Multicultural Markham, 10 years on
Posted on 07-05-2005 17:19
by SONIA VERMA, STAFF REPORTER
Summary: Immigrants’ role divided town in 1995
Now, Chinese-Canadians right at home
In Markham’s civic centre on Canada Day, 50 people stand, raise their right hands and take an oath of citizenship.
As they leave the council chamber — Canadian citizens, clutching tiny flags and dollar coins to mark this rite of passage — do they feel any different?
Jingyu Guan, 28, describes a new “sense of belonging.” Her husband, Hong Wu, says he feels “welcome.” Real estate agent Leo Yu is “proud to be Canadian.” Their words, hardly surprising, are echoed by others.
But 10 years ago, those answers might have been different, because Markham was a very different place.
The town was changing. Thousands of immigrants who had left Hong Kong ahead of the Chinese takeover were settling here, adding to an already established community.
And Markham was deeply divided over comments made by then-deputy mayor Carole Bell. She complained that “everything is going Chinese,” saying that Chinese-focused shopping malls and signs were driving away white townspeople.
“Whole communities are changing,” she said in June 1995. “A whole lot of people don’t want to be there; it’s a reality.”
She elaborated in a letter to the local newspaper later that summer.
“When dozens of individuals who are the backbone of Markham say they are moving away … we have a problem,” Bell wrote.
At the time, the deputy mayor defended her comments, saying she was simply echoing the feelings of her constituents and that nothing discriminatory was intended.
But her words didn’t wash with many in the Chinese community and beyond.
“It was a betrayal of the idea of multiculturalism, and it was hurtful that it came from our political leaders,” recalls Dr. Ken Ng, chair of the Federation of Chinese Canadians in Markham.
“The task we had ahead of us felt like picking up ashes.”
Bell’s remarks provoked reaction across the country. National Chinese media picked up the story. Some 400 Chinese residents packed a council meeting to demand an apology.
A public forum drew fierce applause for Bell from some residents, one of whom blasted council for not showing solidarity sooner with Markham’s original population. “The country is Canada,” one man told the few Chinese in the crowd. “I got no objection to you being here but, if you stay, become Canadian.”
A Chinese speaker urged long-time residents to stay and make Markham a better place: “Don’t go north and cry, `They’re coming,'” he pleaded. One woman retorted with taunts of “Speak English!” and “Teach your children English.”
A dozen GTA mayors signed a statement condemning the remarks, but Bell never apologized.
“There was a lot of tension 10 years ago. There was a lot of damage done,” acknowledges Don Cousens, Markham’s mayor then and now.
In September 1995, Cousens formed the Mayor’s Cultural Exchange Program to look at ways of promoting racial harmony. A race relations committee came back with a 10-point plan that was adopted by council.
“The plan meant that as soon as any kind of racial tensions surfaced, they should be addressed right away and referred to the race relations committee,” says Alex Chiu, who was Markham’s only councillor of Chinese origin at the time.
That remains the case today, but council has become more diverse. Of 13 members today, five come from ethnic minority backgrounds.
In 2003, Tony Wong left York Region council to become Markham’s first elected MPP of Chinese origin.
Markham council took steps to establish a relationship with minority communities through measures like holding cultural festivals in the town hall.
“We wanted to say: `Use the town hall; it belongs to you,'” Cousens says.
Soon, the calendar was packed.
Chinese New Year is now celebrated in the council chambers, and March sees a flag-raising to mark a Pakistani national holiday.
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Five of Markham’s 13
councillors are members
of ethnic minorities
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The ethnic communities have also made a point of reaching out.
“The Markham Concert Band, which is mostly white, gets invited to play at a lot of the cultural festivals,” says Ng.
While some might dismiss these moves as tokenistic, Councillor Khalid Usman, who sits on the current race relations committee, says they indicate a larger shift in attitude.
“Ten years ago, the atmosphere was quite tense,” he says. “I’m not saying racism no longer exists, but now we have a way and a willingness to deal with issues as they come up.” The Pakistani-born Usman represents the most multicultural ward in Canada, with nearly 95 per cent of the population identifying themselves as part of an ethnic minority.
He cites an incident several years ago when swastikas were spray-painted on a home garage.
“The whole council drafted and unanimously voted to pass a resolution condemning it. We brought in experts on this issue and held a series of public meetings,” Usman recalls.
This town has turned the corner, says MPP Tony Wong. “Ten years is a long time. Those issues are now behind us,” he says.
“It’s a lot better now,” agrees councillor Alex Chiu. “I’m trying to put this issue to bed. I’m trying not to think about it.”
Mayor Cousens is hopeful but cautious about the fragile nature of acceptance in a community that has changed so dramatically over the past couple of decades.
“We’ve broken down a lot of the barriers, but I don’t think they’re all broken down,” he says.
The numbers indicate that the town, first settled in the 1790s by German farmers, has undergone a major transformation.
In 1995, Markham had about 165,000 residents, about 45,000 of whom were Chinese-Canadians.
Ten years later, the town has grown substantially along with other York Region municipalities. The 2001 census counted 208,615 residents.
More than two-thirds — 62 per cent — of Markham’s population is now composed of ethnic minorities, of whom Chinese-Canadians were the biggest segment in the census: 62,355.
The Pacific Mall, at Steeles Ave. and Kennedy Rd., was one of the developments that most troubled Bell in 1995, when it was still in the planning stages.
Seven years have passed since the shopping centre opened its doors. With its specialty food stores, low-price electronics and jewellery shops, it has become a commercial and cultural success.
“Most of our customers are Chinese, but we’ve also become a tourist destination for other people,” says Stella Ho, the mall’s promotion manager.
Alex Koul, a Markham resident, decided to bring his mother, Valentina, here this week on her visit from Russia.
“She thinks it’s more interesting than the Eaton Centre,” he says. “I thought it was a good way of showing her what Canada is about”
Edwin Wung, who runs one of the mall’s health food stores, moved to Canada from Hong Kong more than 30 years ago. He thinks race relations in town have improved, partly out of good business sense.
“Everything is changing. You have to do business with everybody in order to survive,” he says.
The town does not keep race-based statistics of who moves away, so there’s no way of determining whether the rumoured “white flight” was ever a real trend.
Ng, of the Federation of Chinese Canadians in Markham, focuses on the big picture. “People move in and people move out, but cities also grow,” he says. “`White flight’ is anecdotal.”
One of those who have departed Markham is Carole Bell. She retired from politics a few years ago and left town to live with her daughter.
If Bell regrets her words, she won’t admit it.
“Please don’t ask me to get into this issue, because I won’t,” she replied when asked for an interview for this story.
“I don’t live in Markham anymore. I am not going to comment on the diversity in Markham.”
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source: http://www.realestatenewstoronto.com/news/fullnews.php?id=138
