Burnaby, B.C., Mayor Mike Hurley has issued an official apology on behalf of the city for its historic discrimination against people of Chinese descent.
He called an official meeting of city council on Saturday, where members also unanimously passed a motion to repeal three discriminatory bylaws.
The city says the bylaws were discovered by staff when researching Burnaby's historic discrimination, though it noted they are no longer active or enforced.
Hurley says the city accepts responsibility for the racism and exclusion perpetuated by Burnaby's municipal government and elected officials between 1892 and 1947.
He says this included a law that was enacted in 1892 that prohibited the employment of Chinese and Japanese workers by the municipality or its contractors.
It also included the restriction of people of Chinese descent from owning land and introduced "regulations that limited their ability to earn a living."
Hurley said the city also supported provincial laws that denied the rights of people of Chinese descent to vote or run for office in federal, provincial and municipal elections.
"The goals of these actions was exclusion," he said.
But, despite that, he said many Chinese Canadians ran successful businesses, constructed railway lines, established farms in the region and many even served in the Armed Forces during the First and Second World Wars.
"Today, we acknowledge the descendants of the early Chinese Canadian community members whose families were directly impacted by our historic discrimination," he said.
"Please accept our appreciation for the contributions of your parents and grandparents made to our community and their efforts for change. Our actions made life harder for them and for all community members of Chinese descent. For that, we are deeply sorry today."
The city noted the official apology followed a "months-long engagement process guided by a community advisory group."
Hurley said the apology also serves as a commitment to ensuring "this dark period of our city's history is never repeated."
"Today, we commit to action" he said Saturday.
That action, he told the meeting, will include promoting awareness of Chinese-Canadian contributions to Burnaby's history, providing cultural competency training to city staff and providing core community safety programs in Chinese languages.
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
