Quake victims move Chan
| Richmond News |
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It was an experience that will live with Raymond Chan for the rest of his life.
The Richmond MP returned last week from delivering medical aid to China’s Sichuan province, which was devastated by an earthquake.
Chan was part of a specialist team, including Canadian doctors, transporting $100,000 worth of medical supplies to the disaster zone’s epicentre.
He was touched by the raw courage he witnessed in the people suffering from the after-effects of the massive quake.
And the MP has already vowed to return to the region within the next month, this time with $1 million worth of aid.
“All of us were moved in so many ways and all of us have different horrific stories to tell,” Chan said.
“You can’t help having tears in your eyes and running down your face when you come face to face with this kind of thing.
“It was much more emotional when you put a human face to the tragedies that we have been seeing in the media over the last month.”
Chan revealed that he hopes, along with the Ice Breaking Care Society, to raise another $200,000 in order to leverage $1 million of aid.
“Doctors are working 12 hour shifts in 30 degree heat in the open air,” Chan said.
“We need to get mobile units to the doctors and maybe help begin to build a hospital of some kind.”
As the medical team toured the harder-hit townships surrounding Shifong City, they stumbled across one harrowing tale after another.
One being a little boy who was the only child not singing in a group of 12 under a makeshift tent.
“I asked why he wasn’t singing. I was told he’d lost his father and was now being looked after by his 84-year-old great grandfather,” Chan said. “The burden of supporting the entire family, including grandmother, was now on the 25 year old mother.
“Another man was complaining that his brother was too busy saving the whole town to look after the family. We gave him $500 to help.”
The chief of the local hospital told the team how some of the doctors climbed out of the rubble minutes after the earthquake and were immediately dealing with people arriving with injuries.
“This was despite having their own injuries and having several colleagues killed when the hospital collapsed,” Chan said.
“The courage in their faces is incredible and they try so hard not to cry.
“After seeing the conditions people are being treated in, I was more determined than ever to come back to Canada and keep this in the public eye.”
Chan and the Ice Breaker Society’s spokeswoman KK Chan appealed to the people of Richmond to get involved and help them raise the new target of $1 million.
“As Canadians, I’m sure we will continue to show our compassion and continue to help the people struck by this disaster,” KK Chan said.
“People can still help by contacting us. We plan to raise $200,000 to leverage $1 million. This is why we need to work very hard in the next few weeks.”
Anyone wanting to help should log on to www.icebreakingcare.org.
Wong gets it wrong
| Richmond News |
Richmond’s Tory Party candidate has been labeled as having a “wonderful and fertile imagination.”
The party’s federal nominee, Alice Wong, has this week been accused of not checking her facts before speaking out.
Wong had earlier attacked her rival Raymond Chan MP in a letter, accusing him of letting down his constituents.
Wong criticized Chan for not voting on changes to the Immigration Act, adding that he was in Ottawa at the time the vote took place.
But it’s transpired that Chan was actually in Richmond at the time, dealing with an urgent case on behalf of a constituent.
“It’s amazing how wrong someone can be,” Chan said.
“I’ve no idea why she thought I was in Ottawa. She must have a wonderful and fertile imagination.
“Sometimes we have to balance our needs in Parliament and in our constituency. This was one of those times.”
Wong admitted this week that she may not have been “100 per cent precise with her information.”
She added, however, that it didn’t change the fact the Richmond MP should’ve been in the House of Commons when the vote was taking place.
“I may have presumed he was (in Ottawa) and I got that wrong,” Wong said.
“But this was a crucial part of the process and Mr Chan has been strongly opposed to this bill and simply should’ve been there.”
Chan disputed Wong’s claim that it was, indeed, a crucial time for him to be in Ottawa.
“There have been many votes on this bill in the past and I’ve been there,” Chan said. “The only real way to deal with this problem is to remove the government at the next election.”
Chan said Wong’s wrongful claim that he was in Ottawa and not Richmond was just another “mistake in a long line of false information” from the Tories.
A bad bill and the role of an MP
Dear Editor: (Richmond Review, June 13 2008)
I was very disappointed to read Conservative Alice Wong’s misleading letter on my position on the Government’s Immigration Bill, C-50 (Letters, June 7).
It is unfortunate that, once again, the Conservatives are choosing to play politics with our country’s most important issues instead of having a meaningful, useful and constructive debate.
