Some of the changes were outlined in the discussion paper released last year and one source says a new immigration act is scheduled to be introduced in the next parliamentary session.

In the meantime, what we need are political leaders who have the courage to remind us of our proud history as a caring and compassionate country and of our international obligations. We need lawmakers who understand the due process of law and do not pander to a lynch mob mentality by calling for the immediate return of the refugee Claimants.

The strength of our nation lies in our ability to make difficult policy choices in a rational, well informed and well thought-out manner. Most importantly, we need political leaders who can take us to the moral high ground of this difficult issue and make us feel good as Canadians.

© (This article was first published in the Vancouver Sun on Saturday, August 7, 1999)

Published Articles, Published Articles by Tung

That’s What Happened

When you hear or encounter discrimination because you are Chinese, you are facing the continuity of the past of B.C.

When I was doing the research for the Chinese-Canadian History display, a friend of mine came up to me and asked me why I was doing it. He is happy with the present situation; he enjoys the freedom and security of living in Canada.

“Why the past?” he asked, “Why particularly the bitterness and discrimination of the past?”

For a moment I was standing there speechless because in the first place I did not expect such kind of a question and in the second place the answer seemed so obvious to me that I didn’t know how to put it into words. Then the answer came gradually to my mind and I would like to share it with those of you out there who might want to ask the same question.

The present is nothing but the continuity of the past. Everything that is happening now at this moment is predetermined by the sequence of the events that happened in the past. If we do not know what has happened and why it happened in the past, we will not be able to fully understand what is happening now and we will be totally unprepared to deal with events that are going to happen in the future.

Read this,

“On the whole, it is concluded not advantageous to the country that the Chinese should come and settle in Canada, producing a Mongrel race, and interfering very much with white labor in Canada…. I do not think it would be the advantage of Canada for members of the Mongolian race to become permanent inhabitants of the country. I believe it would introduce a conflict between the working class which would result in evil.”

And read this,

“(Asians) are imposing a great social burden in this country. Chinese people … who cannot be absorbed properly into the country and who cannot find jobs suitable to them are being admitted under the Immigration Act…. These people are coming in so rapidly that they are not fitting in properly to the fabric of society. They are locating in ghettos, dozens to a house… They come in planeloads, 350 at a time, and there is just no way to assimilate them.”

Do you know who made the above two speeches? Do you know when they made them and where they made them? Give it a guess.

The first speech was made by Sir John A. Macdonald in 1887. The second speech was made by MP Ron Huntington (Capilano, BC) in 1975. Both of them were speaking on Canadian immigration policy in the House of Commons.

Do the contents of the two speeches share striking resemblance to each other? Does it surprise you that after a time lag of 88 years the same kind of absurd, unfounded fallacy still persists in people’s mind? You will not be surprised if you know the past history of the hostile sentiment of British Columbians towards the early Chinese immigrants.

Anti—Chinese legislation in B.C. can be traced as far back as 1860, approximately ten years after the first Chinese gold rusher entered B.C. In that year, 1860, ten-dollar poll tax on Chinese was proposed in B.C.’s House of Assembly but was defeated. From then on, numerous head—tax bills were being proposed but were all defeated.

In 1878, a bill levying $30 license on all Chinese was finally passed. In 1855, the Dominion passed its first Chinese head tax legislation and the amount of tax was set at $50. Meanwhile the workers in B.C. were organizing anti-Chinese movements. They formed the Knights of Labor to campaign against Chinese in Vancouver.

Politicians, eager to gain popularity among laborers, started to press for tougher anti—Chinese legislations. Many anti—Chinese bills were passed in B.C. only to be disallowed later by the Dominion. However, in face of the mounting pressure put on by the MPs from B.C., the Dominion increased the Chinese head tax to $100 in 1901 and $500 in 1904.

But all these did not satisfy the irrational hostility of the British Columbians. In 1906, violence against the Chinese broke out in Penticton. In 1907, a riot against the Chinese broke out in Vancouver. Literally every window in Chinatown was smashed in the riot. In 1923, a new Dominion Immigration Act was passed excluding Chinese from immigrating into Canada.

In those days Chinese were living as second-class citizens in Canada. There were anti—Chinese clauses in government contracts. There were certain professions which Chinese were not allowed to practice, and most outrageous of all, Chinese were not allowed to vote on public elections.

In 1947, with the end of the Second World War and the Chinese victory over Japanese invasion in China, the Canadian government began to allow Chinese wives and unmarried children to enter Canada to join their husbands and fathers. In 1949, the Chinese were given back the right to vote on public elections. In 1967, Chinese immigration was finally placed on an equal basis with other nationalities.

