Rob Ford apologized for "Oriental" remark

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Rob Ford apologized for "Oriental" remark

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It been an eventful month for Toronto city councilor Rob Ford, after his comments of Asian Canadian as “oriental people they work like dog…they sleep by their machines and going to take over” were carried in all the media in Toronto, many Asian had demand his public apology. And last week he made headline again, charged by police with assaulting and uttering death threat his wife.

Personally, I don’t find “work like a dog” as being offensive but the comments in whole is an entirely different matter. Anyone with some knowledge of Canadian History would know, it was not too long ago, Chinese Canadian in Vancouver were not allow to work outside of Chinatown area, many were paid far less than the Canadian so with the later imposed head-tax were to prevented them to compete with the other Canadian for the jobs.

 My mother likes many immigrate women worked all of her working life in the garment industry until she retired. Growing up I remember she used to work long hours sometimes even seven days a week just to made end meet. Some of the factories closed without even paying her. So Mr. Ford’s comments in whole were to close to home for many of us.

A couple of days before the city council meeting, I received an email invite to attend and hoping to hear his apology, I specially painted a “work like a dog” t-shirt for this occasion(see photo). In my building where my studio is located are many Chinese seamstress works for some well-known fashion designers. When I showed them my T-shirt, I was surprised how well informed they were on his remarks and his latest brush with the law.

After entered the council chamber, I choose to sit at the center and high up in order to show off my T-shirt and was prepared to be reject by the speaker for wearing this.

 As soon as the meeting started, Councilor Adam Vaughan, whose ward includes the city’s downtown Chinatown area, presented a petition with 260 names to demanded Mr. Ford’s apology.  Even after Speaker Sandra Bussin has ordered him to withdraw his remarks and apologize, Mr. Ford insisted his remarks were complimentary and only agreed to apologize for his word “Oriental” and even produced his own list of petition of 151 Asian Canadians asking him not to apologize. To prove his point, he even held up a flyer from a grocery chain which they advertising a corn starch called “Oriental Flavor”

At this point he was heckled by the handful from the public gallery and even some of his fellow councilors. Finally it was the speaker Bussin came to end this sad spectacle, with her ruling and upheld in a 33-8 vote to forced him to stand and said very quietly” sorry”

As I was leaving in the elevator overheard a group of city reporters remarked. “By comparing Asian to corn starch he just further insulted them again!”