War of words in B.C. over Chinese signs

Petition in Richmond seeks new bylaw to prevent non-english signage

RICHMOND, B.C.— A woman at one of the noodle kiosks shakes her head when asked a question in English about what makes a griddle cake different from a pancake roll. Both have beef, she says in Mandarin, pointing to signs in Chinese and English hanging above the food at this stall at the Richmond Public Market. The next customers, tourists from England visiting one of the most Asian malls in one of the most Asian cities in Canada, consult the signs before ordering. “It’s been fine,” says the man after pointing to a beef noodle dish. “Lots of Chinese signs, but we can find our way around and it’s been an adventure.” The debate about whether Richmond, a Vancouver suburb where nearly 50 per cent of residents speak Chinese at home, has become too Asian became an issue this week at Richmond City Council. A petition signed by 1,000 supporters called for more English on signs. Two long-time Richmond residents, Ann Merdinyan and Kerry Starchuk, spent eight months gathering the signatures and taking photos of signs with only Chinese characters. “We, the new visible minorities, are experiencing exclusion,” Merdinyan said. “Why do I have to be an outsider?” The petitioners wanted a new bylaw that would make it an offence not to have signs that are at least 70 per cent in English or French. A Richmond city councillor, Derek Dang, countered that there are just a few signs with no English. Businesses that cater to only one group are “foolhardy,” he said. At a packed city hall meeting on March 18, a majority of councillors voted to take no action on the petition. “Every business has the right to try and attract the customers of their choice,” said Councillor Evelina Halsey-Brandt, who immigrated to Canada from Eastern Europe. “If they don’t want me to come into their store, I will vote with my wallet and my feet. I don’t want to become a language police where you can’t even use the word pasta on the menu,” Earlier this year, the Quebec language watchdog demanded a Montreal Italian restaurant modify its menu to remove Italian words such as pasta because French was not displayed more prominently. The Office Québécois de la langue française later backed down saying it will take into account exceptions related to foreign specialties. The only Richmond councillor to make a motion that the issue be studied further was defeated. Councillor Chak Au said when 1,000 people sign a petition, just receiving it as information was not the right thing to do. He requested that staff make a report on how to address the concerns of the residents who signed the petition. “We want a more inclusive and harmonious relationship,” said Au, who added there could be safety issues when signs are only in Chinese. If there was an emergency and someone called 911, if they couldn’t tell the dispatcher the name of a building where only Chinese signs were used, that could delay response, said Au. The issue has become so fraught that many are afraid to speak up, said Marlene Esplen, who has been a Richmond resident for 50 years. “A lot of people are tip-toeing around this issue and there’s a big undercurrent of unhappiness and wondering how did (non-Chinese residents) become the new minority?” she said. “You get so scared of saying the wrong things all the time and the impact has been that it becomes asimmering issue. Why should I not be able to understand what’s going on in my own community?” Richmond became a favourite place for immigrants from Hong Kong to settle after 1987 and in the lead-up to the takeover of the former British colony by China in 1997. According to data collected by Richmond city hall, as of May 2006, just over 41 per cent of Richmond residents were Canadian by birth, while about 57 per cent were immigrants. The overall number of immigrants settling in the city has been increasing over the past 15 years, with people from mainland China now the dominant group. Richmond resident Randolf Richardson thinks city council did the right thing in not forcing signs to be mandatory in English or French. “I’ve seen an increase in all languages on signs here in the city, some in Punjabi, some in Russian,” said Richardson, a computer consultant. “If you force signs to be a certain way, it will lead to language police, and that’s a waste of resources, and those resources could be spent on giving language lessons instead.”