Canada's Burnaby city apologizes to Chinese Canadians for "historic discrimination"

OTTAWA, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- Canada's Burnaby city has made an apology to Chinese Canadians over "historic discrimination" and repealed discriminatory bylaws that impacted them.

"I stand before you on behalf of the City of Burnaby to acknowledge and apologize for our historic discrimination against people of Chinese descent," Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley declared on Saturday.

"Today, we shine a light on the historic wrongs and systemic racism perpetuated by Burnaby's municipal government and elected officials between 1892 and 1947 and commit to ensuring that this dark period of our City's history is never repeated," he said.

The city denounces the discriminatory policies and actions of the past that targeted people of Chinese descent and is committed to recognizing their contributions to the city's shared history, the mayor added.

Three major discriminatory bylaws enacted between 1892 and 1947 by the city were formally repealed Saturday.

Burnaby Councilor James Wang, who played a key role in the city's reconciliation effort, reflected on the process in an interview: "This apology comes after years of collaboration between the city government and the Chinese community. In the reconciliation process, we discovered many historic discriminatory policies."

"Over the past two years, we set up an advisory group and held more than one hundred community events to gather feedback, ensuring that this apology truly meets the needs of affected families," Wang added.

Since 2005, the Canadian federal government, the British Columbia provincial government and the Vancouver city government, among others, have apologized for their past discrimination against Chinese Canadians.