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NEW ADDITION for the Kelowna Rockets, forward Marek Tvrdon, is set to make his debut for the WHL club on Friday night against the Victoria Royals.
KELOWNA Minor Hockey is making advances in teaching developmental skills of the game to youngsters and opening up new opportunities for recreational players to face-off against other teams from across the Okanagan Valley.
THE 16TH ANNUAL Okanagan Short Story Contest wants to find the next generation of writing talent in the Southern Interior of B.C.
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THURSDAY Jan. 16, 2014 The Central Okanagan’s Best-Read Newspaper www.kelownacapnews.com
▼ CHINESE CANADIANS
Apology for ancestors’ treatment discussed Alistair Waters ASSISTANT EDITOR
Multiculturalism Minister Teresa Wat came to Kelowna Tuesday to hear directly from members of area’s Chinese-Canadian community about the need for an apology from the province about the way B.C. treated their ancestors. And, the stories she heard struck a chord with Wat, herself an immigrant from China who moved to Canada 25 years ago. “I was quite touched by their stories,” said Wat, noting that unlike a similar, larger forum held recently in Vancouver, presenters here had more time to speak and, as a result, told personal stories. B.C. NDP multiculturalism critic Bruce Ralston, who was in the audience to listen, echoed Wat’s feeling about the Kelowna meeting, saying he was particularly touched by the impact the past wrongs have had on subsequent generations. Wat said the Liberal government plans to work with the Opposition NDP in drafting and presenting the apology during the upcoming spring session of the B.C. Legislature. In Kelowna, Wat was told historical wrongs, such as provincial legislation, rules and regulations and the hated Head Tax of the late 1800s and early 1900s—deeply affected both the Chinese
men who came to work in Canada, mainly building the railroad, and their families back in China. Legislation such as the Chinese Exclusion Act, which barred Chinese immigrants from coming to Canada between 1923 and 1947 and the preceding Head Tax, which charged as much as $500 per person for each family member a worker wanted to bring to Canada, tore families apart. Shui Lee, a fifth generation Chinese-Canadian and president of the Chinese-Canadian Freemason’s Club in Kelowna, told of how his greatgreat-grandfather never saw his wife and children again after coming here in 1914 in search of a better life. He called the Kelowna forum, which was organized as a way for the public to give input into the promised apology, a “happy day and one I have been waiting for a for a long, long time.” As an audience of about 60—mainly Chinese Canadians—listened, seven speakers told Wat how important the apology will be. They spoke of how racist government laws and regulations of the past affected their ancestors and subsequent generations because, in some cases, non-Oriental people and businesses took their lead from the government and enacted their own racist
Wade Paterson STAFF REPORTER
ALISTAIR WATERS/CAPITAL NEWS
B.C. Multiculturalism Minister Teresa Wat address a forum in Kelowna seeking input into a planned apology by the province to Chinese-Canadians about past discriminatory and racist legislation, regulations and rules. and discriminatory rules aimed at all Asian people. Several said the apology should include a reference to racism outside of only past direct government legislation. Tun Wong, who grew
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up in Kelowna’s Chinatown and whose family was the last family to live there, said when he was young he remembers that community being made up mostly of single, older men who had been unable
to bring their wives and children over from China. He said he can remember many of the men giving his mother money to hold for them and use to pay for what he called a “proper” funeral when
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they died. He said they also asked her to send word back to China of their passing. He said they were alone here. See ApologyA5
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School district representatives, politicians and aboriginal students gathered at the Sensisyusten House of Learning gymnasium in Westbank Wednesday to celebrate the second five-year enhancement agreement to improve education for aboriginal students. The five-year agreements are commitments by school districts, local aboriginal communities and the B.C. Ministry of Education to work together to support aboriginal learners. Moyra Baxter, chairperson of School District 23’s Board of Education, said the original agreement brought significant progress. Academic supports— such as tutors in middle and secondary schools, breakfast and homework clubs—and unique programs such as the Academy of Indigenous Studies and Aboriginal Student Leadership courses have helped aboriginal students feel more connected to their schools.
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