Sid Chow Tan

Sidney Ming Fai Chow Tan (born May 20, 1949), also known as Chow Ming Fai is a social justice and environmental and human rights activist based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Born in a mud and straw hut in Gong On Lai, Guangdong, China, he arrived in Canada as a baby "paper son" illegal immigrant. Tan became a citizen of Canada at the age of 14 when the Chinese Adjustment Program granted those in his situation a general amnesty. Prior to then, he constantly lived in fear of being deported.

A communications and media producer, Tan lives in voluntary simplicity while devoting his time to a myriad of movements. Perhaps best known for his over two decade struggle to redress of Canada's 62-years of racist head tax and exclsuion (1885-1947) imposed on Chinese immigrants, he also co-produces the weekly community television programs EarthSeen (since 1994) and Saltwater City Television (since 2001) and regularly contributes reports and political commentaries to the Coluimbia Journal and other print and new media publications.

Arrested several times for civil disobedience, he has encouraged all types nonviolent resistance, from letter writing to monkey wrenching, in pursuit of a sane and sustainable world. His forte is strategic thinking and grassroots organising. A community television volunteer since 1987, he uses the public's access to the airwaves to promote the growth of democracy and citizen participation.

In his only run for public office as a civic Green Party candidate for Vancouver City Council in 1999, Tan received nearly 22,800 votes in the unsuccessful bid. "Don't complain, get informed and organise" is his modus operandi. He help found the human rights group ACCESS Association of Chinese Canadians for Equality and Solidarity Society and the media literacy group Community Media Education Society, which begat ICTV Independent Community Television Co-operative, in which he has been a director.

When the dictatorial Nigerian government, with the complicity of Shell Oil, hanged writer Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists in 1995 for exercising their rights, Tan and other activists organised the Ogoni Solidarity Network. After 72 consecutive weekly "Boycott Shell" rallies at Shell stations in Greater Vancouver, members helped build two primary schools in Nigeria's Niger River delta, the homeland of the indigenous Ogoni people.

His volunteer community service includes terms as vice-president of the Firehall Arts Centre, national director of the Chinese Canadian National Council and director of the Slim Evans Society, Environmental Fund of British Columbia and the British Columbia Environmental Network and its Educational Foundation. To pursue a just and honourable redress for head tax families, he recently helped organise the Head Tax Families Society of Canada, becoming one of its first founding co-chairpersons.

As a child, he was greatly influenced by his primary caregivers, his grandparents. His grandfather, Chow Gim (Nornan) Tan paid a $500 head tax to emigrate to Canada in 1919 and was separated from from his wife Wong Nooy Tan for 25 years. Wong Nooy arrived in Canada in 1950 with a baby (Sid), a "paper son" via false papers. The Chow Tan family was finally united in 1972 when Chow Wing Kong (an only child/Sid's father) and his wife Wong Kwei Tang and their other six children emigrated to Canada through a ministerial compassionate permit. Sid Chow Tan is the eldest sibling.

Tan has been married and has two children, a daughter who is a professional poker player living in the United States and a son who is a lawyer in Asia. He maintains a cordial relationship with their mother and is a grandfather. He prefers to be called Sid Tan.

External links

* [http://www.vcn.bc.ca/ictv/ Independent Community Television Co-operative - Vancouver]
* [http://www.vcn.bc.ca/cmes/ Community Media Education Society]
* [http://www.ccnc.ca/ Chinese Canadian National Council]
* [http://www.firehallartscentre.ca/ Firehall Arts Centre Society]
* [http://www.workingtv.com/ Slim Evans Society]
* [http://www.efbc.ca/ Environmental Fund of British Columbia]
* [http://www.ecobc.org/ British Columbia Environmental Network]