I'm so glad this topic has finally made its way onto SSP as it's one that I have felt very strongly about for years. There are too many posts already that I want to reply to so I'll just write my own. This is a serious problem in Richmond and it's good to see it's finally being addressed.
It is absolutely wrong to have Chinese-only signs throughout the city. I grew up in Richmond, and you honestly feel like you're being excluded from your own city when you walk by a store and have no idea what's in there. We have had ads at bus stops and bus wraps that were exclusively in Chinese that the local population can't read. You shouldn't be allowed to move to a different place and completely ignore those who already live there, and I'll go as far as to say push them away. I know some people think businesses should be able to do what they want, but I as a Canadian English speaker should be able to understand what I see around me.
And for the record, I fully support Quebec's Bill 101 and I'd love for us to copy it here. I have absolutely no problem with Chinese people, I just think everybody should be able to navigate their city.
As far as those who say the signs are for old people and the kids will assimilate, well, they don't. I only graduated high school 2 years ago, and I can honestly tell you that 75% of the Chinese kids there spoke Chinese to each other. Sure there are quite a few like people have mentioned that don't even speak Chinese, but the majority don't look like they're planning on living their lives in English any time soon, and I'm not exaggerating.
http://memebee.com/vancouver/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=53056
http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2013/03/c...-in-vancouver/