A genocide-denier is elected 'Honorary Chairman' by prominent Chinese Canadian organization
China’s top diplomat in Vancouver addressed the inaugural ceremony and stood in centre of many group photos.
The Chinese Benevolent Association of Vancouver (CBA) 中华会馆, a well-known Chinese Canadian community organization has elected its new board of members recently, and there are quite a few familiar names on the roster.
According to a report by Rise Weekly, the CBA’s 2022-2023 board of members was successfully elected on Oct.30, 2022. 31 people were elected to the board. Some shuffling happened in the leadership and here we’ll talk about the most prominent ones.
Helen Qian 钱华, a Mao Zedong worshipper, is elected the new Board Director.
Helen Qian 钱华, a Chinese Canadian originally from mainland China, has become the first female Board Director of the CBA.
Besides the CBA, Qian also holds positions in several other organizations, including president of Shen Zhen Association of Canada 加拿大深圳联谊会 and president of the Canadian Cultural and Creative Industry Society 加拿大文化创意产业基金会.
Both organizations, plus the CBA, have been repeatedly seen siding with the Chinese government including the Hong Kong protests and National Security Law in 2019/2020, the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022, and the Taiwan Whitepaper in Aug. 2022.
In 2022, Qian was seen hosting a dinner party celebrating the 73rd anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s ruling of mainland China, and the 52nd anniversary of the Canada-China friendship.
Qian rose to prominence in 2013 when she organized a gala to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the birth of Mao Zedong 毛泽东, the former supreme leader of the CCP who ruled China from the 1940s until his death in 1976.
For readers who don’t know a lot about Mao Zedong, here is a simple explanation: Mao Zedong (or Chairman Mao), is the Chinese equivalent of Stalin but Mao killed a lot more people. During the decades of his rule, Mao launched waves of merciless political movements that resulted in a death toll of tens of millions, which is greater than the killings of Stalin and Hitler combined.
Ms. Qian spoke highly of Mao Zedong at the gala she organized on December 26, 2013. She emphasized the importance of Chairman Mao in Chinese history and the significance of commemorating Mao Zedong. The gala took place in Vancouver and the slogan read, 'The Chinese Dream that connects Chinese people home and abroad'.
Bill Yee 余宏荣, the ex-judge who denied the Xinjiang genocide and Tiananmen Massacre, becomes the 'Honorary Chairman'
Helen Qian was granted the inauguration certificate on Nov. 6, 2022, by Bill Yee 余宏荣, the honorary chairman of the CBA.
You read it correctly. Bill Yee, the genocide denier and former judge in B.C., also attended the ceremony and held the important function of granting a certificate to the new top leader of the organization.
In the meantime, Yee himself was successfully elected (or re-elected) as 'honorary chairman' of the CBA. Yee served as the president of the CBA in the 1980s and 1990s and has been holding honorary positions at the organization quite often.
Yee worked as a B. C. Provincial Court Judge from 1999 to 2014 and became an advisor to B.C. Premier John Horgan in 2018 as a member of B.C.’s Chinese-Canadian Advisory Committee.
In a Chinese-language interview in March 2021, Yee said claims of Xinjiang genocide were lies. This drew immense anger from the Uyghurs and human rights advocacy community and a group of human rights activists in the Chinese-Canadian community wrote a letter to B.C. Premier Horgan, demanding Yee to be removed from the advisor position. Although BC MLA George Chow 周炯华 defended Yee, Yee declared that he wouldn’t seek re-appointment for the position.
During that period of time, Ivan Pak 白巍, a former candidate for the People’s Party of Canada (PPC), started an online petition to support Yee’s 'freedom of speech'. Pak, along with Ally Wang 王立, have founded a number of organizations in Canada to fight against racism, especially anti-Asian hate crimes. But when it comes to racism and human rights violations against the Uyghurs, it looks their anti-racism mandate doesn’t apply anymore.
Bill Yee also denied the existence of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989. As the then-president of CBA, Yee defended Beijing on various occasions. In the 1990s, when the University of British Columbia (UBC) was planning to mount a replica statue of the Goddess of Democracy to commemorate the Tiananmen Massacre, Yee wrote a letter to the UBC president trying to persuade him out of the plan because Canada 'should not interfere with China’s internal affairs'.
The CBA, established decades before the founding of the P.R.China, used to be an inclusive organisation, but in the past 20+ years, it repeatedly sides with the Chinese government, especially when China is called out for its human rights violations. Some people claim Bill Yee is the mastermind behind the CBA’s drastic shift from a Taiwan-friendly organization to a reliable ally of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
By the way, Rise Weekly and a few other Chinese-language media still call Bill Yee a 'judge' although he retired from that position in 2014.
Yang Shu 杨舒，China’s Consul-General in Vancouver was invited for a keynote speech at the ceremony
Bill Yee’s removal from the B.C. premier’s advisory committee didn’t make him less favoured to the Chinese government. During the past two years, Yee frequently attended events hosted by or linked to the Chinese Consulate General in Vancouver, including this inauguration ceremony of the CBA.
Yang Shu 杨舒, Beijing’s top envoy in West Coast Canada, was invited to give a speech at the ceremony.
According to a report on the website of the Chinese Consulate General in Vancouver, Yang Shu lectured the new leadership of the CBA about the significance of the CCP’s 20th national congress and urged the CBA leaders to support the economic and social development of their motherland and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
CBA leaders and Consul-General Yang took varieties of group photos, with Yang in the centre.
