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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30, 2010
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◗ RECONCILIATION
City to issue historic apology Council embarks on reconciliation process over treatment of Chinese community BY THERESA MCMANUS REPORTER tmcmanus@royalcityrecord.com
The City of New Westminster will apologize for its discriminatory actions toward Chinese Canadians in past eras. John Stark, the city’s senior social planner, said the Chinese reconciliation process undertaken by the City of New Westminster is the first such process taken by a municipality in Canada. He said research done by staff confirmed that city council acted in a discriminatory matter, particularly by restricting employment opportunities and by asking senior governments to pass discriminatory laws. On Monday, city council unanimously approved several actions to take in support of reconciliation with the Chinese community. The city will: ◗ Make a public acknowledgement that city actions contributed to past injustices involving the Chinese community in New Westminster. ◗ Make a public apology, in both English and Chinese, to the Chinese community for these injustices. ◗ Review the current use of the ◗Apology Page 4
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Endorsement from the stars: Coun. Jaimie McEvoy displays his photo of Max Grodénchik, the actor best known for playing the Ferengi Rom on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – with its endorsement of the city’s living wage policy.
Kudos from deep space
City councillor gets some extraterrestrial support for living wage policy BY ANDREW FLEMING REPORTER afleming@royalcityrecord.com
The City of New Westminster’s recent decision to adopt a living wage policy received a shocking endorsement over the weekend from a decidedly unlikely source – a visiting Ferengi political leader. The alien race from the Alpha Quadrant is well-known for having by an obsession with profit, and Ferengi are notorious throughout the galaxy for their constant efforts to swindle people. The Ferengi religion is also based
on the principles of capitalism: they offer prayers and monetary offerings to a “Blessed Exchequer” in hopes of entering the “Divine Treasury” upon death, and fear an afterlife spent in the “Vault of Eternal Destitution.” Coun. Jaimie McEvoy attended the Star Trek convention held in Vancouver over the weekend and met Max Grodénchik, an actor best known for playing Rom on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. “He was very curious about our political system, how it works and why things are controversial,” said McEvoy, who had the additional surprise honour of finding out he was already known to actor William Shatner (a.k.a. Captain James T. Kirk) for being “that guy” who wears a Star Trek tie when launching major initiatives as a city
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councillor. Grodénchik wasn’t the only Deep Space Nine cast member to give the councillor the thumbs-up for the policy. Barry Jenner, who played Admiral Ross on the series, told McEvoy, “Oh yeah, the living wage, we have that in L.A. I come from a working-class family, I understand that.” A living wage is defined as being the minimum hourly wage that’s necessary for a family of four, with two parents working full-time, to pay for necessities. It is currently determined to be $16.74 an hour in the Lower Mainland, over twice the $8 an hour provincial minimum wage frozen by the Liberal government since 2001. Although the extraterrestrial endorsement
◗Trek Page 10
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