B.C. Premier Christy Clark’s office called a press conference about the lunar New Year Thursday, choosing only to invite ethnic media in Vancouver.
Before the provincial election the Liberal party was criticized for using government funds to attract diverse votes. Two weeks ago Prime Minister Stephen Harper used a similar strategy, only meeting with Vancouver’s ethnic media.
Bill Chu, chair of the Canadians for Reconciliation Society, said this separation of messages is reminiscent of historic inequalities.
“In the old days they treated each particular ethnic community as if they [were] somewhat of second-class citizens. So they would selectively tailor the messages to each community,” he said. “So we are talking about remnants from the past. And this is something we should try to get rid of.”
Chu said the strategy is not ideal for an inclusive Canadian society today.
“There shouldn’t be a divisive way of somehow saying the Chinese would get one message, the Indo-Canadians would get another message and then other Canadians would get another message. So that’s not conducive to country-building,” he said, adding “Because in a democracy what I hear should be exactly what you hear.”
Despite the selective invite, all media outlets attended the conference. The premier’s office said it will continue to hold events with specific invitation lists.
