Asian Heritage Month Opening Ceremony | “Fostering Understanding and Solidarity Through Combatting Anti-Asian Racism Education”
Date: Saturday May 3, 2025 | 1pm – 3pm
Please arrive at 12:30pm to tour the exhibition.
Venue: City Hall Rotunda, City Hall, Toronto, 100 Queen Street West, Toronto. Map
FREE ADMISSION | Please register at https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/asian-heritage-month-opening-ceremony-tickets-1326185349079
O Canada
Music: Toronto Symphony Orchestra; Soprano: Dr. Vania Chan
With photography on Magnificent Canada by Tam Kam Chiu and Stephen Siu
O Canada Official Poster with Lyrics
Video with Introduction
Opening remarks
Her Worship Olivia Chow, Mayor, City of Toronto
The Honourable Dr. Vivienne Poy, former Senator who tabled the Motion in the Senate of Canada, and Founding Patron, Asian Heritage Month-CFACI
Dr. Vivienne Poy will give Opening Remarks on how to combat anti-Asian racism in Asian Heritage Month, highlighting the unique strategy of using education. According to Dr. Poy, “No one is born a racist, it is learnt. It can also be unlearned through education. Asian Heritage Month highlights education to Canadians about Asian Canadians in their midst, their shared values as Canadians and their contributions to Canada.”
About Vivienne Poy:
The Honourable Vivienne Poy, PhD., Chancellor Emerita of the University of Toronto, is an author, historian, fashion designer, entrepreneur & community activist. Born in Hong Kong, she arrived in Montreal in 1959 to study History at McGill University. Upon graduation, she married a Canadian and has remained in Canada ever since.
When her youngest child went to full-day school, Vivienne studied Fashion Arts at Seneca College, and subsequently founded Vivienne Poy Mode in 1981, achieving great success in fashion design, manufacturing, wholesale, and retail. Subsequently, as a mature student, she earned her Masters & PhD degrees in History from the University of Toronto.
In 1998, Vivienne was the first Canadian of Asian descent to be appointed to the Senate of Canada where she focused on gender issues, multiculturalism, immigration, and human rights, and was instrumental in having May recognized as Asian Heritage Month in Canada in 2001. Following her retirement from the Senate in 2012, she continues to be actively involved with academia and with organizations and communities across Canada.
Vivienne is a recipient of many honours and awards, such as Canada’s Most Powerful Women Top 100 Trailblazer Award, Top 25 Canadian Immigrants Award by Canadian Immigrant Magazine, The Most Successful Women Award by Jessica Magazine (Hong Kong and Greater China), Eid-ul Fitr Award from the Association of Progressive Muslims of Ontario, and The National Association of Asian American Professionals Award in the United States.
Mr. Justin Poy, Honourary Patron of Asian Heritage Month-CFACI, and Chinese Canadian Legend Award holder
Video of Opening Remarks and Welcome and Asian Heritage Month Lecture Part I
Video of Asian Heritage Month Lecture Part II
Asian Heritage Month Lecture
Mr. Justin Poy, Honourary Patron, Asian Heritage Month-CFACI, Chinese Canadian Legend Award Winner
Video of Opening Remarks and Welcome and Asian Heritage Month Lecture Part I
Video of Asian Heritage Month Lecture Part II
About Justin Poy:
Justin Poy is the Creative Director of The Justin Poy Agency, an award-winning advertising agency based in Toronto. As one of the early pioneers of multicultural advertising iCanada, Justin has been dedicated to multiculturalism and more specifically in fostering Chinese-Canadian identity and the preservation of its history. Justin is the Director and Producer of the mini-documentary titled, “Eating Bitterness” which was featured at the 2024 Toronto Chinese Canadian Film Festival, and is an Executive Producer of “Exclusion: Beyond the Silence”, which premiered at the 2024 Toronto International Reel Asian Film Festival. Both films deal with the subject of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923. For his service to his community and to Canada, Justin has received the Queen’s Golden and Diamond Jubilee Medals and the King Charles III Coronation Medal. He is also the recipient of the Chinese Canadian Legend Award and has been named Alumni of Distinction at both The Toronto French School and Toronto Metropolitan University.
Combatting Anti-Asian Racism Through Music
Artistic Director: Professor Chan Ka Nin
World Premiere: “Love Makes Us One” – New Composition by Professor Chan Ka Nin, lyrics by Ms. Jodelyn Huang ( Toronto Catholic District School Board), Soprano: Dr. Vania Chan
A new composition by Juno and Dora Award-winning composer Professor Chan Ka Nin (composer of the opera Iron Road), with lyrics by Ms. Jodelyn Huang, Community Relations, Toronto Catholic District School Board.
Lyrics by Ms. Jodelyn Huang, Toronto Catholic District School Board:
- I am different, I am me and I have so much to share.
- Love has no limit. Love me for who I am.
- You are special, you are unique. You are enough. Aim for the stars.
