The Editor,
I would like to commend Richmond residents Kerry Starchuk and Ann Merdinyan for bringing up the issue of Chinese-only signage in some of the shopping malls and stores catering primarily to the customers who speak the language.
It is a productive and healthy way to bring issues like these into the open rather than let them simmer under the surface.
The suggestion to encourage the Chinese businesses in Richmond to have signage both in Chinese and English makes sense.
However, to create a bylaw to force Chinese businesses to do so appears to be the wrong way. Richmond City Council has done the right thing by staying away from creating a bylaw to force such businesses to have signs both in English and Chinese. We need to focus more on education, awareness, inclusion and harmony.
In my opinion, any such bylaw will do more harm than good to the community. Those businesses that have signs only in Chinese need to be convinced rather than forced that having signs in both languages is simply good business practice.
With signs in both languages, they are bound to increase their exposure and subsequent customer base. The Aberdeen Centre is an excellent example of this.
With its storefront signs in both Chinese and English, it attracts a lot of customers from the mainstream as well.
Hopefully, Richmond's Chinese community, leaders, businesses and the media will take on a leadership role in resolving this matter to the satisfaction of all concerned.
Richmond is a very diverse, multicultural and multilingual community, proud of its intercultural harmony. A minor issue like this should not be allowed to adversely affect that in any way.
Balwant Sanghera Richmond
