Hypocrisy and the campaign for the ‘ethnic vote’

Rather than focusing on winning “ethnic votes,” all four national parties should make the elimination of systemic racism a centerpiece of their platforms.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper addresses a gathering to welcome the Chinese Lunar New Year in Toronto in February 2014.

Mon Oct 05 2015

The Conservative Party of Canada has created a Chinese-language website as part of its targeted strategy to win the Chinese vote.

The CPC website claims the party has long history of supporting the Chinese-Canadian community, citing as examples that it had the first Chinese-Canadian Member of Parliament, and was the party that provided redress for the Chinese Head Tax and Exclusion Act. Conveniently missing from the website is the fact that the racist head tax imposed on all and only Chinese immigrants was introduced by the first Canadian Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, who happened to be a Conservative.

While the Conservatives do not own a monopoly over the so-called “ethnic vote” tactic, there is a bit of irony in how they choose to woo Chinese votes. By creating the Chinese-language website, the party hopes to reach out to those Chinese-Canadians who do not speak English as their first language, and need to.

Yet it is also the Harper government that changed the Citizenship Act to make it a lot harder for non-English speaking Chinese-Canadians to become citizens of Canada. The government tightened up the language requirement a couple of years ago, requiring all immigrants to pass a certain level of English (or French) test before they could even apply for citizenship; finally.

Starting this year, the requirement is expanded to cover all applicants between the ages of 14 and 64 (from the previous age range of 18 to 54). These changes have a direct impact on many Chinese newcomers who came to Canada as adults and have difficulties acquiring our language.

It verges on hypocrisy for the Conservatives to say to the Chinese-Canadian community that we do not want to give your newcomers citizenship status, but we want your vote during the election time.

If the party should be faulted for this tactic in reaching out to Chinese-Canadians, other parties should be criticized for not paying attention.

Like all Canadians, Chinese-Canadians seek prosperity and job security. They all want to live in a clean environment in which their families can lead a healthy and happy life. But they face challenges as do other  immigrants. Many are denied job opportunities because employers chose not to have them in the labour market, and newcomers face additional barriers as their international credentials are not recognized in Canada.

The Chinese are two to four times more likely to live in poverty. Between 1981 and 2000, while the poverty rate in Toronto for other ethnic groups dropped by 28 per cent, the rate for those in Chinese groups increased by 361 per cent.

People from these communities – including those who are Canadian-born – earn less money and experience higher unemployment rates, even though they are more likely to be university-educated than non-immigrants 

Between 2000 and 2005, racialized Canadians earn 81.4 cents for every dollar paid to other immigration Canadians. 

Income inequalities have led in turn to inequitable access to health, education and social services for racilaized group members. Meanwhile, the government continues its tough-on-crime agenda, which results in further criminalization of racialized group members.

True, the Liberals have come up with a comprehensive plan to overhaul the immigration system by strengthening the family class program, which will benefit the racialized Chinese community But little has been said on other issues that touch the lives of nearly 20 per cent of Canadians.

The NDP has portrayed itself as a progressive party pushing for inclusion and equity, yet apart from Indigenous Peoples the party platform has yet to make mention of any racialized groups’ concerns. The Green party, at least, has promised that it would enforce the Employment Equity Act to ensure racialized Chinese immigrants have an adequate opportunity to employment and advancement in society.

Rather than focusing on winning “ethnic votes,” all four parties should make the elimination of systemic racism a centerpiece of their platforms, be it in the labour market, the criminal justice system or in society at large.