- Children are precious gifts from God; in all shapes, sizes, color and form.
- Love brings color: black or white, yellow, or brown. Color red, our blood, makes us one.
About Professor Chan Ka Nin
Chan Ka Nin’s numerous international awards include Béla Bartók International Composers’ Competition, Barlow International Competitions, International Horn Society Composition Contest, Jean Chalmers Award, PROCAN Young Composers; Competition and Amherst Saxophone Quartet Composition Competition, as well as two Juno Awards for Best Classical Compositions.
Characteristically luminous in texture and exotic in instrumental colors, Chan’s music has been described by critics as “sensuous,” “haunting,” and “intricate.” The composer often draws his inspiration directly from his personal experiences: for example, the birth of one of his daughters, the death of his father, his spiritual quests, or his connection to nature and concern for the environment.
His work, Pikä Talvi, (long winter) was premiered by percussionist Antti Ohenoja and a string quartet in Helsinki in January 2022. “Welcoming Spring” was premiered by Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra under Naomi Woo in 2023. His second full length opera Dragon’s Tale premiered in June 2023 during Luminato at Harbourfront in Toronto. In the same year his Flute Concerto: Donas de Fuera for Italian flutist Luisa Sello was premiered by Sinfonia Toronto. She will perform this work in her Italian tour of 8 cities in November 2024. In the same month Chan’s trio: Among Friends will be presented by Chamber Music Society at Lincoln Center, New York.
About Dr. Vania Chan
Vania Lizbeth Chan is a versatile artist, active in the fields of vocal performance, academia and education. She enjoys collaborating with fellow artists to create new and exciting projects that inspire and reach out to a wide ranging audience. Vania received her Master of Music degree at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. During the pandemic year of 2020, she successfully defended her doctoral dissertation, “Mindful Singing: Exploring Mindfulness and Self-Regulation in Classical Singing,” and graduated with a PhD in Music from York University.
She sings in a variety of styles, performing opera, operetta, early music, musical theatre, oratorio, sacred, jazz and popular music. A lyric coloratura soprano, Vania’s voice has been described as “gently shimmering” (Opera News, NY), “lovely and agile” (Karas Reviews), with “birdlike coloratura” (opera ramblings). She has been praised for her fine acting skills, acclaimed as a “first-rate comedienne” (Halifax Chronicle Herald).
Vania has performed with several prominent performance companies, ensembles and music festivals. In Canada, she has performed with Toronto Operetta Theatre, Voicebox: Opera in Concert, Soundstreams, the Toronto Consort, Confluence Concerts, City Opera Vancouver, among many others. While living in New York City, she performed with several companies in the United States. She was also featured in Early Music America’s Emerging Artists Showcase performing “Handel’s Heroines,” a program of opera arias by Handel, with Rezonance Baroque Ensemble in Bloomington, Indiana. Her most recent trip to Europe was on a tour in 2022 with Soundstreams, travelling to England and Germany to perform the music of Canadian composer Claude Vivier.
Click here for Vania Chan’s complete bio.
“Man Jiang Hong” – Soprano: Dr. Vania Chan
“Diversity and Inclusion – A Photographer’s Perspective”
Stephen Siu, Chinese Canadian Legend Award Winner
Photography is a way to capture the beauty of the world around us. It is also a vehicle to highlight our unique experiences, regardless of our race, ethnicity and cultural background. Stephen Siu, former chair of the Chinese Canadian Photographic Society of Toronto, and a “Chinese Canadian Legend”, is featuring some of his photographs taken recently in Ontario, Northwest China and Vietnam to help us explore our journey for equality and inclusion in his presentation at the opening of Asian Heritage Month 2025.
About Stephen Siu
Mr. Siu, former Executive Director of the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto, is currently the President of Yee Hong Community Wellness Foundation. Yee Hong is largest Chinese Canadian charity in Canada. He has served as advisor to several non-profit groups including the Ontario Cross-Cultural Music Society and the Canada-Hong Kong Library. He was presented with the Chinese Canadian Legend Award in 2009, the Arbor Award in 2010, the Canadian Senate 150 medal and the House of Commons “Canada 150” medal in recent years.
Guided Tour of Asian Heritage Month Photography Exhibition and Chats with the Asian Canadian Photographers, Composers and Performing Artists
Please tour the Asian Heritage Month Photography Exhibition! The awards-winning Asian Canadian Photographers, Composers and Performing Artists will be there.
Photo by Chinese Canadian Photographic Society of Toronto
Event co-organizers: Asian Heritage Month—Canadian Foundation for Asian Culture (Central Ontario) Inc.; Toronto Public Library; Asian Institute at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto; Richard Charles Lee Canada Hong Kong Library, University of Toronto; Chinese Canadian Photography Society of Toronto; Social Services Network; Cambridge Food and Wine Society
Asian Heritage Month Festival is partially funded by the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Asian Canadian Artists in Digital Age is funded by Canada Council for the Arts Digital Strategy Fund