Another Peace-bringing solution from Todd

Well Steve O said that I get a little political sometimes in the blog, and I had an idea while reading today- so I guess it is political time!

Reading the Vancouver news online today, I noticed a little article (here) where Canadian immigration officials are asking Sikhs named Singh and Kaur to change their names. The reasoning is that it will avoid any confusions as there are too many applicants with the same name.

Predictably, this is causing an outrage. Are they going to ask Chinese named Chang to change their names too? The final answer is completely ignorant, lazy and (okay I'll say it -) stupid! Our names are part of who we are, they are more than just a word that hangs around us, they encompass every second, every year of our lives. To callously say "you must change your name to come into our country" is just the wrong answer to a problem.

This is not to say I don't understand the problem encountered by immigration. There must be an incredible amount of confusion, and as recent statistics suggest, Indians are becoming the #1 immigrant into Canada recently- the problem will only grow bigger.

In such times the best answer is to come up with a timely, inoffensive solution to the problem. To adapt to the system around the issues in a way that is just and fair for all involved. My thoughts are it's time to create a new system- called the Canadian Identification Name [CIN]. The people get to keep their names as their true identity, but they have to take an extra step and in advance fill out registration paperwork with the Canadian embassy or immigration authority to register a special name that will uniquely identify them. Of course, the Canadian government can charge a fee to the applicants to cover the costs of implementing the new system (and probably make a little money) and they will basically have this name added into the Canadian database so that it is a separate word, that they can proudly hold with their new Canadian identity. In police reports their names can turn up like this: Gobhinder Singh (Paul). The government would include a fingerprinting in the application process, so that they can easily be cross referenced to their new CIN should trouble arise. They can also regulate the usage of the names - like a website regulates nickname usage (though I don't think he will pick Paul89 if that moniker is already taken) so there is no repetition.

Thank you very much! Canadian government please remember to send my royalty check for this idea to my address in Japan!

Tuesdays ramble

1. Hockey - Got a call from Chris on Saturday with a couple of options for the evening, either drinking with Adam again or watching more hockey. Being a Canadian and having to work the next day, I chose the hockey and volunteered to be designated driver so the boys could pack back a few brews. We found Tomoko there to take in the game as well and we cheered for Pete Wright and his buddy Dave. Unfortunately as they were the two biggest and best players on the ice for their team they were picked on madly by the referee with the big head (didn't take picture, his head was too large), and Peter was given a 10 minute misconduct for shooting the puck after the whistle (some of the worst reffing that I have seen, some even muttered the 'r' word). Needless to say the ref killed the game, I guess he was trying to protect the smaller Japanese players by calling tight, but he ended up making calls on clean hits that were just to hard for his liking (he told Dave- "It's because you are big" --- can you imagine a ref in NHL telling a player that's ridiculous!). Well our spirits severely dampened by what turned out to be a 2-2 tie we hit Denny's for a little after game grub.

2. Kyoto - I complained about my Prime Minister's comments about the Kyoto treaty but it seems I was too quick to react. Thankfully in Canada the Conservative govenment doesn't hold a majority of the seats in the Parliament so the House was still able to vote in favour of Kyoto's emissions regulations. I had neglected to save the link, but I did see that Harper acknowledged (naturally after he read my blog) that the environmental problem is one to be reckoned with, I guess he just didn't like Kyoto's method as he heavily rallied the Conservatives to vote against it.

3. Basketball - Pete, Chris and I hit the ball courts on Sunday for what turned out to be a good day of gaming. We played two matches and I thought I played alright, though I am far from the pro that my colleagues are. Chris actually blogged about it here, though I think he had fired up his photoshop a bit because I don't remember being as excellent as he reported . Anyway, we had a wicked time and my bones ached for the next two days (yes, that includes today), but it kind of aches in a good way.

A bittersweet week

Last week was one of my more stressful ones in a while, but I survived it. The biggest stresses involved having to wade through the complicated and confusing process of the Japanese government system.

The first had a happy ending though. In Japan, most individuals never have to worry about the tax returns as their company will fill it our for them (lucky bastards). But as my work is comprised of 4 part time jobs (last year anyway) I had the pleasure of trying to do my own taxes. Luckily enough I found an add that the local International center, the Hamamatsu International Cultural Exchange had a free tax consultation with English translator. So on the 1st I set out and though arriving late (my stress) was still able to get help and after filling out a small stack of paper work I was almost done. The guy helping was so nice, he spent about 5 minutes trying to convince me to think of some tax write-offs to lower my tax load. Could you imagine a staff member of Revenue Canada doing the same? I think not. Well I wanted to get the taxes done with so I finally had him calculate and I will get back 13,000 yen! Thanks a lot to a nice guy and the ever-helpful Christina at HICE!

I had the opposite experience on Friday. Back on January 4th, the first day it was open after winter holidays, Ritsy and I went down to immigration to apply for my Visa extension and found the place packed. Actually Ritsy had to stay in the car and wait for a spot, so I went in alone. The office looks like it was built back in 1978 and the last time they cleaned it was about a week later. There is no clear signs about where to line up and no number taking system etc... So I basically stood there for about 15 minutes without any clear idea of where to hand in my forms. Finally Ritsy came in and stopped a nice helper lady behind the desk and she took my information and photocopied my Passport and told us to go home as they can't help us that day. So we left. Well on Feb 2nd I was getting a little antsy because my Visa expires on the 8th, so I asked Ritsy to call them. They said they didn't have my application! The man on the phone then proceeded to get argumentative and basically said that she was lying that we ever came in. So, Ritsy's blood was boiling now and she called their Customer Service to complain about the man on the phone. Then we headed to the office. When we got there, the staff already knew about our complaint and pulled us into the back room. Rather than being productive and helping us meet a solution, he was abrasive and told us basically that we shouldn't have gone home (though we were told to- the girl obviously was new and didn't have the right training, so I don't think it's her fault) and he kept going on about how they hadn't stamped my passport. To me this conversation was completely useless they obviously made some mistake and he was getting defensive. He then pointed out that we hadn't brought the right paperwork with us originally- fair enough, they should have called us and let us know about that rather than throw out my application (which is what I think they did). Anyway, we are sitting in this office and Ritsy, god bless her, wasn't taking his crap and he was getting angry and starting to raise his voice- I couldn't understand but I remember hitting the table and gesturing for him to calm down. Well in the conversation he said 2 things that stick out, 1. he offered to go to court to settle this ( they were by now admitting they remember us coming in- so what is there to settle???)and 2. He said "I don't care if your husband overstays his Visa" like he was challenging us. Finally I convinced my wife to ask him what we can do now to move past this silly spiral of an argument. Then the bastard started being nice to us. At that moment I imagined this man as a Samurai sitting in front of us, ready to go to battle to gain the upper hand. But I was so proud of Ritsy when we left she exclaimed "He is not forgiven" and she called Nagoya again and told them all the garbage that was said. Oh, did I mention this bastion of Customer service was the branch manager? Unbelievable!

Well I felt very deflated after this whole encounter and had a tough time getting my spirits up for the kids classes I had to teach next (sorry!). But that evening's class that I teach at Carlsson really cheered me up. That staff is always so calm, eager to talk in English and funny that I was feeling a lot better by the time I left!

Sorry for the long rant- but the story needed to be told! Back to more Hamamatsu highlights next entry.