Recent actions of New Westminster City Council have been hailed as “transformative” by a group advocating for recognition of past injustices inflicted on Chinese immigrants.

The June 28 passing of  recommendations outlined in a city council report was acknowledged by the Canadians for Reconciliation Society – which was instrumental in helping the city move forward on these issues.

The society issued a statement the following day from spokesperson Bill Chu, who declared:

We wish to join citizens of New Westminster in celebrating the passing of the recommended redemptive actions within a historical staff report yesterday . . .

The passing of the report signifies the culmination of more than a year of cooperative effort between the City of New Westminster and Canadians For Reconciliation Society, with input from the general public.

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We are thankful to the mayor and council for their faith in accepting our invitation last year. We are further thankful to the people of New Westminster without whose support this process would not have happened. There are so many firsts as a result of yesterday’s Council decisions:

New Westminster became the first Canadian municipality to undertake redemptive actions for its past policies towards the Chinese community.

New Westminster has contributed to the maturing of a part of Canada [by taking] responsibility for its past action towards a minority . . .

New Westminster becomes the first Canadian city to broaden multiculturalism . . . from acknowledgement of others’ culture to also acknowledgement of others’ history.

In light of a wave of awakening to Chinese history on the West Coast . . . we hope more Canadians would be inspired to continue the task of reconciliation at a person to person level.

August 2010