June 9, 2004

Chinese Canadians Seek Anti-Racism Agenda In Party Platforms

Toronto. The Chinese Canadian National Council (CCNC) today released the responses from four political parties to its 2004 election questionnaire. CCNC asked the Liberal, Conservative, NDP and Bloc Quebecois Parties to respond to 16 questions pertaining to immigration, settlement, Chinese Head Tax redress, employment equity and diversity, youth, inclusion, anti-racism and human rights. The questionnaire is available in English, French and Chinese here.

CCNC is concerned over the lack of attention given to anti-racism issues in this federal election campaign. "Racism is a serious problem confronting Canadians," Cynthia Pay, CCNC National President said today at a news conference. "But the political parties in this election have failed to bring forth concrete ideas and plans of action to address racism and exclusion in Canadian society."

CCNC is disappointed in the poor answers given to the question of Chinese Head Tax redress. "The political parties have failed to recognize the importance of redressing past historical injustices like the Chinese Head Tax and Chinese Exclusion Act," Winxie Tse, chair of the CCNC Redress Committee said today. "The Chinese Canadian community will continue to seek stronger commitments for meaningful redress of this longstanding injustice from the Parties, Party leaders and candidates."

Unemployment rates in Canada are now at double-digit levels for youth. "We can already see that two of the main Parties' plans for addressing youth unemployment and rising tuition fees are band-aid solutions at best with the likely result of fewer job opportunities and higher debts for students and youth," Debbie Yam, CCNC Youth executive member said today.

CCNC is a member of the National Anti-Racism Council of Canada (NARCC), a network which takes an interest in issues of employment equity, inclusion, and anti-racism and human rights. "The political parties have failed to include racialized communities in this election," Avvy Go said today on behalf of NARCC. "All Parties fail to provide adequate strategies to include the marginalized communities and to seriously address the racial profiling experienced by members of racialized communities today."

CCNC has made numerous presentations to Parliament on issues pertaining to immigration and settlement issues. "The political parties do not appear to fully value family reunification and benefits of settlement programs for newcomer communities," Gloria Fung, member of the CCNC Immigration policy committee said today. "One dismal failure is their responses to stable funding for ESL."

The Chinese Canadian National Council (CCNC) is a national non-profit organization working to promote social justice, equality and civic participation for all Canadians. CCNC was formed in 1980 and has 27 chapters across Canada.

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For more information, please direct your enquiries to: Victor Wong, CCNC Executive Director (416) 977-9871.