Few Canadians are outright racists, but many hold stereotypically bigoted views of Chinese people, says Senator Yuen Pau Woo (BC). The Liberal appointee complained Chinese Canadians are expected to renounce the motherland or be “seen as suspicious," according to Blacklock's Reporter..“The number of unreconstructed racists is probably small, but they are aided and abetted by seemingly respectable folks who nevertheless feed racial animus by insinuating generalizations about Chinese people in Canada and the ills that they are alleged to have brought to society, for example money laundering, unaffordable housing and the epidemic of opioid deaths,” Woo told the Senate..“An acceptable Chinese Canadian is one who conforms to a certain view of the world, disavows affiliations with individuals and groups that are blackballed for political reasons and publicly voices opposition to what has been deemed as the all-encompassing menace that is the People’s Republic of China,” said Woo. “Not conforming to these canons is seen as suspicious at best or, more ominously, as a litmus test of disloyalty and malfeasance against Canada.”.Woo made his remarks in a Senate speech on the 1923 Chinese Immigration Act. “Chinese Canadians are no longer guests in this country regardless of when they arrived,” he said. “They should neither think of themselves as guests nor be treated as such.”.“No one has the right to tell us to go back to the country we came from, not even the former chief of staff to the prime minister who said that to me because he did not like my views,” said Woo. The Senator’s office yesterday said he was referring to a 2021 National Post commentary by Derek Burney, former chief of staff to Brian Mulroney..In a column headlined “Woo Must Atone For Defending China’s Murderous Regime,” Burney described the Senator as a “panda hugger,” a Communist Party apologist. “If that is the style of government Senator Woo prefers then he is living in the wrong country,” wrote Burney..Woo is a native Singaporean who arrived in Canada as a foreign student and became a permanent resident in 1988. He was later appointed CEO of the federally-funded Asia Pacific Foundation and named to the Senate in 2016..The Senator has repeatedly complained of criticism over his pro-China activities including a 2017 appearance with Huawei-funded scholarship winners at the University of British Columbia. Senator Woo was also a frequent guest speaker at the Communist Party-approved Canada-China Friendship Society of Ottawa..In 2019 Woo gave a speech to Fudan University alumni stating Canadians should be “praying every night that China does not implode.” Until 2021 he held membership in the pro-Beijing University of British Columbia China Council..“If I hold a view that is remotely aligned with what Beijing might be saying ‘that’s probably grounds to deport him from the country,’” Woo said in 2021 remarks at Carleton University. “These are all real examples I’m getting on social media and elsewhere. They’re all wrong. All of that is wrong.”
