Vancouver Chinese Condo Owners Oppose St John's Hospice For Dying

nobody cares that 8 possible sites were tabled by UBC planners in 2009 for St John Hospice and the currrent proposed site adjacent to 2688 West Mall is not even on that list.  Obviously the planners did not consider the current site to be appropriate and satisfies the guidance from the UBC Board of Governors.  We dont know what transpired but the only outcome is that the seniors who are supposingly waiting for this facility will continue to WAIT much longer!! 

SHAME ON YOU! In Canada we are taught to respect our elders and infirm and to make their final weeks or months as comfortable and nice as possible. Hospice is the most sacred of medical services in Canada. Perhaps you might wish to decide to become a Canadian and accept our traditions instead of using our services and not contributing anything to society. Why bother moving to Canada if you have no intention of being a Canadian?

I am deeply disturbed by the reaction to the hospice at UBC!  Here in Canada we are a safe haven for all.  We take care of our dying relatives in a loving and supportive way.  I personally had my only son die at 36 years old 5 years ago.  When he was in the hospital it was so horrible!  Noisy, impersonal, no one had time to give him the love he needed and there was no support for me and the rest of his family.  The minute he was moved into Hospice it was like magic.  We all felt at peace with this horrible time in our lives.  My children were able to come and go as was I.  The staff gave my boy the loving care he and we all needed to go through a really tough time.  The new immigrants to Canada must be respected but when their "superstitions" come before Canadian Values and traditions I really must object.  Please spend some time to educate these people so they can truly value what it means to be Canadian!  If they can't do that they are very welcome to move back to China.  We can do well without them!

What is the Chinese culture's way of dealing with death & dying?  Do they turn their back on the dying and sick or do they care and comfort them.  I suspect that it is the latter.  I am sickened to learn that these people are waving the cultural card in what appears to me to simply be a NOT IN MY BACK YARD EFFORT.  It is time that they make up their mind  - either adopt the Canadian value of caring for and comforting the ill and dying or move back to where the sick & dying are shunted off out of sight.  I say to UBC get to it - build the hospice centre where you planned.  If its presence is so abhorant to some, then they are free to  find someplace else to live.

news flash, this is canada not china, go back to china with your stupid beliefs if you don't like it here.

Selfish is never a Chinese culture, Ms Fan, it's your own culture. I am Chinese, please do not abuse our culture. We Chinese have same culture with Canadian and all other different cultures in respecting human beings!!!

WHAT THE F^%$. My gosh i can't believe what i'm reading, the chinese think they can decide where a CANADIAN corporation gets to put a hospice, absolutely outrageous. Oh and hey "the emperor" whoever you are, wait till a family member of yours is in need of a hospice and we tell the to go away and die then lets see how happy you'll be.

@EmperorYou think you have clout?Wait till the *thousands* of UBC alumni who donate money to UBC every year tell the UBC Board of Governors how deeply disgusted they are for even thinking to cave to the likes of you. We, with our *millions* of donation money will WIN over small people like you. Go back to where you came from, wherever the hell that is, because you're certainly not Canadian. Oh, by the way, a piece of paper doesn't make you Canadian. 

I am deeply, deeply shocked at the outpouring of racist, prejudiced and 'go back to where you came from' comments following this article.  Did any of you actually *read* it?! The article explained how the 'Chinese culture' issue has basically been fabricated in this debate - and yet it's what so many of you have used to tell people they are not Canadian, or not welcome here.  Shame, shame, shame on you.Read the article again.  And then read up on your history about the appalling way that 'Canada' - itself an invented country formed by people who have travelled from other parts of the world (which is no crime in itself) - has a) trashed the rights and culture of people who were here already, valuing wealth over respect on a hideous number of occasions, and b) behaved appallingly to those who were from non-European descent.  Once you've remembered that Canadian history is a complex one, containing both pride and shame, THEN by all means assert that it is part of your culture - here, now, in the present day - to respect people who are dying.  By all means criticise those who care more about their house prices than caring for the dying.  Name it and choose it and defend it because it's about valuing people, life and death.  Call that a Canadian set of values if you want, and by all means be proud to be Canadian if, for you, that means valuing people, life and death.  Then remember that a lot of the Canadians who are of Chinese descent will also value people, life and death.  And are probably be on your side in prioritising those values over house prices.  Why on earth would you want to alienate them by being racist?Don't use your defence of the dying as an excuse to vent your racist, prejudiced bile!

