On a sunny Saturday morning in False Creek, the famed Tuskegee Airmen, wearing bright red jackets mingled with Chinese Canadian veterans in navy blue. They joined locals who had gathered for the second annual Rights and Freedoms March in Vancouver.
Richard Tolliver of the Tuskegee Airmen, centre. Photo by Jenny Uechi
Inspired by the civil rights movement in the U.S., the march is held to celebrate the anniversary of Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. While Canada ranks as the second best country in the world for quality of life, issues like the suicide crisis on Ontario's Attawapiskat reserve and human trafficking are a grim reminder that not everyone has equal rights in Canada today.
"A lot of people don't know really the history here...particularly recent immigrants," said George Eng, wearing a badge for the Pacific Unit 280. Formed in 1947, Pacific Unit 280 is comprised of Chinese veterans who returned from World War II, only to be rejected from joining the Royal Canadian Legion.
"When World War II started, Chinese Canadians were not considered citizens. And yet, a lot of Chinese — 500 to 600 — volunteered to go fight for Canada. That's a history that can't be forgotten, because it's had a huge impact."
Eng explained that the war veterans, even upon return, then had to fight for their voting rights. For him, the Rights and Freedoms March is a way to commemorate the progress that has been made since then, but also to remember the deep inequality etched in Canada's laws less than 100 years ago.
George Eng. Photo by Jenny Uechi
Members of the Tuskegee Airmen, who had come to Canada for the march, had overcome near-impossible odds and systemic discrimination in the struggle for equal rights.
The original Tuskegee Airmen were African-American pilots, navigators and crew, who made history during World War II by disproving a popular belief (backed by official reports) that black people were unfit for flying an airplane. The Airmen took on dangerous missions such as escorting bombers and protecting them from enemy fire. They were praised by the Allies for their role, even as they faced extraordinary prejudice after fighting for their country.
1945 photo of Tuskegee Airmen from Wikimedia Commons
"It's very important to remember this, because even in years prior, with the problems and issues we had — there's still a current of that today," said Michael Webb of the Tuskegee Airmen. "We have to eradicate all of that. Every man and woman should be equal."
Webb said he didn't want to comment on the election in the U.S., where some racially-charged rhetoric has been a feature of candidates like Donald Trump. Webb said he was leaving the election in "God's hands," but suggested that candidates one side of the house was "semi-okay" with people like himself, while the other side was "not okay" at all.
As the march began, Richard Vedan, professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia and member of the Shuswap First Nation, gave a speech urging participants to remember those who still struggle for equality in Canada.
"For our brothers and sisters in the Downtown Eastside, who are in harm's way for different reasons — in their mind, in their spirit, in their bodies," he said, at the opening of the march.
"Stories like Attawapiskat only come to attention when things reach a crisis—and I was very disappointed with former Prime Minister Jean Chretien's response that these people simply have to move," Vedan told Vancouver Observer during the march.
Referencing a Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs documentary called The Land is the Culture, Vedan explained that land for First Nations was essential to maintaining identity and culture.
He felt attitudes toward Indigenous peoples — who rank 72nd in the UN quality of life index — had to change through awareness of the inequality that remains out of sight for many Canadians.
Photo of Don Chapman by Jenny Uechi
Don Chapman, a citizenship advocate who first launched the Rights and Freedoms March in Canada, feels people still don't recognize how much discrimination
"Canadians have to recognize that equal rights are really important. We've got a whole lot of things to fess up to," he said.
Chapman has supported civil rights activities over decades, and helped hundreds of thousands of legitimate Canadians regain citizenship right through his advocacy work. In particular, he helped the federal government implement legislative changes around the Lost Canadians, who were denied or stripped of citizenship due to discriminatory provisions of outdated laws in Canada that punished people based on factors like race, gender, birthplace and marital status.
"Gaining a right is 100 times harder than losing a right. We noticed that in the last nine years, where the federal government was taking rights away without Canadians even noticing.
Chapman urged the Liberal government to "bring back equal rights in citizenship law," and highlighted Bill C-6, which was introduced to revoke a provision of the existing law that allowed dual citizens to be stripped of their Canadian citizenship if convicted of terrorism or other crimes against the country.
Although the bill was intended to counter previous legislation introduced by the Conservative government, Chapman says it's not comprehensive enough to create real equality.
"The bill does not go nearly far enough," Chapman said. "If it is allowed to stand as is, we will still have unequal rights in our Citizenship Act, and that's totally unacceptable, especially when Trudeau is saying a 'Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian.' It is not."