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by David Wong
A few years back, this blog, the UGLY Chinese Canadian, posted some thoughts on the efforts of an individual in town who was systematically sending out regular press releases that implied a bad relationship between our Aboriginal and Chinese communities.
Why?
Here is our earlier post, “First Nations v/s Chinese?”, where we try to understand why a “native Indian vs Chinese” reconciliation effort was in play.
Since that time, this well-meaning individual has been actively trying to earn a place in our community by unearthing other historic “injustices”.
The man, a recent immigrant Chinese to Canada, has hardly ever involved any of British Columbia’s pioneer Chinese-Canadian families on his projects.
Little or no support from any of the multi-generational Canadian historians (of Chinese ancestry), nor any activists on his efforts. Some of us have offered assistance over the past decade or so, but none had been taken up. And so we move on with our lives.
The real thing
For some real information on First Nations and Chinese relations, a number of academic and personal efforts have been undertaken that show a very strong and healthy relationship between Aboriginal peoples and Canada’s early Chinese migrants.
Here is an excerpt from the Chinese-Canadian Historical Society website on this topic:
Chinese Canadians and First Nations: 150 Years of Shared Experience
Produced by the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC, Chinese Canadians and First Nations: 150 Years of Shared Experiences focuses on an important and unrecognized component of BC’s history: the relationships between Chinese Canadians and First Nations people of the province. Most projects looking at the Chinese in early British Columbia have focused on our history in relationship to the gold rush, the building of the railroad, in the fishing and agricultural industries and the development of Chinatowns in Victoria and Vancouver; however the Chinese community was also in contact with First Nations peoples, sharing experiences of exclusion, racism, perseverance and love. Chinese and the First Nations people have in fact had an interesting and complex history together in British Columbia, however, this history has gone largely unknown and unrecorded.This project is interested in the historical relationships between the Chinese and First Nations in British Columbia; how and why our communities entered into relationships with one another and why so little of our history together has been documented. Our two groups have had and continue to have social relationships, inter-marriage, and economic interactions throughout the province. The video project also examines the experiences and identities of four people who are either the children or grandchildren of a Chinese/First Nations relationship.
This project is attempting to reconnect Chinese and First Nations communities and give people a chance to reunite with a lost part of their own histories. It also introduces people outside of these relationships to a rich history that is an important part of British Columbia’s past. It is important that these stories are not lost or forgotten, but retained for the Chinese and First Nations communities, the future generations and mainstream society.
Chinese Aboriginal Teaser from Farzine MacRae on Vimeo
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David Wong is an Architect, and is a founding Director of the Chinese-Canadian Historical Society of British Columbia. He maintains a website at www.generasian.ca
Wow, so much to learn here and I’m grateful to do it in a short time without having to do any research on my own.
“a recent immigrant Chinese to Canada”
In recent years more and more new house owners promptly built a concrete/iron perimeter to shut out the insects. Just a frivolous observation on my part.
Injustice has different meaning for some. I once read that an unhappy customer who bought milk that turned bad after only 1 day. So he went back to the supermarket with the bad milk, and the employee gave him another new bottle. It wasn’t good enough and he demanded to speak to the supervisor; the latter offered him a new bottle of milk or a refund but that wasn’t accepted. In the end they had to call the security and banned him from visiting the mall for a certain period. He told the media that he was going to engage a lawyer to address the injustice. Don’t know what happened. Understandably they did things differently back home.
I would try to protect the privacy of the people I would like to mention, for the sake of contributing to this discussion.
I know a couple of people with the last name Bao living on the Tsawwassen reserve and there are a few Mahs and Sims up in the Prince Rupert area with very strong Chinese-Aboriginal roots.
One interesting note is that in the old days, the Chinese are considered below the Natives and of course, white people, so for the those Chinese men who are cool enough to attract those beautiful Native women, and also have their babies too, kudos to them.