Washington File

In the context of the highly charged & emotional outbursts, from people who are in one way or other affected by the extremely pathetic tragedy at the victoria institute in Virginia,i feel it is only reasonable to assume that the question of gun control will have to be dealt with by the USA govt.as soon as possible so that the safety of innocent people can be guaranteed. Whether canadians or US citizens are to be worried about such mentally disurbed creeps as in the case of virginia's cho, is a mute point.The sooner we all start thinking straight in the larger interest of our societies as to whether our govts.are doing the logical thing to curb the carnage that the world witnessed this week, will help to put all of us in a safe & secure feeling.Hope better sense will prevail in the days to come.

Mr. Kevin from Chicago,
Before immigrating to Canada I had the choice between Canada and the USA. Even though I have relatives in the USA; it did not take me long time to decide that Canada is the best for my children’s’ future.

Wa'el from Montreal, how can you say Canada is the best... have you lived everywhere else... Also, it always amazes me how little canadians know about the USA, yet they think they no everything... Its really really sad....

Pursuant to the so-called "tolerance" of Canadians: when I was a fair bit younger than I am now I made a motorcycle journey across western Canada, ending up one cold cold night on the icefields highway between Jasper and Banff. I stopped at a hotel with a lighted vacancy sign and inquired about a room. It was a freezing cold night in July of all things, but even with the weather as it was I was told that the policy of the hotel was not to rent rooms to "bikers" and to please get lost. That being the only hotel for miles I was forced to keep on going. There are plenty of other incidents I could relate from my experiences alone but let me just say that, if I had been a foreign visitor on a one-off vacation that incident alone would have cyrstalized my impression of Canadians - intolerant, uncaring, unfriendly people. On the other hand, my experiences with new Canadians - especially people like the Palestinian couple who opened a variety store on my block - has been nothing but positive. They are friendly and helpful and always have a kind word for everyone, unlike many of the other merchants in the community. Canadians are just like everyone else, bigoted, intolerant, hateful, racist, sexist, helpful, kind, caring, and generous. The major complaint that I have with people like Chris is that they tend to think Canada is on some sort of different level, above the hue and cry, and somehow that makes us "better than..." Well, it doesn't. It just makes us more arrogant; arrogant AND foolish.

To Chris from London;

What on earth could you possibly have against Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton? How is their leadership "embarrassing" in any way shape or form? That's as nonsensical as describing the earth manufacturing more pollution than humans - are you reading Rush Limbaugh or where did you come up with that statement? When you say that "Canadians" are more tolerant than others, what, in fact, are you trying to say and how do you define Canadian? The last time I checked Canada was and is inhabited by people from every ethnic origin and to be a Canadian simply means that a person holds citizenship in this country. So what are you trying to say, migrants to this country (en masse one supposes) are intolerant, unworthy to move here, live here, contribute to our society? Perhaps you're suggesting that Asian Americans are not true Americans? If that's the case then you and Mr. Eng would seem to have much in common.

Mr. Chris,
When you say: “we continue to change the laws of our land to appease the in-tolerant”.

Who are we?? The Aboriginals? The New France? The New England? The Albertans? The Quebecois? The Conservatives? Or the Liberals?
If the Conservatives say: We do not accept the values and the principles of the Liberals and visa versa; then there is no democracy! That means the Conservatives now are a dictatorship ruling the rest of the Canadians according to their values and principles!! I do not want to discuss or challenge the meaning of the word Democracy further. I accept it as the law of the our land as it is.

No one has the power to dictate his values upon the others. When I say our values; means the Canadian values as a hall which includes democracy and tolerance. The most important source of our values is The Chart of Rights. If there is a dispute needs any clarification; we have the legal system to do the job. Anyone disobey the law is punished according to the law, no more or less.

We, the Canadians, are deferent because we encourage the multi culturist. The populations of the USA at the time of the Independence War were divided British and French. How many are speaking French now? Zero. We here in Canada encourage the immigrants to keep there culture and languages. This is the policy of the government of Canada. That is why Canada is the best place to live in. It is a distinct society.

I consider anybody carrying the citizenship certificate, wherever his origin or when did he get the certificate, is a Canadian and has the right to say: WE ARE THE CANADIANS.

Author, Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States" explains very well this phenomena of minorities and even large groups in America attacking other minorities and other large groups. In fact, it is THE central theme of the book!

You've heard of the concept of divide and conquer, right. Well, Zinn steadfastly asserts that the concept used by the Founding Fathers of America was: keep the majority divided and stay on top.

And Zinn is able to show that this concept is still very much alive and well, and working ever better for the "dominant forces" of America, ie: the super-rich!

Mr. Eng, and others like him should understand that what he did was EXACTLY what the "dominant forces" of America PLANNED for him to do. Mr. Eng fell right into their trap!

The people are more divided than ever! And the super-rich are getting even super-richer! All thanks to, as Zinn puts it, the "most ingenious system of control in world history." And, unfortunately, thanks to people like Mr. Eng and the MILLIONS of others who fall for it it!

Hey Jerry,
I agree with you totally. One thing I would add is, any Asian would be smart not to want the embarrasing so-called leadership of an Al Sharpton or a Jesse Jackson. A more realistic description would be opportunists, to say the least of these two.
In response to a part in the article that reads,"there is an urgent need for Asian Americans to be aware of the history of the U.S." I would argue that Asians know plenty about the history of the U.S. Probably more than the average Canadian or American for that matter.
Wa'el,
After all the postings, I can finally agree with you, on one thing. Canadians are the most tolerant. Too tolerant. In fact we are so tolerant, we continue to change the laws of our land to appease the in-tolerant. When an individual swears to respect the laws of the Canadian land, it does'nt mean, change them to make it un-Canadian. How about the immigrants be the tolerant one's for a change. In the past immigrants came to Canada with great respect for our Country and our lifestyle. I would say it's much different now.
While many Canadians biggest fear is the un-proven Global Warming epidemic,(not helped by the continued assault from Media of course).
The fact of the matter is the Earth creates far more pollution itself than that of humans. However, granted it's a great distraction, one of many that seem to keep many preoccupied while Canadian Culture slips away.