Bill C-50 makes sweeping changes to Canada’s immigration system that deviate significantly from Canada’s commitment to fairness, due process, transparency and the prevention of discrimination. As Carol Goar wrote in the Toronto Star on March 26, the Conservative bill would ensure the “immigration minister would have the authority to limit the number of immigration applications Canada accepts, deny admission to applicants already approved by immigration officers, (and) block the entry of would-be immigrants “by category or otherwise.”
My position on this bill has been consistent and clear: I am strongly opposed to these changes and to the backward approach the Conservatives are taking on immigration issues. I have indeed voted against this Conservative bill, publicly stood against it on numerous occasions, and vow to work on repealing these changes after the election of a new Liberal government.
Ms. Wong correctly states that on Monday, June 2 I was not present for the vote, one of many, on Bill C-50, but is wrong on one count and ill-informed on another. First of all, I was not actually in Ottawa on the day of the vote as Ms. Wong falsely claims. If perhaps Ms. Wong was more informed about the role of a Member of Parliament, she might understand the difficulty that occasionally arises as one tries to balance service in the House of Commons with service to the many Richmond citizens who seek individual and often urgent assistance from my constituency office in Richmond. Indeed, on the day of that vote, I was in Richmond and dealing with an urgent case on behalf of a Richmond constituent.
It is shameful that the Harper Conservatives would create an immigration bill that can deny access to aspiring new Canadians even if they have already met all the requirements desired of them.
It is almost as shameful and concerning that Ms. Wong would support such a bill, try to further play politics with this issue, and that she would be so insensitive to the fact that many Richmond constituents require personal support in taking up their concerns and cases with Ottawa.
In my view, the role of a Member of Parliament is not to bring Ottawa’s message to Richmond, but rather to act and speak on the behalf of the people of Richmond. Ms. Wong should understand that doing so requires a lot of hard work in Richmond, too.
-Raymond Chan
Richmond MP
Chan off to China
Richmond Review, June 7 2008
Richmond MP Raymond Chan left for China on Wednesday, leading a team that will help begin the delivery of medical relief supplies in the wake of the massive earthquake last month.
The May 12 earthquake that struck the southwest region of the country, killed more than 70,000 people, left millions homeless and injured tens of thousands of people.
Chan is heading to Sifong City in the province of Sichuan, one of the hardest hit regions of the country.
He will be joined by Dr. Robert Chan, an infectious disease specialist, and Dr. Kan Li, a Toronto emergency room physician, and they will be carrying with them $35,000 worth of medical supplies. Another $65,000 will be delivered in the future.
Aside from providing medical supplies, the team hopes to explore the possibility of sending Canadian surgeons and physicians to strengthen the capacity of area medical authorities. The team will also gauge other ways Canada can assist in the recovery effort.
The mission is supported by the Ice Breaking Society’s Sichuan Earthquake Children’s Community Relief Fund, the charity group Homeland International and Health Partners International Canada.
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MP heads to quake zone
| Richmond News |
Friday, June 06, 2008
Raymond Chan wants to make certain that vital aid reaches the heart of China’s earthquake disaster.
So much so, that the Richmond MP was on the flight along with $100,000 worth of medical supplies Wednesday from Vancouver International Airport.
Chan was leading a medical team dashing to deliver the supplies and relief to the stricken Sichuan province of China, where thousands of people are still suffering the horrific after effects of last month’s earthquake.
Before jumping on the mercy flight, Chan said he wanted to “facilitate a smooth delivery of the supplies.”
“I’m going to the epicenter out there,” Chan said.
“I’m helping to deliver this medicine to the hospital there and also sit down with its management.
“I’m hoping to facilitate the possibility of Canadian doctors heading out there to help. They could be vital in giving advice on preventing the spread of disease.”
Chan got involved with the aid effort in China through previous work he carried out with the Ice Breaking Care Society (IBCS), who are one of the agencies behind the airlift.
“I got involved in this through ICBS in Richmond. I’ve been working with them before in China earlier this year,” Chan said.
“This time, in response to the earthquake, they’ve mobilized again and I want to help them.
“And I supported the move in the House for 350 parliamentarians to get involved, across all parties, in the disaster help.”
Around $60,000 was raised from places like the Landsdowne Centre, Chan revealed, and that money has helped leverage $100,000 worth of medicine.
Chan headed up the delivery of supplies on behalf of the IBCS and Health Partner International Canada.
He will spend a week in China before heading back to Canada.
