Vancouver Chinatown, located in the heart of Vancouver East, is a national heritage site with monumental cultural and historical significance. Chinatown originally developed due to discriminatory laws forbidding people of Chinese heritage from living and working elsewhere in the city, a history that is shared with Indigenous, Black, and other racialized communities who were also marginalized in the area. This history is reflected in the physical and social constitution of Chinatown, where many of its historic struggles persist today.

The distinctive and beautiful buildings in the community, constructed by benevolent associations to help fellow community members, are living monuments to both the struggle and resilience of the community. Many of the historic buildings continue to serve the community today as gathering places, activity spaces, and homes for Chinese Canadian seniors. Monuments and museums in the neighbourhood continue to document and teach the history of Chinatown. A younger generation of passionate activists and cultural workers are fighting to protect Chinatown as a site of not only cultural preservation, but also as a community that can foster intergenerational connections and support the emergence a progressive and inclusive Chinese-Canadian culture.

However, despite its status as a national historic site, Vancouver's Chinatown on Heritage Vancouver and the National Trust’s endangered places lists. Gentrification and lack of affordable housing is having profound impacts on the community, as heritage businesses, families and low-income seniors are priced out. The pandemic has exacerbated the challenges faced by heritage businesses and low-income community members who were already struggling before the pandemic. Despite the passion and resilience of the community, Chinatown needs support from the government to survive. I will continue to stand with the Chinatown community in the fight for the heart and soul of this beautiful community.

CBC News VIDEO: B.C.'s majority female legislature brings back memories of 1991 election's record-breaking moment

B.C. voters have elected a majority female legislature for the first time in the province's history, with 49 of 93 legislative seats now occupied by women. It's a big step forward from 1991, when a then record-breaking seven female cabinet ministers were appointed. We talked to BC NDP MLA Jenny Kwan who spent 19 years as the representative for what was then known as Vancouver Mount Pleasant. She's now the MP for Vancouver East. We asked her what she makes of the majority-female legislature, and her time in the chamber.

Statement on the marking of 100 years commemoration of Canada’s 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act

As we commemorate the centenary of the racist practices that the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act encoded into law one hundred years, it is important to shine a light on this history, and to address the root causes of racism, hatred and discrimination. This unconscionable federal law prevented Chinese people from immigrating to Canada. It created untold sorrow and suffering, separated families and broke intergenerational ties. It undermined and prevented Chinese communities trying to grow and flourish in their new home in Canada.

This was just one of many racist laws that discriminated and segregated people on the basis of race and cultural or ethnic origin. Starting in 1885, the Federal government forced Chinese immigrants to pay a “head tax” on arrival to Canada. In 1908, the Federal government’s “continuous journey” rule was adopted to bar new migrants from Asian countries who travelled by ship routes with stopovers.

Different jurisdictions passed targeted laws to prevent migrants from Asian countries and racialized people from taking certain jobs, even to stop them from taking part in leisure activities like swimming.

During and after the Second World War, federal law caused thousands of Japanese Canadians to lose their personal property to seizure and face imprisonment in interment camps or forced labour in harsh conditions, far from home.

Van Sun: Federal government kicks in $1.8 million to revitalize Vancouver's Chinatown

Monday, the federal government chipped into the revitalization by announcing a $1.8 million grant through the PacifiCan Tourism Relief Fund. About $1.3 million will go to modernizing and upgrading the Chinese Cultural Centre, the Chinatown Storytelling Centre and the Dr. Sun Yat-sen Classical Gardens.

The remaining $500,000 will be used to expand the Light Up Chinatown Festival, a two-day event in September that brought an estimated 10,000 people to Chinatown last year.

IN THE NEWS: CBC - Chinese Canadian museum to open in historic building in Vancouver’s Chinatown

MP Jenny Kwan, who represents the riding of Vancouver East, has been lobbying for Chinatown to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which would deem it an international landmark with legal protection and could help secure the funding to preserve and maintain its streets.

IN THE NEWS: CBC - Cultural sites ‘under constant attack,’ director says, as graffiti and vandalism blight Vancouver’s Chinatown

MP Jenny Kwan, who represents the riding of Vancouver East that straddles both neighbourhoods, said she's been advocating for more financial grants for the community at the federal level.

She's also among those lobbying for the neighbourhood to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which would deem it an international landmark with legal protection and could help secure the funding to preserve and maintain its streets.

"We need to do it, and work together to recreate Chinatown with its history and to value its character," she said. "But we need capital investment."

IN THE NEWS: Global News - ‘We’ve really reached a tipping point’: Scarred by COVID, Chinatown leaders want city to remember its commitment

Said Vancouver East MP Jenny Kwan: “Chinatown as we know will disappear if we do not get the support from all levels of government.”
Kwan wrote Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland in July 2020, calling for a lifeline for the National Historic Site in the form of federal emergency funding.
In comparison, federally-owned Granville Island received $17 million in emergency relief in 2020, with another $22 million earmarked in the 2021 budget.
She told Global News she received no response.  “I’d like to ask the government what is the difference between Granville Island and Chinatown. Are we less important?”
Global News put the question to Freeland, but she did not offer a clear answer, and instead used the opportunity to praise the federal wage and rent subsidies.

OPEN LETTER to Immigration Minister on delays in processing for family and spousal sponsorships

Could you please advise specifically innovation actions has been taken or are being planned, what budget and resources have been allocated within IRCC to employ these “innovative solutions” and what is the timetable for the implementation of these measures.
Finally, some of the individuals who are in the midst of the spousal sponsorship process have written me with their concerns that their letters or emails to the Minister, or even their participation in petition or social media campaigns to raise public awareness of the difficulties that they face are allegedly being logged as notes in IRCC’s Global Case Management System (GCMS). As one writer noted, “Our right to advocate peacefully is guaranteed by the Canadian constitution. Should these notes be held against spousal sponsorship applicants, or in any way hinder their application process, this would represent a serious and fundamental breach of our constitutional rights.” Could you please verify whether these correspondences or other communications are being logged in the GCMS, and if so for what reason. 

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