wahyinghung
06-10-2009, 09:27 PM
Saying sorry is so hard that it took generations before we apologized for the internment of Japanese-Canadians, the Chinese head tax and Indian residential schools.
But whoever said "sorry" is the hardest word never tried reconciliation.
New Westminster -- British Columbia's original capital -- has a particularly bleak and sorry history, especially when it comes to the Chinese. This year, as it celebrates its 150th anniversary, it has a chance for redemption.
It has the opportunity to restore some dignity to the dead and their descendants, beginning with a nearly forgotten cemetery.
And in doing so, it could become a model for other cities. Two years ago this month, when Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized and described the head tax and 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act as "malicious" and "a grave injustice," he also pledged $34 million for projects aimed at historical recognition.
Since then, Bill Chu, founder of Canadians for Reconciliation, has uncovered even more about how New Westminster has effectively erased the Chinese from its history.
The Chinese arrived, along with the gold rush, in 1858, establishing themselves along Front Street. By 1884, New West had the largest Chinatown in the province. About 1,680 Chinese lived there, compared with only 100 in Vancouver.
There were Chinese merchants, laundries and market gardens. Yet B.C. legislators did what they could to get rid of them. They denied them the right to vote, own property and even to work. Some even more draconian laws were overturned by the courts.
In 1898, fire swept through 60 blocks of the city. Chinatown was destroyed but was quickly re-
established uptown. It was another decade before local politicians found a way to get rid of it and its residents.
In 1919, the fire marshal declared Chinatown a fire trap and ordered its demolition. The Chinese moved on; the hatred lingered.
It was New Westminster MP W.G. McQuarrie who introduced the Chinese Exclusion Act, which effectively curtailed immigration until 1947.
But it didn't end there. In 1948, a school was built over the Chinese cemetery, even though a bulldozer operator reportedly unearthed a coffin.
When the Chinese Benevolent Association closed its office in 1979, it donated the property and building (which over the years had housed a school, a hospital and a home for the elderly) to the city, which almost immediately demolished it.
Up until this year, the New Westminster Preservation Society had hoped the city would at least preserve the site as a reminder of the once-thriving Chinese community. But it didn't. The site has been designated a dog park.
Today there is no hint of those early Chinese settlers in New Westminster.
"We're not asking for monuments," Chu says. "We'd [prefer] the non-physical to the physical. We're not asking for money or retribution."
Instead, Chu has asked city council for three redemptive actions: An annual Chinese heritage week that includes educational programs and community celebrations, supervision of any excavations in the historic Chinatown district by an archeologist to ensure preservation of any artifacts, and a simple marker at the cemetery site.
The New Westminster school board has yet to finalize its plans for three new schools, including a replacement for one that sits on the pioneer cemetery where an archeologist says the remains of several hundred people may be buried -- Chinese, Sikh, Japanese, first nations as well as the destitute, the insane and the guilty who had been institutionalized in local prisons and hospitals.
"We don't want to encounter any human remains," says Jim Alkins, the board's consultant. "So where there is significant ground activity, we will build in the lower risk areas."
As for a memorial, that is a decision the board has yet to take.
It's unlikely that many of the remains are Chinese since the practice was to dig up the remains and rebury them in China.
But as Chu says, none of them should be disturbed.
"Someone," he says, "has to speak for humanity."
http://www2.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=cbe97d64-f76a-4dbd-99e3-dae2f38fce44&p=1
But whoever said "sorry" is the hardest word never tried reconciliation.
New Westminster -- British Columbia's original capital -- has a particularly bleak and sorry history, especially when it comes to the Chinese. This year, as it celebrates its 150th anniversary, it has a chance for redemption.
It has the opportunity to restore some dignity to the dead and their descendants, beginning with a nearly forgotten cemetery.
And in doing so, it could become a model for other cities. Two years ago this month, when Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized and described the head tax and 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act as "malicious" and "a grave injustice," he also pledged $34 million for projects aimed at historical recognition.
Since then, Bill Chu, founder of Canadians for Reconciliation, has uncovered even more about how New Westminster has effectively erased the Chinese from its history.
The Chinese arrived, along with the gold rush, in 1858, establishing themselves along Front Street. By 1884, New West had the largest Chinatown in the province. About 1,680 Chinese lived there, compared with only 100 in Vancouver.
There were Chinese merchants, laundries and market gardens. Yet B.C. legislators did what they could to get rid of them. They denied them the right to vote, own property and even to work. Some even more draconian laws were overturned by the courts.
In 1898, fire swept through 60 blocks of the city. Chinatown was destroyed but was quickly re-
established uptown. It was another decade before local politicians found a way to get rid of it and its residents.
In 1919, the fire marshal declared Chinatown a fire trap and ordered its demolition. The Chinese moved on; the hatred lingered.
It was New Westminster MP W.G. McQuarrie who introduced the Chinese Exclusion Act, which effectively curtailed immigration until 1947.
But it didn't end there. In 1948, a school was built over the Chinese cemetery, even though a bulldozer operator reportedly unearthed a coffin.
When the Chinese Benevolent Association closed its office in 1979, it donated the property and building (which over the years had housed a school, a hospital and a home for the elderly) to the city, which almost immediately demolished it.
Up until this year, the New Westminster Preservation Society had hoped the city would at least preserve the site as a reminder of the once-thriving Chinese community. But it didn't. The site has been designated a dog park.
Today there is no hint of those early Chinese settlers in New Westminster.
"We're not asking for monuments," Chu says. "We'd [prefer] the non-physical to the physical. We're not asking for money or retribution."
Instead, Chu has asked city council for three redemptive actions: An annual Chinese heritage week that includes educational programs and community celebrations, supervision of any excavations in the historic Chinatown district by an archeologist to ensure preservation of any artifacts, and a simple marker at the cemetery site.
The New Westminster school board has yet to finalize its plans for three new schools, including a replacement for one that sits on the pioneer cemetery where an archeologist says the remains of several hundred people may be buried -- Chinese, Sikh, Japanese, first nations as well as the destitute, the insane and the guilty who had been institutionalized in local prisons and hospitals.
"We don't want to encounter any human remains," says Jim Alkins, the board's consultant. "So where there is significant ground activity, we will build in the lower risk areas."
As for a memorial, that is a decision the board has yet to take.
It's unlikely that many of the remains are Chinese since the practice was to dig up the remains and rebury them in China.
But as Chu says, none of them should be disturbed.
"Someone," he says, "has to speak for humanity."
http://www2.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=cbe97d64-f76a-4dbd-99e3-dae2f38fce44&p=1