So you see, my dear friends, we have come a long way to be able to enjoy today’s freedom and security of living in Canada. I am not advocating the memory of the past bitter experiences. I am only advocating the awareness of the historical facts, so that next time when you hear or encounter some gross or subtle discrimination because you are Chinese, you will know darn well that you are not facing something new, nor are you, facing it alone.

You are facing, like I said, nothing but the continuity of the past.

© (This article was first published in 1976 in an UBC Chinese Students’ Association publication)

Published Articles, Published Articles by Tung

NIMBY comes in all colours

If we took the opportunity to learn about other cultures, we would realize that some activities we ascribe to ethnic differences are really due to human nature.

Chinese people don’t like drug addicts. “It is a Chinese tradition to lock the addicts up be­hind bars,” was how one Rich­mond resident explained why the predominantly Chinese res­idents at Odlin Road protested against the setting up of a group home for rehabilitated drug ad­dicts in their neighbourhood.

Whenever there is an incident involving a Chinese individual or group, there is no shortage of people trying to explain the in­cident in a “cultural” context. The recent Odlin Road group home incident in Richmond is just one example.

In fact, the incident is no dif­ferent than any one of the other NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) incidents that we have seen over the years in the Lower Main­land. People don’t like change, period. It doesn’t matter whether the groups affected are white, black, yellow or any other skin color. When change is introduced to a neighbourhood, people react. The reaction, most of the time, is negative.

Why is it that we Canadians like to put a cultural spin on incidents such as this? It is because we still do not, as a people, know each other well enough to view people of different skin colours beyond the stereotypical images.

How would you react if someone were to tell you that the reason Albert Walker murdered his British neighbour and assumed his identity was because in the Canadian culture, there is a tradition of such behaviour? Or what if someone were to say that it is the Canadian culture that created criminals like Paul Bernado or Clifford Olson? You would laugh, wouldn’t you?

Yet many Canadians have little hesitation in believing that when a distraught Canadian mother of Chinese descent killed her child, she was driven by some elements of her Chinese cultural background. Why the suspension of logic? Those who believe such explanations know little about the Chinese culture or have limited reference points in dealings with Chinese people.

The same flaws in thinking have led many people to believe that the Odlin Road residents protested because of their cultural background.

The only way we can counter such faulty thinking is to promote cross-cultural learning and to combat the tendency to simplistically categorize people and events.

An avid skier can tell the differences between wet, dry, powder and compact snow. A skier’s knowledge of snow is infinitely better than a non-skier’s, making the skier much more adept in dealing with various snow conditions.

Similarly, if we can learn more about other cultures, we will be better equipped to deal with people from other cultural backgrounds.

As a non-skier, I can afford not to learn anything about snow because I don’t have to deal with it, except on the rare occasions when it snows in Vancouver. But as members of a multicultural society, we need to learn about other cultures in order to have healthy daily interactions with people of diverse cultural backgrounds.

Learning needs time and effort. We should all make a personal commitment to spend at least a few days a year experiencing other cultures in our midst. Why not spend an afternoon to visit the Sikh temple on Ross Street, take part in the French-Canadian festival, learn to make perogies, walk with the dragon or join in the Italian Day festivities at the Italian Cultural Centre?

The opportunities in Vancouver to experience other cultures are limited only by one’s imagination. We should also institutionalize opportunities for cross-cultural learning experiences. Churches, temples and gurdwaras that provide summer camps should offer cross-cultural or interfaith exchanges and scholarships to young campers of other religions.

Parents should encourage their children to explore other cultures, and to acquire basic knowledge of another language in addition to French. For shop owners in the Punjabi market, Chinatown or the Asian malls in Richmond, why not try to hire youths from a cultural background other than your own and give them a chance to learn about your work ethic and culture and vice versa?

It is only when we can celebrate each other’s festivals without reservation, laugh at our own fallacies without embarrassment and share our pains without restraint that we are truly a community.

In the Odlin Road incident, the residents need to learn how to best influence the decision-making process. They would be a happier lot if they learned to appreciate that in a democratic society, compromise is often not only the desired outcome but also the only outcome. Their determination to fight to the bitter end will only isolate and alienate them from the community.

The people who operate the facility, on the other the hand, need to do a much better job explaining to the residents the type of facility they are putting in the neighbourhood. Listening to the residents – really listening – would be a first step.

Acknowledging their genuine fear and apprehension of the unknown would be a second step. The third step, once rapport and trust have been built, is to respond to their anxiety and frustration with empathy by providing them with factual information to reduce their fear.

Changes in attitude and tactics are needed on both sides, and it doesn’t matter whether the people affected are long-term residents or recent immigrants. NIMBY has no colour, unless we’re looking at it through coloured lenses.

© (This article was first published in the Vancouver Sun on Thursday, July 29, 1999)