A successful Inauguration
On April 23, Friday evening, FOCCO had an Inauguration at the Chamber of Ben Franklin - Centrepointe Theatre. More than 100 people attended this special occasion. The VIPs attended the event including his Excellency of People's Republic of China - Ambassidor Mr. Lan Lijun; Senator - Mr. Harb; MP - Mr. Poilievre for Nepean – Carleton; MPP - Mr. B. Chiarelli for Ottawa West-Nepean; Candidate for Mayor of Ottawa - Mr. Watson; City Counsellor - Mr. Cullen of Bay Ward; City Counsellor - Mr. R. Chiarelli of Baseline Ward etc.
In her speech, Winnie Wang expressed her heartfelt gratitude to her members who all vote her as the Chair/President of FOCCO for the term 2010-2012. Ms. Wang also applaud all of the board members for the success in the election process. Ms. Wang continued to say: This process has moved FOCCO one step further towards a healthier and more vibrant community organization. Our team is a hard working, intelligent and strongly united. With the big support of the Chinese Embassy, our advisors as well as the politicians, FOCCO has had many successes in the past years. These successes have been the results of efforts and contributions made by our members and our board. I do not want to go over all the successes of the last few years, I do, however, want to proudly state that FOCCO has been growing into the largest umbrella organization in the Chinese Community. Sponsored financially by City of Ottawa, Ontario Trillium Foundation, FOCCO, the umbrella organization owns 39 groups which are from across the city, representing a wide spectrum of academics, health, arts and culture. And we are still growing.
In the next two years, our priorities for our endeavors will be as follows:
1. Continue to recruit new members
2. Continue to promote a healthy and vibrant organization by providing such emotional & physical support as councilling and workshops
3. Continue to preserve Chinese Culture, and promote multiculturalism both in Chinese Community and the mainstream society
4. Continue to act as a bridge between the Chinese community and the mainstream society. We will express our opinion, and represent our community's view to other community, politicians and Canadian government through varies channels
At the end, Certificates were given to FOCCO advisors who mostly community leaders. Certificates were also presented to FOCCO members as well as the Board. Nine people to make the board, they are: Winnie Wang ( Chair/ President ); David Xiang ( Executive VP ); Yiqiang Zhao ( Secretary in general ); Ping Xu ( Treasure ); Lily Bong ( Public Relation ); Hailin Wang ( Secretary ); Huixin Yang; Wenying Yu & Haiqin Pan.