Seriously? If you were in front of me right now...I would smack you silly. The only influence and power you have in our society, is throwing around money on anything to bring over more relatives, and drive our property prices up here further.  This is OUR country, OUR beliefs, OUR holidays, etc.  Get with our ways, or go the hell home. 

wow!! i for one am in an inter-racial relationship. I found it funny when he once came to realize one day while driving through vancouver and casually commented "white people are a minority down here??" now im not finding it funny. I also used to take humer in the term HONGCOUVER!!! well...im not finding any of it funny anymore. there is a country for the beliefs of other cultures. I have a question. If it is soo disturbing for a ONCE HARD WORKING canadian to recieve pallative care beside the expensive high rise condo...where do you put your elders? im finding that a scary thought. the woman throwing her night disturbing complaints bout dead people should really think bout moving back to her country of origin where people share the same thoughts. and i am pretty sure their country is big enough for heaven forbid, back corner country where they probably put their elders. I see the vehicle she drove away looked expensive...SHE CAN AFFORD TO MOVE!!! no love lost from someone who wants to call HONGCOUVER ...VANCOUVER AGAIN~~

All is life to Buddha! All is Life!

I've created a group on facebook supporting the hospice:www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_133048420091741

Rich or not, immigrant or not, "dying" effects everyone in one form or another.  It is important that we as a society accept and discuss death as a part of our lives rather then a taboo.  The intro of Hospices in our communities allows our sick citizens to spend that last part of their lives in dignity.  Plus gives us chance to give back to them by volunteering and supporting them in their dire times.  It is important people of all cultures and backgrounds make efforts to change for the betterment of society, particularly our Canadian society.  Perhaps Canada should slow down immigration from Asia so those who are here have a chance to integrate and adapt to the Canadian values.  Values that are not stagnant but every changing with progression in mind.  Plus, I strongly feel that many people came to this great country so we can move forward not backwards.  My parents moved here, from Punjab because Canada offers security, equality, opportunity and Dignity to all, including the Dying.  If they have to start adopting chinese norms and values then maybe they should of moved to China.  But they didn't they moved here, to Canada.

Alice74, I think this backlash against the Chinese community has been brewing for a while.  I sense frustrustation from local Vancouverites who are priced out of the real estate market by new money from "Communist" mainland china.  For them, Canada is simply an insurance policy against chaos back home.  Let's face it, a certain portion of the recent immigrants from China are big into conspicuous consumption and the local peasants are getting tired of having it rubbed in their faces.  This issue has crystallized a lot of feelings which have been forming for a while.

Everyone wants to move to are country Canada because its the nicest place on earth right ? Well quit brining your religion, beliefs and trying to impose your ways of life on ares, we love it here, you dont like it BEAT IT then and go back to your own country. Very offside and politically incorrect but everyones thinking it I just said it, Peace

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! Take your Chinese elitist butt and go home. You bring shame to other hard working Asian families that come here to make a better life. Your greedy new elitist culture brings shame to all Asians and traditional Chinese values.

