Thank you to the PIFI Committee for opening up the opportunity for members of the Canadian community to submit clarifications.
My name is Timur C. Zhao. I have a PhD degree in mechanical engineering and settled in Canada in 1997. I have lived in Toronto for 27 years, and Toronto is the city where I have lived the longest in my life. I 100% identify with Canada as my own country and I am proud to be Canadian.
Canada is a developed country where people live a real life with adequate food and clothing; women, the elderly, children, new immigrants, ethnic minorities, special groups, and even displaced refugees are well taken care of; people earn a good life through honest work; At the same time, this great country was built and developed. I love this great country.
However, I am also proud to be of Chinese descent and have deep feelings for the land of mainland China and the people who live on it. Before immigrating to mainland China at the age of 35, I received and completed all my degree education there and held the position of associate professor at a very excellent university. I have a deep understanding of Chinese culture and love the breadth and depth of this culture; my own parents, sister, brothers, as well as classmates, former colleagues, and friends at various stages of my early life are all in China. We often communicate about life, culture, society, economy, and politics. I believe that the sincere, frank, and inclusive exchanges between me and my relatives and friends fully demonstrate the concepts of diversity and freedom in the current globalized world.
As far as I know, many immigrants from mainland China, including myself, very much hope that Canada and China will always have good diplomatic relations, and that both China and Canada will be Prosperity, prosperous, and peaceful. We all hope to take advantage of our relatively in-depth understanding of China and Canada to become a bridge of friendship between China and Canada and do our part to develop the traditional friendship between China and Canada. This feeling is like that of a child to his parents. I believe any human being can understand this emotion.
Every moment when China-Canada relations are friendly, we cheer for joy and our joy is beyond words. Unfortunately, 50 years after the establishment of diplomatic relations, China-Canada relations have turned sour. Although the relationship between the two countries is affected by international relations, especially Sino-US relations, we have also seen that individual Canadian politicians, media and a small number of people influenced by public opinion have created more and more anti-China and anti-China incidents. Among them, what particularly worries me is the indiscriminate attack on Chinese politicians at all levels of Canadian government with mainland Chinese background, and fabricating various unproven and groundless charges against them. These baseless accusations cannot be proven at all. However, before the facts are clarified, the political lives, personal and family lives and futures of the affected Chinese politicians may have been ruined. These actions seriously undermine Canadian democracy.
The negative consequences of such slanderous accusations are to create untouchables and inferior ethnic groups in Canadian society; they silence Chinese Canadians from participating in political affairs and stifle their enthusiasm for participating in political affairs. This is undermining Canadian democracy. These very obvious political regressions are reminiscent of those dark histories – such as Nazi Germany’s targeting of Jews, racism in former South Africa, and Canada’s beating and burning of witches three hundred years ago. What these heartbreaking historical events have in common is that discrimination and persecution of identifiable minorities are used as a means to divert social conflicts; minority groups who are unable to resist become victims of violence and become scapegoats for some politicians to seek personal gain.
Indiscriminate attacks on immigrants of mainland Chinese background have become more and more intense. According to reports, recently in Quebec, the Royal Mounted Police openly called on Chinese people to expose and report so-called spies of the Chinese government in Canada. This kind of trampling and stigmatization of the human rights of some Canadian citizens goes against Canada’s national interests and is destroying Canada’s progressive political atmosphere.
I fear deeply for the fundamental rights of myself, my friends, my descendants, and all identifiable minorities who call Canada their home country. We are also extremely disturbed by the possible social unrest in Canada that this may cause. Generally speaking, Chinese Canadians have a cultural tradition of being submissive and tolerant. Therefore, the bullying and harm to the Chinese Canadian community may not cause much shock at the sociopolitical level. However, this open violation of the Canadian Human Rights Charter will inevitably lead to a decline in social morality and regression. In a country that highly publicizes animal protection, there is an ever-increasing trend of persecuting some ethnic minorities, which is a shame for Canadian society. Politicians who instigate this trend for their own selfish interests will surely be nailed to the pillar of shame in Canadian history.
Canada is a country founded by a large number of immigrants. According to census statistics, more than 200 ethnic groups live in Canada, the vast majority of which are immigrants. Immigrants come to Canada from their homeland, and their biggest wish is to pursue a better life and build their ideal home. I sincerely hope that all minority immigrants, including me and other Chinese-Canadians, can live and work peacefully in this great country of Canada and not become victims of systemic discrimination. I would like to thank the Committee again for opening up the opportunity to submit its report so that I, an ordinary Canadian, can express my concerns and my voice.
Sincerely,
citizen Zhao, Changchun
July 30, 2024