Nothing to apologize for!
Dear Editor:
Re: City of Toronto owes its Tibetan citizens an apology
Hello,
I would like to make a few comments regarding your website article.
I was at Saturday’s rally. Until now all we’ve heard is the Tibetan separatist message and the western media has so far been very willing repeat that message with little or no apparent verification. This was a truly a gross roots Chinese demonstration with permits and police presence paid for, the same however could not be said of the Tibetan gathering across the street.
The main point I would like to make; yesterday’s demonstration in support of China was attended by Chinese Canadians and Chinese of all ages. They were definitely not “mostly students” nor were they circled by honking cars of more “students” .
As far as I could tell from those I spoke with many are Canadian Citizens and have been living here for years. A large percentage looked like they could have easily been from Markham on their way back from grocery shopping outing at T&T. That evening I even saw a news item where the Tibetan spokesperson implied that “the attendees may have been under some pressure from the Chinese government”. This is more than just being dishonest. The Chinese I spoke to were all there of their own accord and for their own reasons: primarily to show very heartfelt support for the integrity of China and to express their anger and feelings over the bias they perceive in western media reporting of the rioting in Lhasa.
As a caucasian native born Canadian I do not believe in separatism and I have been educating myself on the issue of Tibet. I attended Saturday’s rally for those same reasons.
Toronto and Chinese-Canadians have absolutely nothing to apologize for!
Tom Kennedy
