“HERE WE STAY-Press Release”

“2022 Multicultural Oral History Forum and the book “Here We Stay” Launch Ceremony Successfully held”

25th May, in Xinflix Auditorium 2022 Multicultural Oral History Forum and the book “Here We Stay” Launch Ceremony is successfully presented by H&R Immigrants Oral History Institute, co-presented by Canada Universal Media Association and Sept Days, co-organized by Canada China Friendship and Goodwill Association and Gbeck Future Film Festival, supported by Xinflix Media and also live streaming through KANKAN App and Mofeng Art.

“Here We Stay — Our Choice” This project helps preserve and record individual testimonies of experiences and changes of many Chinese immigrants across Canada, which contributes a lot to enrich our diverse society. And our event has received numerous support from different levels of the Canadian Government, history research organizations, community leaders and multicultural media institutions.
The Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in Toronto, Senator Victor Oh, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs of Canada, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, President of the Privy Council, Honorable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business， Member of Parliament Markham—Thornhill Honorable Mary Ng, Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defense, Honorable Lawrence MacAulay, Current premier of Prince Edward Island Dennis King, Member of Parliament Scarborough North Shaun Chen, Member of Parliament Unionville Paul Chiang and Member of Parliament Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill Leah Taylor Roy, Toronto City Councillor Nick Mantas, Shelly Carroll, Cynthia Lai, and Richmond Hill City Councillor Godwin Chan sent their greeting letter and video. They speak highly of this project, which presents a variety of oral testimonies that help to lend a voice to many Chinese immigrants across Canada who want to share their perspectives, and emphasizes the importance of having diverse viewpoints and experiences that can offer an alternate lens to view our history. Last but not least, Ms. Lin Hui, the deputy director of Cui Yongyuan Centre for Oral History at the Communication University of China sent her a greeting from China.

Member of Parliament for Richmond Hill, Mr Majid Jowhari, together with Markham City Councilors Alan Ho, Amanda Yeung Collucci and Isa Lee personally attended the event and accepted the new book donation to the public library, and they congratulate the organizers reached this meaningful milestone. To celebrate the Asian Heritage month, this project and event offer us the opportunity to learn more about Asian Canadian history and recognize the incredible contributions Asian Canadians have made, and continue to make to Canada.
After the co-founder and director of H&R Immigrants, Oral History Institute Mr Fred Wang addressed the opening remarks, the General Secretary of Canada Universal Media Association Mr. Byron Calvo, Chairman of the confederation of Toronto Canadian Chinese organizations Mr Weng Guoning, the executive president of Canada China Friendship and Goodwill Association Mr. Zhou Xuan
introduce more information of this project. And the public relations director of H&R Immigrants Oral History Institute, Diana presented a keynote speech.

Two interviewees Ms Sherry Zhang and Ms Yan Zhang from PEI and Ontario shared their unique Canadian immigration experiences.

The forum was moderated by Ms Yin Ling, who is the President and Publisher of Sept Days, also the Vice-President International Chinese Language Media Association. Four speakers from H&R Immigrants Oral History Institute, Canadian Chinese Media and Greek oral history scholar shared their practice and research, showcased the contribution of immigrants to multiculturalism in Canada and the maintenance of the specific cultures of immigrants of various ethnicities were also discussed in a fascinating manner, with their views and specific practices being presented.

The Publisher of the first volume ‘Here We Stay — Our Choice ” and Chief editor of North America Chinese Research Press Ltd , Mr Yang Qi introduced more details of this new book. Now for anyone who is interested, welcome to their Website to make the pre-orders: http://www.hroh.ca/news.html

The culmination of the “Oral History Project for Chinese Immigrants” will be disseminated globally in three formats: textual, visual, and film. And the first volume of “Here We Stay — Our Choice” has been published. This project will gather many unique stories that together form an important part of Canada’s history. By recording these recollections, they hope to transmit this knowledge to a wider audience.

The Chinese Canadian Immigrant Oral History Centre is a federally registered non-profit organization in Canada, joining the Oral History Association (OHA) in 2022. The Centre plans to interview and complete the oral history work of 155 Chinese immigrants starting in October 2019, in 2022, the 155th anniversary of Canadian Confederation. The program divides Canada into five regions, and has already completed interviews with a total of 97 people from Ocean, Ontario, and Quebec. In addition to the video interviews, selections of the interviewees’ oral histories will be published with a title called “Choices”. Interviews in other regions will continue this fall. The Chinese Immigrant Oral History is just one of the Center’s projects, and they will be followed by other minority oral history collection efforts as well. The Chinese Immigrant Oral History Project was named one of the top ten oral history projects of 2019 International Week. Look forward to their continued work will bring more meaningful and influential impact, and welcome all kinds of support and donation.
H&R Immigrants Oral History Institute Official Website: http://www.hroh.ca