The reason why a foreign citizen who represents the government of another country always stands in the very centre of photos at events hosted by Canadian organizations in Canada is unknown.
David Choi 蔡宏安, a businessman who diligently toes the Beijing line on Hong Kong and Taiwan issues, is elected Vice Director of the Board
There are a number of people elected as the vice directors of the board, and the most noticeable pine is David Choi 蔡宏安, CEO of Royal Pacific Realty Group and executive chair of National Congress of Chinese Canadians 全加华人联会 (NCCC).
David Choi is a steadfast supporter of the Hong Kong police’s atrocious crackdown on the pro-democracy protests in 2019, and Beijing’s draconian National Security Law (NSL) in 2020.
In early July 2020, shortly after the enactment of the NSL, Choi posted a video statement on his Facebook page praising the National Security Law, which drew hundreds of negative reactions before Choi removed the video.
A group of local Canadians held a rally in Vancouver boycotting Choi and claiming Choi’s statement to be against Canadian values. Royal Pacific Realty later published a statement to distance itself from Choi, saying Choi’s personal political viewpoint was not authorized by or representative of the company.
In July 2021, at the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Choi sang the praise of the CCP in an interview with CCTV, a Chinese state media outlet by parroting one of Beijing’s talking points. Choi said, 'What the Chinese Communist Party has done in the past 100 years, effectively ruling in China, is a great thing. Which country (besides China) is able to lift so many people out of poverty and onto a more hopeful and happy path to pursue their dreams?'
In Aug. 2022, 87 Chinese Canadian organizations published a joint letter supporting Beijing’s white paper on Taiwan, which raised great concerns among the Canadian public. David Choi’s NCCC was one of the 87 organizations.
In an interview with Beijing-affiliated Phoenix TV, Choi defended Beijing again by saying Canada recognizes Taiwan to be part of China, which is not the truth.
Choi frequently appears at events that are related to the redress of Canada’s discriminatory head tax policy and the Chinese Exclusion Act. Although the cause of redressing those unjust regulations took the century-long effort of many organizations, Choi often speaks on behalf of the Chinese Canadian community.
In the past 10 or 20 years, NCCC puts more effort into promoting the re-unification of Taiwan with mainland China, which does not rule out the option of mainland China’s annexing Taiwan by force.
Hilbert Yiu 姚崇英, who supports the CCP’s human rights violations against Uyghurs, Hong Kongers and potentially Taiwanese, becomes leader of the CBA’s human rights team
Hilbert Yiu 姚崇英, the former board director of the CBA and owner of Shung Ying Kung Fu Club 崇英健身会, is elected leader of the CBA’s human rights team.
What has Yiu done for human rights?
Like David Choi, Yiu is active in speaking on behalf of the Chinese Canadian community when it comes to the redress of the head tax policy. In 2018, when Gregor Robertson 罗品信, the then-mayor of Vancouver read out a formal apology to the Chinese Canadians, Yiu was one of the people who attended the event at the city hall and received interviews from Chinese state media.
As for issues like Hong Kong protests, National Security Law, Taiwan and Xinjiang issues, Yiu consistently aligned himself with Beijing, which is also similar to David Choi. Yiu’s organizations, CBA and Shung Ying Kung Fu Club, are frequently seen on the lists of organizations that publicly pledge loyalty and support to Beijing.
In other words, when China was criticised by the international community for its atrocious human rights violations, Yiu chose to side with China.
When Tong Xiaoling 佟晓玲 started her term as China’s Consul-General in Vancouver in Dec. 2017, Hilbert Yiu organized a grand welcome reception for her. In his speech, Yiu said Chinese community organizations in Greater Vancouver would strongly support the work of the Chinese Consulate General under the leadership of Tong Xiaoling, supporting the peaceful unification of Taiwan with mainland China and the One China policy. Yiu claimed that the rise of China's economic and political status has led to the overseas Chinese being respected and valued by the governments of the countries they live.
In 2019, Hilbert Yiu was reportedly helping recruit volunteers for the Chinese Consulate General in Vancouver. In the fall of 2019, Hilbert Yiu was invited by the Chinese government to attend the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the CCP’s taking over mainland China.
Along with Yiu, there were other well-known community leaders at the celebration including Chen Yongtao 陈永涛 (4th left), Zhu Jiang 朱江 (7th left) and Wei Chengyi 魏成义 (8th left).
Wei Chengyi, a Toronto businessman, is the focus of investigations linked to China’s interference in Canada’s politics and election. Wei’s organization, Canada Toronto Fuqing Business Association (CTFQBA), is allegedly related to China’s 'overseas police station' in Canada.
(Correction notice: we’ve made corrections to the original post with updated information regarding the roles of NCCC, David Choi and Hilbert Yiu on the head tax redress issue. Many thanks to @Thekla Lit for the important comment!)
Thanks a lot for your good works in exposing these important information to the non-Chinese reading public.
Just want to clarify a few facts:-
1. NCCC is not the organization that fight for the head tax redress. It is CCNC (Chinese Canadian National Council 平權會）. Please refer to http://www.roadtojustice.ca/redress-campaign/ccnc. NCCC was established only in the late nineties or early 2000 by pro-CCP guys.
2. Not David Choi nor Hilbert Yiu were advocating for the head tax redress. It’s only after the success of the fight by head tax descendants with the support of CCNC and some community human rights activists, and the then Harper government offered apology at the Parliament, NCCC, David Choi, Hilbert Yiu and the like came out to claim the credits.
Isn’t that Elder Larry Grant in the pic with Robertson? Sheesh.
Thanks as always for the great work.