Well, there are frustrations in every group. Asian-Pacific Americans, many of them are immigrants, busy focusing on making a living, education, adapting to living conditions in this country. A good number of them are not fond of politic, government, and civic activities as, this is brought up in culture, back home taught not to mess w/ government or politic. We are taught to be good citizen, work hard, be better. It is not meant to be self promoting, but that's the reality.

As for fighting for justice, civic engagement is more, in my opinion, the second generation and beyond or those have interest in this area.

Asian-Pacific Americans although do good in academic, commerce, workplace, and good community citizen. But we are still lacking the political involvement, media/print, TV/motion picture, sport, music, comedy and other sectors we desire attention or equal playing level. We are realizing the short coming we need to over come. At the same time, there are prejudice or assumption we can't do this or that. That's wrong, many of us are great sportman, entertainer, politican, etc. We are not given the attention, at the same time, we are working to fight for the same attention other groups are having in this country.

I guess, jealous, lack of equality in everything, social issue, misunderstanding, causing human being to point fingers at each others. It is very nature. I am not saying is is right or wrong. It is just a way of life.

I do, sometimes, get irritated when I don't get the same attention the mainstream gives to African or Hispanic Americans. Sometimes, I feel we are still being treated as foreigners but not part of America's salad bowl. I think this one of examples of issue we need to discuss. The list goes on, but, we only talk about the one we sometimes favor us the most. Same as each group, so it is hard!

Not to minimize or condone Eng's odd and provocative words, but actually, Asian Americans were not a part of the civil rights movement. Can anyone think of an Asian counterpart to King, Jackson, Sharpton etc? Asians have been too busy urging their children to be good students, take advantage of what the system offers and become successful largely through their own efforts. It has been a success story not due to government help or civil rights pressure but to strong family ties and a culture that rewards hard work and study.

I have read the original article. Written by a 23-year old. Based on content in the article, born in the US, and probably of Japanese background.

The article was rascist without any doubt. It was also exteremely shallow and full of stupid and ignorant cliches, and some self-serving anti-caucasian tripe referring to the Russo-Japanese war. Easily extended to all non-Japanese.

The important point is that these are the same sorts of cliches and trash that I have heard members of (insert ethnic group), including the from which I spring, use about their neighbours in the "old country", Irish, Scots, English, French, Jews, Arabs, Sihks, Hindus: name your favorite ethnic / religious group / sect - the list goes on. "Femmi-nazi" ring any bells?

What is truly frightening about Mr. Eng and his thinking is that it is actually quite prevalent in his peer group and the next generation up - the 30 to 40 year olds. Male and female. What this says about the educational system and the media is extremely bad. That someone who claims to have been an honour student in High School could be this demonstrably ignorant and stupid is a gross indictment of the system.

I came to Canada before 20 years and did not leave it back to my origin country. In the first few years I missed my extended family and my country, but now I feel I am at home. During the last twenty years I did not feel any sign of non- acceptance from the fellow Canadians. I dealt with them according to the commandment: Love your neighbours. My neighbours were all very kind and helpful. Said so, discriminations still there in a certain area, but at a low acceptable level. It is the human being nature. The politeness of the Canadians make this problem not harsh.
We, all Canadians, have to manage this matter jointly. For example, when somebody does not like what the other person says, especially on the comment on the articles at the CBC site; he answers by: If you do not like Canada; you can go back to where you came from!!! No body has the right to tell him if you do not like Canada return to the country you came from!! We are all Canadians. A soon as anybody swears to respect the law of the land, he became as Canadian as those who are living in Canada for centuries. He has the same right and freedom of speech as any other Canadian, to say and criticize the Government of Canada as he sees it. This type of behaviour has to be faced instantly.
In conclusion, Canada is the best tolerant country in the world PERIOD.
The problem in the USA is different from Canada. It started over there from the beginning, how the American dealt with the Aboriginal people, slavery
and the civil war. All these elements attributed to the creation of what we see now.

It is petty bickering amongst minority groups that prevents them from uniting to achieve social justice goals that would benefit them ALL. People of all minority groups have more in common than differences. Comments like Kenneth Eng's totally confuse me. What on earth does he hope to accomplish by saying that? If I wanted to promote a cause I would be forming relationships and partnerships with anyone I possibly could rather than angering them. Why not encourage black people to support asian rights by supporting black equality?

I guess it just goes to show that every barrel has a bad apple. What does it take to make people see that race has nothing to do with behaviour? We have big problems to solve like climate change. Let's start joining hands in peace.

Prejudice and ethnocentrism stem from a lack of contact and communication. It,also,has roots in not understanding why one person or group is doing far better than you.
I am the son of immigrants;Caucasians from Europe;first generation in Canada.Ask any Italian,Greek,Portuguese,Polish,and so on,post WWII immigrant and you will hear tales of being insulted,laughed-at,taunted and told to go back where they came from. Why? Because they worked long,hard and often,seven days per week to better their lives.
Many homegrown Canadians could not,and still cannot, grasp this concept.Hence,the animosity towards the immigrants and,conversely,the stereotypes of homegrown Canadians by the immigrants and their children. Our parents taught us not to have illusions of entitlement,else,we will become those who hate the next wave of immigrants.