By Vancouver Sun, Staff Blog | Link to Article
Richmond Councillor Evelina Halsey-Brandt has had a change of heart on Chinese-language signs as she leaves politics.
By Vancouver Sun, Staff Blog | Link to Article
Richmond Councillor Evelina Halsey-Brandt has had a change of heart on Chinese-language signs as she leaves politics.
Announcing her retirement after almost two decades as a Richmond councillor, Halsey-Brandt confesses she made a mistake in thinking the controversy over Chinese-dominant and Chinese-only signs in her city would “ride itself out.” Now she admits it’s a problem.
Richmond city has hundreds of signs in which Chinese is either the only language or the dominant one.
Richmond city has hundreds of signs in which Chinese is either the only language or the dominant one.
She realizes it’s not going away in her city, which has experienced an influx of ethnic Chinese in the past three decades, with half the population speaking Chinese at home. And she wants to ensure many residents of Richmond don’t end up “feeling that they don’t belong in their own city.”
Halsey-Brandt told reporter Matthew Hoekstra she was taken aback when she recently saw a real estate development sign on her street that didn’t contain a word of English.
She didn’t understand what the development sign was supposed to be saying. And she, as a city councillor, was supposed to be responsible for such new buildings.