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Talking Chinatown With Grassroots Community Organiser Claudia Li

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Claudia Li is the co-founder of Hua Foundation and the founder of the Hua Ren Environmental Network, the largest Chinese-Canadian youth environmental network in Canada. Her work has spanned across grassroots community organizing in Vancouver’s historic Chinatown, shark conservation, and climate communications with binational organizations. We caught up with her the other day and asked her a few questions in advance of her Wednesday night presentation at PechaKucha…

The Hua Foundation sometimes takes you to an intersection where environmental issues and cultural traditions clash. Can you give an example of this and explain how you found a solution? I think the one I encounter the most is this perceived misconception that environmental values work against “cultural traditions” or that cultural traditions work against environmental values. Because the truth for me is that my upbringing in a family that valued frugality, not wasting, taking care of the next generation to me, are the fundamental values for environmental stewardship. I feel part of the issue is how we have been talking about the environment or sustainability as if it doesn’t need to integrate people and communities. In fact, when we support people and their communities, they support each other and build resilience which is what we need more than anything today to fight for the planet and our human survival. This one-directional blame and guilt that is laid on the individual from not being “environmental” enough is paralyzing and short-sighted. We shouldn’t be asking “how can you help us stop or save X?,” it should be, “how can I help you so that we can work together for the future?” Individuals as consumers have almost zero agency in making a systemic change in the system. It’s individual and collectives as citizens, entrepreneurs, leaders that have the power to change things on a systems level through business, policy, community-building, etc.

The City of Vancouver aims to become the ‘Greenest City in the World by 2020’. How does the Hua Foundation align with that goal? When I started Hua Foundation, I started it because I am fundamentally about the people. People and their interactions with each other – what makes culture. Interactions with our environment: the places around us, the planet we live on. How do we support our communities that live in this City to become engaged as citizens and flip perceived apathy into a drive for change and justice? How do we give youth the resources and support they need to become empowered to do the work themselves?

Your favourite lunch in Chinatown? Oh, this is a challenging one to choose a favourite place. My default go-to was Kam Kok Yuen / Daisy Garden on Pender, but that was before it burned down – I hope they rebuild … Perhaps because I am mourning the loss of this noodle shop made soul food, I cannot say I have a favourite at this moment. There’s an empty place in my heart that’s waiting to be healed and filled in by the next best noodle shop!

A secret about Chinatown that you love to share with newcomers? When you smile at a poh poh / Chinese senior walking down the street, and they smile back (even if it’s without teeth or only some teeth), you may feel pure joy.

Someone throws a no-strings-attached 5 million dollar grant on your desk to establish a permanent physical space for the Hua Foundation in Chinatown, what would your dream situation look like? I would use this money to start a permanent, youth-run community centre that has an intergenerational focus. Where young people can come to start their own workshops for teaching and sharing leadership and social change, language, art, philosophy, culture in not only the Chinese context but from other communities too – in new ways we haven’t thought of before (what about song writing?). A place where entrepreneurs in the community can come to share resources and support each other. I would create a competitive fund for entrepreneurs that want to start community-driven and community-minded businesses in this neighbourhood. And a place that perhaps has a community garden so elders in the community can come for daily visits and we can grow choi together, and place where we can cook and eat together.

Although the the Hua Foundation is about supporting Chinese-Canadian youth to participate in social and environmental change, you demonstrate great reverence for history and the wisdom of elders, what is something you’ve learned from an elder recently? “We live the questions we ask ourselves.”

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Sixty tickets have just been released for Wednesday’s special edition PKN, so you can still catch Claudia’s talk. We also have a pair of tickets to give away. Just send us a note on Twitter that you want to go and we’ll randomly pick a winner.

On the horizon, the next PKN Vancouver is in association with Emily Carr, and it goes down on October 16th. Tickets go on sale this Thursday. Details here and via the poster below…

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