We all recognize that the views of Ms. Fan and her fellow petitioners are reprehensilbe and unacceptable. Simple Solution: Ms. Fan and her fellow petitioners should apologize to UBC, its students, Vancouverites, British Columbians, Canadians for their shameful remarks and intentions and to the Chinese community for misrepresenting Chinese culture in the name of greed. They should then collectively create an endowment for the Hospice and each donate $1000 to it

Hey this is Canada.  Canadian charter of rights and freedoms state anyone who is a Canadian citizen has a (b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;  SO That is the Chinese belief, we have every right to feel this way.  Deal with it.  We paid good money for these condominiums.  If you don't like it and want the sick there, then buy our condos if you can afford it.  You talk big only because it is not you that has to take care of the sick people.  We bought these condos before they had such plans.  Besides, we have influence and power to make a difference in society.  We are the elite, we benefit society.  These people are dying, they have no use in society.  Keep it away from those who can make a difference.  We paid a premium for a good spot, we are entitled to a good spot.  Money rules the world.  This has always been the way.

Influence? The UBC Board of Governors only listen to the alumni who give money to the university - that's *thousands* of alum, every year, giving *MILLIONS* to UBC. Think they're going to listen to the likes of Ms. Fan (you're wife perhaps?). ROTFLMAO!!!!

You and your ilk are despicable!Take your delusional selfishness elsewhere.The hospice will be built, and the boogey men and ghosts will make a B line to yoursmaltzy apartment.  

Hey Alice, sure Canada has its skeletons in the closet but guess what we have learned, evolved, and adapted to correct those changes.  Being mostly of western european heritage it is us who have built this great country.  China is still a horrible place.  Human Rights?  Pollution?  Corruption?  Filthy? hmm doesnt sound much like Canada.   Oh and Emperor you are so typical of your kind, and say that to any real canadians face and youll be loving the health care system, oh but wait youd have to use you birdspit influence to have all dying people removed from the hospital before. 

...well, trolled.Don't feed him.

Let's see now....you spent your life savings, $900.000, on a condo?  What you need to do is sell that frickin' condo and go take some basic econ. classes at UBC. 

You say that, but how would you react to a quarentine ward or say a graveyard being built right next door? We need to take care of the sick right, and the dead have to go somewhere, so why not right in the middle of your neighbourhood? Regardless of race or culture, no one likes having to live next to dying people - it's considered unlucky in most cultures. It's also terribly depressing, as people tend to form attachments to their neighbours. How will that woman explain to her child, why the nice people next door are dying off, one after another? And more importantly, how will she explain why the neighbours all seem to be drugged out of their minds. I'm surprised at the lack of empathy, as well as common sense, in most of these comments. To me, this just seems like a case where people just want to stick it to the immigrants in their fancy houses, by surrounding them with sick and dying people.

Hey this is Canada.  Canadian charter of rights and freedoms state anyone who is a Canadian citizen has a (b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;  SO That is the Chinese belief, we have every right to feel this way.  Deal with it.  We paid good money for these condominiums.  If you don't like it and want the sick there, then buy our condos if you can afford it.  You talk big only because it is not you that has to take care of the sick people.  We bought these condos before they had such plans.  Besides, we have influence and power to make a difference in society.  We are the elite, we benefit society.  These people are dying, they have no use in society.  Keep it away from those who can make a difference.  We paid a premium for a good spot, we are entitled to a good spot.  Money rules the world.  This has always been the way.

Thank you Alice74 for your thoughtful and accurate comments, much appreciated

There is a history of anti-Chinese  in Canada.The Chinese community in Canada was dehumanized, criminalized, and made the other, without any recognition of the Euro-Canadian imperialist past that had, for centuries, driven the Chinese and other subjugated peoples to leave their countries. Unfortunately, with greater influxes of Chinese immigrants into Canada, such prejudices have remained. In fact, these processes can be traced back to the formation of Canada. Now, it is time to take a new form  to continue this , Right?  So lower down their property value, screw their culture value, until kick them out of this Canada. It's a typical hypocritical white men's culture.

I am just a common chinese who lived here in canada longer than most of canadian. What did I let you feel so bad? >" It's a typical hypocritical white men's culture." Great, let us face it. after 10 years, we will see who will be kicked out.