Dear Editor,
Re: “Building bridge to city hall,” News, March 2.
I would like to commend Peter Liu for organizing the meeting on community safety for Chinese-Canadian seniors.
According to Alan Campbell’s excellent report about this get-together, it appears to have been a very successful effort.
Initiatives like these go a long way in promoting mutual goodwill and intercultural harmony. Richmond has now become a major centre for the Chinese–Canadian community. This community has made a commendable contribution to the growth and development of Canada for a long time.
Unfortunately, issues such as Chinese-only signage and strata council proceedings in Mandarin have overshadowed the great work of this community.
In this context, the initiatives being taken by community leaders such as Peter Liu, Councillors Bill McNulty and Chak Au, city council, city staff and others are a very positive development.
Certainly, we should be proud of our heritage. However, let us also be proud of being Canadians and making every effort to integrate into the mainstream rather than create our own self-imposed ethnic enclaves. The first step in this regard, of course, is communicating in one common language, which is English in this part of the country.
This is bound to lead to the next stage, which is participation in the mainstream activities.
These are the common bonds that bind us all together as Canadians. For this, all of us, regardless of other considerations, need to step forward and do our part.
Balwant Sanghera
Richmond
