Candidates to use non-English names on Vancouver ballots after judge punts challenge

Vancouver civic election candidates who submitted nomination papers with names written in non-Latin script such as Chinese and Farsi will have those names included on the ballot.

Provincial court Judge James Wingham adjourned an application by Rosemary Hagiwara, the city’s chief election officer, challenging 15 candidates who included their name in English plus another language that does not use Latin characters.

According to the Vancouver Charter, nomination papers must include the full name of the person nominated and “the usual name of the person nominated, if the full name of the person is different from the name the person usually uses.”

Some of the 15 candidates having their usual names challenged were given non-English names at birth by their parents while others submitted nomination papers with names in Chinese script that they say were bestowed upon them as adults.

“I have a close connection to the Chinese community. I pretty much grew up in Chinatown. My father worked in Chinatown. He speaks some Cantonese,” said NPA council candidate Melissa De Genova.

She said she was given a Chinese name by members of the Chinese community and has used it on business cards and letterhead over a period of several years.

“It came from a community leader in Chinatown,” De Genova said. “It means wise flower and the flower is an orchid.”

When the matter first came before Judge Wingham on Thursday, a lawyer for the city told him that under the city’s charter, the application had to be heard and a decision rendered by 4 p.m. on Friday.

WIngham balked at the deadline and initially adjourned the hearing until Friday morning to give the respondents time to consult with legal counsel.

NPA council candidates Elaine Allan and Ken Charko, who both submitted names on their nomination papers in English followed by Chinese text, were represented in court Friday by lawyer Bruce Hallsor, who immediately argued for another adjournment until at least Oct. 7 because he needs more time to prepare his submissions.

With advance voting beginning on Sept. 28, the city had planned to print the election ballots this weekend.

Hallsor described the situation as a “constitutional conundrum” and indicated his clients would likely be invoking a charter challenge.

After taking a brief recess, Wingham announced the application would be adjourned.

“To proceed with this application today would amount to a denial of natural justice to the respondents,” he said.

As a result of Wingham’s decision to punt, all candidates will have their names appear on the ballot exactly as they appear in the nomination papers.

“I consider this a victory for sure,” Hallsor said outside court. “Our clients are going to be recognized by the names they are known by in the community, their usual names. There was some doubt cast on that because of their ethnicity.”

Some of the respondents were represented in court by Susanna Quail, who argued there is a clear distinction between her clients, who submitted nomination papers with non-English names given to them at birth, and other respondents.

“My clients, and likely others, are being dragged into a prolonged, what will ultimately be unduly costly, process because there is this other category of candidates,” she said, referring to the respondents who wish to use non-English names that were not given to them at birth. “Maybe these are their usual names, maybe they are not.”

She went on to say that if the matter was adjourned and the ballots printed without a ruling from Judge Wingham on the merits of each candidate’s reasoning for using a usual name in non-Latin text, the “integrity of the ballots” would be in question.

But WIngham was not swayed and chose to adjourn until after the election.

Honieh Barzegari, a Vision Vancouver council candidate who was born in Iran, will have her name printed on the ballot in both English and Farsi.

However, she takes issue with the fact that all of the respondents will be allowed to have non-English names on the ballot, even if that includes candidates who only recently began using those names.

She believes it will call the integrity of the whole election into question.

“I say yes. Why? Even if one person’s name is not their usual name and it’s going to printed on the ballot and that’s what the voters see, when the election is over what does that mean to the public and to voters?” Barzegari said. “Was that a legitimate election? That’s my question.”