首届唐人街团结大会隆重召开，18个唐人街社区50名代表齐聚温哥华

Chinatowns across the U.S. and Canada are monuments to the culture, struggles, and successes of the AAPI community. Since the 1860s, Chinatowns have had to deal with several boom-and-bust cycles. The most recent one began just before the pandemic and continues today. 

Often these hard times are driven not just by economic issues in their respective home cities or countries but by racism, classism, and gentrification. 

Fifty representatives from 18 Chinatown communities across the U.S. and Canada met in Vancouver to share their collective experience and wisdom on dealing with these issues and discuss best practices for future partnerships between American and Canadian Chinatown Organizations.

"It's not often that we get opportunities like this where we get to meet some of our peers from other Chinatowns, and also from a Canadian perspective," said Angie Liou, executive director of the Asian Community Development Corp. in Boston. "Because of how these ethnic communities came to be, they were formed under similar socio-economic, and historical forces, so we all face similar challenges. It's great to have this type of peer network to learn from one another."

In addition to the representatives from the various Chinatowns across the U.S. and Canada, Canadian and U.S. dignitaries, including U.S. Ambassador to Canada David L. Cohen, U.S. Consul General in Vancouver D. Brent Hardt, Canada's Minister for International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development Mary Ng and Mayor of Vancouver Ken Sim were in attendance.

"This is a critical moment for Chinatowns across North America, they are facing similar obstacles, and today, leaders and organizations supporting the preservation and revitalization efforts have not had an opportunity to connect, share knowledge, and support each other," said Carol Lee, Chair of Vancouver Chinatown Foundation, which hosted the conference.

The conference provided a platform for U.S. and Canadian Chinatown communities, cultural and economic development leaders, and public safety experts to exchange ideas on best revitalizing Chinatowns and building financial and knowledge networks among U.S. and Canadian counterparts. It created toolkits to help guide efforts to defend and restore Chinatowns across the continent.

"The United States and Canada share much more than a border or a close trading relationship. We share stories—of resilience, hope, and strength. This is what defines our Asian and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities on both sides of our border," said Katherine Tai, U.S. Trade Representative.

We saw some of these tools in Philadelphia just last weekend when more than 3000 protesters united in solidarity with and in defense of Chinatown in the community's effort to fend off the proposed 76ers arena.

"The conversations and learnings from the conference will directly impact the future well-being of these important historic neighborhoods," said Lee.

"From generation to generation, Chinatowns have long been pillars of our communities, embodying the spirit, resilience, and contributions of Chinese immigrants; they have been the center of Chinese commerce, society, and culture in North America," said Mary Ng. "The revitalization of Chinatowns is close to my heart. It is not only about preserving physical spaces; it is about honoring our shared heritage, promoting inclusivity, and creating opportunities for economic growth."

The Streets Department will make every effort to minimize disruption to traffic, but we urge residents to plan ahead and use alternative routes when traveling and allow extra time when traveling around the work areas, said Carlton Williams, Streets Commissioner.

Chinese people helped each other find jobs or set up businesses; eventually, these Chinatowns flourished and became vibrant economic and cultural communities in Canada and the United States.

However, in the last 20 to 30 years, these Chinatowns have declined due to various issues, including gentrification, public safety, fewer young people living in them, and, more recently, anti-Asian hate crimes during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Advocates called on Chinatowns to build networks of solidarity and cooperation in rebuilding efforts during economic uncertainty, not just within the AAPI community but with other marginalized groups across the continent. Participants spoke about the solidarity necessary to build Chinatowns in the mid-19th century and how that can be expanded to create a more extensive support base in building economic opportunities and resisting gentrification.

Many businesses have been forced to close, while more unhoused, and people with addiction issues can be seen in these areas.

The conference allowed participants to talk about their experiences with public safety and how to deal with the rise in crime and anti-Asian racism.

"San Francisco has more recently been bringing in retired cops who walk Chinatown seven days a week," said Garret Tom, a former deputy police chief with the San Francisco Police Department. "We started with just a few, and we hired another 75 more. They are retired cops from the area and know everyone. They know every merchant, the layout of each store, and who is on probation. They are bilingual. Most grew up in the area; there's a connection."

"I left Chinatown Solidarity Conference with a renewed hope and great optimism for what can be achieved when we share our best practices and dream big for our beloved Chinatowns," said David Cohen, U.S. Ambassador to Canada.

The lack of consideration for the wants and needs of Chinatown residents has New York's Chinatown community squaring off against the city, which wants to build a Mega Jail in its backyard, like the Arena in Philadelphia, and plans for a condo building in Vancouver's Chinatown. None of these projects are wanted, yet New York City and Billionaire developers are leading the charge to shove these projects down Chinatowns throats and continue to cheat, lie and steal their way into these communities that have already told them no.

"Asian Americans are united and determined in our opposition to this arena and know it will destroy Chinatown," said Debbie Wei, who attended the event representing Philadelphia's Chinatown. 

Chinatown is not alone in our opposition to this boondoggle. Organizations across the city and beyond spoke out against the arena and supported Chinatown. Including Save the U.C. Townhomes, Power Interfaith, Philadelphia Thrive, Juntos, The Cambodian Association of Greater Philadelphia, Vietlead, and The Camden Working Families Party (which is also fighting the Sixers over their practice facility in Camden). We even had a band from L.A., Las Cafeteras, on a U.S. tour drive early to Philadelphia to sing for us and join our demonstration. With the conference in Vancouver, we have the support of 17 other Chinatowns from across the U.S. and Canada, many of whom featured our march on their social media."

"The Key to our strategy, as we advance, is solidarity," said Jenny Zhang, who also attended the conference. "We know that our fight touches on those fought in other communities, and these fights get at the underlying systemic issues that every community is struggling with, whether it's in a Chinatown in America, Canada, or black and Brown communities N.W. or S.W. Philly, racism, classism, xenophobia, and gentrification are everywhere, and we're going to stand against it."

The arena's developers have spent about 2 million dollars on lobbying efforts. They have been caught in two ethics violations by the Ethics Board and were caught trying to sneak legislation to support their arena in an unrelated bill.

The Proposal is no further along and may be further behind than it was nearly a year ago when they first announced the project. Instead of winning the community's trust, the developers have consistently proven untrustworthy and continue to gaslight the community.

June 10th's march showed the developers and City leaders that other communities see their unethical behavior and won't let it stand.
"The opposition is growing, with many spin-off affinity groups forming to fight the arena," said Wei. "We have two broad coalitions in this fight: The Save Chinatown Coalition and the Chinatown Coalition to Oppose the Arena encompassing more than seventy organizations citywide. We don't know what else the Mayor and Councilmember Squilla need to see, but we'll stay in the streets if we have to."

The Mayor, Cherelle Parker, David Oh, and Councilmember Squilla said, "If the community doesn't want it, it won't happen."

"The vast majority of the city supports us on this. And we will pursue all means of recourse because three billionaires don't know that while they can buy many things, including political support, they can't buy our community, its history, and its dedication to protecting it from predatory development," said Zhang.