“Today’s decision by the District Court means that the Vancouver election will proceed with the names of the 15 candidates as submitted on their nomination papers,” the city said in a statement. Justice James Wingham ruled it would be “unfair” for the application to proceed according to the strict timeline set out in the Vancouver Charter and adjourned the hearing to a later date, shortly after the municipal election. “We’re really happy to see that the Chinese names will remain on the ballot because the judge found the issues so complicated, so complicated that there’s no way to make a decision today,” Nonpartisan Union mayoral candidate Fred Harding said Friday. . Vancouver Chief Electoral Officer Rosemary Hagiwara filed an application in provincial court Tuesday to ban 15 candidates from using Chinese and Persian characters. The petition included respondents including mayoral candidate Fred Harding, current NPA councilor Melissa De Genova and veteran Vision Vancouver school board administrator Allan Wong. It said all respondents submitted their “usual name” to be used on the ballots in both Latin characters and Chinese or Persian characters. Ten of the submissions were from the NPA, two from Vision Vancouver and one each from Forward Together, COPE and OneCity Vancouver. Vancouver Vision school trustee candidate Alan Wong, left, and council candidate Honieh Barzegari were two of 15 people challenged for submitting their names in non-Latin characters for the official ballot. (Vision Vancouver) The case pitted candidates who argued that non-Latin character names are necessary to connect with voters against claims of cultural appropriation. Chief Electoral Officer Rosemary Hagiwara maintained that none of the respondents who had previously submitted to the municipal elections had used non-Latin versions of their names in previous nomination papers. Harding said before the ruling that he has had his Chinese name for many years because half of his family on his wife’s side is Chinese. Hagiwara’s affidavit said that when Harding initially submitted his nomination on September 6, he did not include Chinese characters in his usual name, but three days later, he revised his nomination to add them. NPA mayoral candidate Fred Harding, center, says he’s had his Chinese name for years. (Justin McElroy/CBC) He also said Harding did not include Chinese characters when he ran for mayor in 2018. Vision Vancouver said in a statement before the decision that Wong and council candidate Honieh Barzegari (هانیه برزگری) were disappointed at the prospect of removing their “unique and common names” printed in non-Latin characters from the ballots. But the party also accused other candidates of “cultural appropriation” by adopting Chinese names to seek an unfair advantage at the polls.
Future elections are uncertain
COPE school board candidate Suzie Mah (馬陳小珠) said she is happy to be able to use her Chinese name on the ballot. “I was born with a Chinese name, it’s a common name I use and I was very shocked to find out that this would have been challenged,” she said. Mach added that it is unclear whether non-Latinized versions of names will be allowed on future ballots. “This case is going to go on and on, and I think we need a resolution to that, especially for the next election,” he said. Hagiwara said in her affidavit that she was not aware of any candidate seeking to use non-Latin characters on ballots prior to 2014. Only one candidate in each of the 2014 and 2018 polls had used non-Latin characters on the ballot, she said. In the 2018 municipal election, only OneCity council candidate Brandon Yan was allowed to have his Chinese name on the ballot. (Ben Nelms/CBC) In the last municipal election of 2018, the City of Vancouver only allowed OneCity councilor candidate Brandon Yan (甄念本) to use his Chinese name on ballots, while denying other candidates’ requests to do the same. The city’s decision led to a legal challenge by school trustee candidates Sophie Woo and Ken Denike.
