‘Passion to revitalize’: Vancouver hosts 1st U.S.-Canada ‘Chinatown Solidarity’ conference
Global News
Chinatowns in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, San Francisco, Philadelphia and New York are among those represented in the two-day conference in Vancouver.
Delegates from 18 Chinatowns across Canada and the United States gathered in Vancouver on Tuesday for the continent’s first Chinatown Cultural Preservation and Revitalization conference.
The two-day “Chinatown Solidarity” event, attended by 50 representatives, aims to facilitate an exchange of ideas on how to revitalize, preserve and secure the historic neighbourhoods, as well as foster new collaborations between community leaders on both sides of the border.
“There’s a passion to revitalize these neighbourhoods across North America,” Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim told Global News.
“Some people blamed the Asian community for being the cause of the pandemic, and we got to a place where anti-Asian hate crime was up in Chinatowns across North America. They were getting thrashed and it’s good to see saner heads prevailing and people are starting to build back up these neighbourhoods.”
Sim was one of many recognizable names at the conference, which was also attended by U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Cohen, U.S. Consul General in Vancouver D. Brent Hardt, and federal Minister for International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development Mary Ng.
Chinatowns in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, San Francisco, Philadelphia and New York were among those represented.
Lily Ho, president of San Francisco’s Delta Chinatown Initiative, said newcomers from China have long had to “band together to survive.”
“(Chinatowns are) ethnic enclaves, created to be self-sustaining and to support our own community because we were excluded from normal institutional support,” she explained.