Honor Your Ancestors In YOUR Home......

No more 'hyphenated' Canadians
April 13, 2009
Re: Ethnic group waves Tory banner, April 11
I was dismayed and disappointed to see the term "Chinese-Canadian" used repeatedly in reference to the Chinese Canadian Conservative Association. While there are Chinese Canadians and Canadians of Chinese descent, there are no [or should not be any] "Chinese-Canadians."
While this may seem to be minor, pedantic nit-picking, the distinction is important. The casual, cavalier – and, increasingly frequent – use of the hyphen to categorize Canadians from different backgrounds dilutes the significance of Canadian citizenship and is actually inaccurate.
"Chinese-Canadian" was again used in the interview with Wayson Choy, the Vancouver-born Chinese Canadian. By his own admission, he "took root in Vancouver's Chinatown" and feels more Canadian than Chinese, which is perfectly understandable, considering he was born and bred in Canada.
More than a half century ago, Prime Minister John Diefenbaker [himself a German Canadian] declared an end to hyphenated Canadianism. It is regrettable that the Star is contributing to its revival.
References to hyphenated Canadians should be abolished. Canada needs unhyphenated, unconditional Canadians period.
Gordon J. Chong, Former Toronto City Councillor, Toronto

No problem with `hyphenation'
Re: No more 'hyphenated' Canadians, Letter April 13
While I respect Gordon Chong's view on "hyphenated" Canadians, I do not agree with him. We are all Canadians first, whereas our ethnic background – Chinese, Slovak, Ukrainian, First Nation etc. – should be used only as an adjective.
In order to honour our ancestral roots I have no problem with using the ancestral origin as an adjective as long as practical. Thus Chinese Canadian to describe a proud Canadian proud also of their Chinese roots. This should be up to the individual. This is what multiculturalsm is all about.
But it can get complicated. One of my granddaughters is an Irish-French-Italian-Polish-Slovak-Canadian. And that took just two generations.
Rudy Bies, Mississauga