Rallying for Nanjing Massacre recognition

MPP Soo Wong (centre in red) accepts the petition calling for the Ontario Legislature to pass Bill 79 that is presented by the Confederation of Toronto Chinese Canadian Organizations at a peace rally held at Queen's Park on Monday in Toronto. [NA LI / CHINA DAILY]

The purpose of a peaceful rally by more than 1,200 Ontarians of Asian descent was twofold: support a bill commemorating the Nanjing Massacre and make younger generations aware of the horrors of the World War II era.

On a Monday as sun peeked through the clouds, a group gathered in Queen's Park, where the Legislative Assembly of Ontario (LAO) is located, carrying signs with statements such as "I support Bill 79", "Lest We Forget", "Make Peace, Not War" and "I Love Canada".

The rally was to push for passage of Bill 79, the Nanjing Massacre Commemorative Day Act.

The event was co-organized by the 5.29 Rally Preparation Committee, the Confederation of Toronto Chinese Canadian Organizations (CTCCO) and more than 100 local organizations serving the province's Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Filipino-Canadian communities.

"The fact that we have many young people in our schools who are not aware of the atrocities of the Second World War in Asia is not acceptable," said Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) Soo Wong, who introduced the bill in the Ontario Legislature as a private memberʼs bill.

"We cannot ignore, forget or deny that this atrocity took place," Wong said. "We have a responsibility as Canadians to speak out when thereʼs injustice and when thereʼs human rights violations."

Bill 79 passed a second reading with tripartisan support on Dec 8, 2016. It proposes to make Dec 13 each year Nanjing Massacre Commemorative Day in Ontario in recognition of the 300,000 Chinese nationals massacred and sexually assaulted in Nanjing by the Japanese Imperial Army in 1937 and 1938.

So far, more than 100, 000 petition signatures calling for the Ontario Legislature to pass Bill 79 have been collected and tabled.

Several supporters of the bill emphasized that its intent was not to focus on Japan's role, but to stress the measure's focus on peace and humanity.

MPP present at the rally included Michael Chan, Han Dong, Gilles Bisson and Monte McNaughton.

"The message to the world is for peace," Chan said. "We want to live in a peaceful society. Canada is well known in the whole world that people coming here can live in harmony and peace, and we want to keep that."

"On behalf of the NDP (New Democratic Party) House, we sign (the petition) with you to support the bill," said Bisson, House leader of the NDP.

"The Nanjing Massacre also was known as the Rape of Nanjing, which was a mass murder killing of Nanjing civilians, unarmed soldiers that happened in late 1937 to early 1938. And this fact unfortunately hasn't been told to the young generation; it's very dangerous," said MPP Raymond Cho, the first Korean-Canadian elected to the Ontario Legislature, who said World War II affected himself personally as a child.

"It's our duty to teach our future generations the actual facts of this important history," Cho said. "We all need to work very hard so that there is never again another Holocaust and Massacre on this planet."