Citizenship learning and political participation among Chinese seniors

This project will focus on promoting education and raising awareness among older Chinese immigrants about Canada's political system, citizenship, and the importance of political participation. All project activities will particularly address issues of political dynamics and change over Canadian history in relationship with the crown. Chinese Age-well Education and Research (CARE) will partner with Chinese senior organizations, Chinese youth organizations, other ethnic groups, university scholars, service providers and policy-makers to achieve our goals.

 

The project focuses on older Chinese immigrants who number around 200,000 in Canada (Zhang 2019). Existing research has shown that older Chinese immigrants face various challenges of living in Canada (Wang et al. 2021, Lai 2012, Zhang 2020, Zhang et al. 2021). Largely because of lack of language skills, limited understanding of Canadian culture and policies, and their isolation from the local community, older Chinese immigrants rarely participate in local or national elections. We propose the following virtual and in-person project activities to promote intergenerational and

inter-cultural dialogues about political participation among people of various ethnic backgrounds:

 

I) Five virtual lectures and discussions on the following topics: Canada's political system; Chinese immigration history and political participation; life history of a politician (e.g. Canadian Senator HU Zixiu); volunteerism and civic participation (2012 Queen Elizabeth Il's Diamond Jubilee Medal recipient FENG Baofeng); ethnicity and election in Canada.

 

II) One in-person celebration of contribution by politicians and citizens of all ethnic backgrounds (with key note speech, group discussion, and photo exhibition, and participation of 100 seniors and young volunteers).