Location: Ruby Chinese Restaurant, 1571 Sandhurst Circle, Scarborough (Finch & McCowan) Date: September 27, 2007; Reception: 6:00 p.m. Dinner: 7:00 p.m.

September 7, 2007

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

Re:  2007 Chinese Canadian National Council’s Annual Tribute Dinner

I am writing on behalf of the Chinese Canadian National Council (CCNC) to extend a personal invitation to you, your family and friends to this year’s CCNC Annual Tribute Dinner:

Location:        Ruby Chinese Restaurant, 1571 Sandhurst Circle, Scarborough (Finch & McCowan)

Date:               September 27, 2007; Reception: 6:00 p.m. Dinner: 7:00 p.m.

Ticket Prices: Supporters $68 (or $680 for table of ten) and Patrons $128 (or $1280 for table of ten) 

We are expecting more than 400 people to join us as we mark a number of important anniversaries for the Chinese Canadian community including the 60th anniversary of the Repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1947 and 50th anniversary of the election of the first Member of Parliament of Chinese descent - Douglas Jung in 1957. It's also been one year since the historic June 22, 2006 Parliamentary Apology for the Chinese Head Tax, Newfoundland Head Tax and Chinese Exclusion Act.  

Our keynote speaker is Senator Dr. Lillian Quan Dyck, who is a daughter of a head tax payer.

Our theme for this year’s banquet: “Justice For Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow,” honours the struggles of our seniors and forbears, and recognizes our emerging leadership today as we dedicate ourselves to building a stronger and more respectful Canada.  

We will also be recognizing our community leaders this year: Mr. George Lau, Co-Chair of the Ontario Coalition of Chinese Head Tax Families and Ms. Gloria Fung, community activist and former Vice-President of CCNC, for their significant contributions to advancing the anti-racism, social justice and human rights agenda in Canada.  

As in the past years, we will publish a souvenir program book for this wonderful occasion.  These souvenir program books will reach more than 10,000 people across Canada, including our guests, community organizations, government representatives, and our member chapters across the country. 

Who are we?  

CCNC is a community leader for the Chinese Canadian community in promoting a more just, respectful, and inclusive society. We formed 27 years ago as part of the successful national campaign led by the Chinese Canadian community to protest the irresponsible journalism of the CTV’s W5 program “Campus Giveaway”, which alleged that “foreigners” were taking away legitimate places from Canadian universities.  These “foreigners” were in fact Canadian-born Chinese, naturalized citizens and permanent residents. The nation-wide protest campaign was very successful leading to a public apology from CTV. 

CCNC is a national non-profit organization based in Toronto with a total of 27 chapters across Canada. Our mandate is to promote the equality rights and full participation of our community members in all aspects of Canadian society. The national office is responsible for coordinating public education activities and advocacy work on issues of national interest to Chinese Canadians, including redress of the Chinese Head Tax and Chinese Exclusion Act, immigration and refugee policies, and other anti-racism and human rights issues.  CCNC works in close collaboration with many community-based service agencies, anti-racism and equity-seeking groups and ethno-cultural organizations to build a barrier free society for all Canadians.   

How can you help?

With your generous support, CCNC will continue to champion social justice and full participation of everyone in Canadian society. Last year’s event raised over $30,000.  You can help make this year’s event another great success by purchasing individual tickets or tables of ten for your colleagues and friends. There are also sponsorship opportunities for corporations and organizations. In addition, you may also consider sponsoring dinner tickets for our volunteers to attend; donating items for our evening’s auction and raffle; purchasing an advertisement in our banquet book; or simply making a cash donation.  

All sponsors and donors will be acknowledged and all cash donations of over $20 to the Chinese Canadian National Education Fund are tax receiptable upon request. We will be contacting you in the next few weeks to further discuss how you can help support CCNC.  For more information, please contact Victor Wong at (416) 977-9871 or by email at national@ccnc.ca.  

Thank you and we look forward to seeing you at the banquet. 

Yours sincerely, 

Colleen Hua

National President