is the Chinese Canadian character for 2022

The Gendo Asian Art Foundation nominated 12 Chinese characters, each representing an issue that dominated the thoughts of Canadians in 2022 The poll ended on Jan 27, with the character for inflation winning with 33,187 votes, followed by the character for discrimination with 12,800 votes

Chak Au, Richmond city councillor and chairman of the Gendo Asian Art Foundation, said the campaign was a success, noting that Canada had the highest participation ratio compared to countries with similar polls

More than 45 per cent of the participants were from Western Canada and most of them were from Metro Vancouver. Having so many non-Chinese participants was also encouraging and bodes well for future events, Au added

As for the first-place winner, Au was not surprised

“The high inflation rate has affected many people’s lives to a drastic degree in 2022,” Au said Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan also chose “inflation” as the Chinese character of the year

At the character reveal held on Saturday at the foundation’s office, Mark Jin, a Chinese calligraphy master, perform a brushwriting ceremony

Arthur Wang, secretary-general of the Gendo Asian Art Foundation, expressed his appreciation for every Canadian who voted in the poll and plans to turn it into an annual event

Also in celebration of the Lunar New Year, the Richmond Chinese Community Society was back at Lansdowne Centre for the first time since the pandemic

Hundreds of Richmondites and local dignitaries gathered at the Richmond mall on Saturday afternoon to enjoy the festivities, which included an opening ceremony, live dance and musical performances as well as various stalls showcasing cultural crafts and fun activities.

Lion dancers also visited tenants around the mall to bring good fortune

With his staff’s direction he located the suspect in the business plaza and held him down until police officers arrived

When asked if he was scared, Baskerville told the News the adrenaline was there to suppress the fear and he just did what he did without knowing what he was doing Hill told the News that she never expected to be honoured like this

“To me, my honour and reward was when they told me he (the officer) was going to be okay

That was the biggest reward,” she said “I just did what I needed to do, and I’m glad that I did,” she added

The suspect in question has been charged with numerous offences, including assaulting a police officer with a weapon, disarming a police officer, wilfully resisting or obstructing an officer and failing to comply with a bail release order

The three civilians were presented a certificate of appreciation, a Richmond RCMP challenge coin and an RCMP officer-incharge accommodation letter by Chief Supt Chauhan

“I want to personally thank these civilians for rendering assistance to our injured officer, and for helping to ensure the suspect involved was quickly located and taken into custody,” said Chauhan

“The quick interaction and actions of (these) folks are commendable ”