Chinese veterans support First Nations comrades

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The British Columbia chapter of the National Aboriginal Veterans Association passed a motion in mid-October to accept Chinese Canadian veterans as associate members.

Chapter president Joy Ward said the Chinese veterans and Native veterans on the West Coast have helped each other as they seek to remedy the injustices they were subjected to when they returned home from war.

"We were happy to welcome the Chinese veterans because they've been so much help to us," Ward said.

A Cheam band member with an interest in the history of oppression of minorities in Canada played a role in bringing the Chinese war veterans together with First Nation war veterans last year.

Annis Aleck, 47, now resides in Squamish, B.C. He plans to write a book about his experiences with racism and he discovered that Chinese war veterans have a history that's similar to First Nations veterans. Aleck was doubly intrigued by this because he has some Chinese ancestors.

He said the Chinese people who were brought to Western Canada to help construct the cross-country railroad were not allowed to bring their families with them. Because they were heavily discriminated against, they were brought together on the margins of society with Aboriginal people. There are large numbers of Native people in British Columbia who have some Chinese heritage as a result.

Aleck contacted Alex Louie, a Chinese Canadian veteran whose daughter Jari Osborne featured in a documentary. Unwanted Soldiers tells the story of Chinese Canadians who repeatedly volunteered for military service during the Second World War, only to be rejected by a Canadian government that was worried they would expect to be given the vote when they returned from overseas.

It was only when the British government decided the Chinese would be useful in performing assignments behind Japanese lines (because they would not stand out in Japanese communities) that the Canadian government relented, the documentary reports.

"Alex was really happy to talk to me and then he told me to call Bing Wong. Both Alex and said that before the war, Chinese and Indians had to sit on the right side of the theatre in movies. But after the war, they could sit wherever they wanted," Aleck said.

Wong was active with the Chinese veterans association. Aleck introduced him to Native veterans.

He has spoken to many members of visible minority groups in British Columbia and heard similar stories. He has sent information packages to various media outlets, saying Canadians have still not come to terms with the past injustices against a number of groups and the story needs to be told.