News

Straight Talk - By Gurpreet Singh
 
One hundred years after immigrants from India were disenfranchised by the B.C. legislature, Indo-Canadian NDP MLA Raj Chouhan

has decided to seek an apology from the province.

The 1907 Provincial Elections Amendment Act stated that no "Chinaman", "Japanese", "Hindu", or "Indian" shall have his name placed on the register of voters for any electoral district, or be entitled to vote in any election. Hindu described any native of India not born of Anglo-Saxon parents.

Earlier, the B.C. legislature had disenfranchised people of Chinese in 1872, and those of Japanese descent in 1895. These groups finally got the right to vote in 1947.

Chouhan, MLA for Burnaby-Edmonds, told the Straight that he will introduce a motion, perhaps on Thursday (May 10), seeking an apology for members of those communities and a strong condemnation of those laws. "I am particularly bothered about the racist remarks made in the house when this legislation was introduced and the kind of applause it received," he said.

He said he expects support from all MLAs, adding that he also wants this episode incorporated into the school curriculum. "If there is a debate in the house, I will raise this issue as well," Chouhan said.

The Liberals and the NDP each have four MLAs of South Asian descent. Surrey-Tynehead Liberal MLA Dave Hayer, parliamentary secretary for multiculturalism and immigration, accused the NDP of "playing politics" because of falling support.

"Unless I see the motion, it is hard to react," Hayer told the Straight . "The immigrants of the South Asian descent were not the only people mistreated in the past. The motion should include Native Indians and people of the Irish background as well."

UBC lecturer Sadhu Binning, who coauthored a book on the struggle for the right to vote in Punjab, told the Straight that he welcomed the motion. "The political parties should set aside their differences and unanimously condemn this dark chapter of the Canadian history," he said.