New writers are using mentorship opportunities to create and share more diverse and inclusive stories about Toronto’s history and culture. “What we want to do is to create a living history of Toronto through literature…
View More Diaspora Dialogues Gives Emerging Writers a Voice
As a child, it wasn’t unusual for Ann Y.K. Choi to be at work behind the counter of her family’s convenience store in Toronto. She and her two brothers were expected to help their parents…
View More Family’s Courage Shines on in Story of Corner Shop
The much-anticipated first federal budget from the new Liberal government was unveiled on March 22. To describe the general reactions, they would be “Wow,” “Oh,” and maybe even, “Oh no.” I was all “Yay!” and…
View More Big-Ticket Budget Items Welcome After Past Inaction
The foreign-ownership and housing affordability debate is currently the most reported and talked about socio-political issue in the City of Vancouver. Truthfully, for those of us who care immensely about this city’s future, it is…
View More Name Calling in Vancouver
Flesh, Tongue, Yaya Yao’s first collection of poetry, brings you to a crossroads where you have a desire for belonging in the place you feel is home, but must first understand why your parents’ own…
View More The Poetry of Generational DifferenceA year after being called “Canada’s most racist city,” Winnipeg is on its way to becoming more inclusive, and immigrants can be part of the solution. “It is wonderful that very recently we are seeing…
View More Winnipeg’s Racism Problem: Immigrants Can Help
As Canada gears up for the 2015 federal election on October 19, the Conservative Party of Canada has launched a Chinese-language website as a strategic move to win the Chinese vote. But although the site…
View More Chinese-Canadians Not Swayed by Tory Site
If Joseph Martinez was given the option, he would “export half of the population of Richmond back to China.” Owner of Little Paws Animal Clinic and resident of the newly created federal riding of Steveston…
View More Richmond Residents Divided on ImmigrationYou’ve probably never realized that Ontario cabinet minister Michael Chan is a highly polarizing figure within the Greater Toronto Area’s (GTA) Chinese communities until the Globe and Mail’s recent coverage. That’s the case at least for my…
View More Chan and ConfuciusAmid the growing debate over China’s influence in this country, some 200 delegates attended the inaugural Pacific Finance and Trade Summit in Vancouver on June 16 to promote Canada as a trading and clearing hub for the…
View More The Yin and Yang of Ties with China