WATCH ABOVE: It’s been a bit of a hot button issue – Chinese-only signs in Richmond. Now a group of leaders in the community is pushing for change. Catherine Urquhart explains.
VANCOUVER – A group of community leaders in Richmond is trying to find a peaceful solution to the issue of Chinese-only signs in the city.
The Signs of Harmony project, backed by business, real estate and community leaders, asks the public to send in photos of businesses with Chinese-only signs.
Leaders say the goal is to convince those business leaders to voluntarily add English to their signs, rather than having the city legislate through a bylaw.
Richmond is currently reviewing foreign language signage, which was the subject of a recent public consultation.
“English is an official language and also the majority of Canadians speak English,” says Kenneth Tung from Signs of Harmony. “So I think it is important to have English on the signs for business.”
He says the group is opposed to regulating languages on signs. “If the city set a bylaw to regulate the size of English, compared with the other language, I think it will not work,” he adds. “People don’t like regulation like Quebec. You don’t want these to have a ruler to measure the size of the signs.”
To take part in the Signs of Harmony project, email SignsofHarmony@hotmail.com.
– With files from Catherine Urquhart.
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