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Petti Fong

Vancouver
Crime watchers in Vancouver have been subject to the usual parade of miscreants and wrongdoings over the past week, including the brazen slaying of a known gangster in the car park of an upscale shopping mall.
But no crime has created headlines or sparked debate quite like the bashing that took place on downtown Davie Street a week ago.
The victim is  homosexual; his alleged assailant, apparently not - and the attack has forced into the open some uncomfortable questions.
While walking down the street hand-in-hand with his boyfriend, Jordan Smith was attacked. He was knocked unconscious, his jaw broken in three places. Witnesses  called police, and Michael Kandola, 20, was arrested. Initially, he was charged with assault, but the  prosecutor later raised the charge to aggravated assault in light of medical reports on the seriousness of Mr Smith's condition.
What happens next is being watched carefully. Police have alleged from the beginning that the attack was a hate crime, which in British Columbia can mean a longer sentence.
The province's hate-crime provisions came into effect in 1995 and give judges the ability to hand down tougher sentences if there is evidence that a crime is motivated by hatred based on race, religion or sexual orientation. Five white supremacists found guilty of manslaughter in 1999 in the beating death of a Sikh caretaker were given sentences twice as harsh as normal. If the hate-crime provision had not been applied, the convicted men would  have got four to six years in jail. Instead they received sentences ranging from 12 to 15 years.
Kandola's lawyer, Danny Markovitz, says  Vancouver police have been too hasty and overly harsh in pushing for the assault to be considered a hate crime. Police should be urging people to keep an open mind, Mr Markovitz said, but in this case, 'they are coming to rash judgments without any of the details coming before the court or the accused'.
Police spokesman Constable Tim Fanning countered that while  it was 'very rare' for police to recommend a hate-crime charge, in this case there  was ample evidence from witnesses to the attack on Mr Smith.
They say a group of males, yelling anti-gay obscenities, confronted Mr Smith and his partner.
There are few places in the city more gay-friendly than Davie Street, and that's partly why the attack has opened up discussions about just how tolerant Vancouver really is, despite its reputation.
Activist Ray Lam says he knows many  homosexual men who moved to Vancouver from other parts of  Canada because of the city's safe reputation. 'There are isolated incidents when I'm on the bus and I get called gay. People give us uncomfortable looks,'  said Mr Lam. 'I've had friends who tell me about situations that have escalated.'
After Mr Smith was attacked, another gay man came forward to describe a similar incident. Matthew Bordewick claimed he was sitting with his date on the West End's Sunset Beach last month when he was approached by a group of men. One called him 'a fag', a common anti-gay slur in North America.
'He said: 'Leave the beach now or we'll make your life a living hell',' Mr Bordewick said in a television interview. 'I was just sitting on the log and all of a sudden fists were coming at my face, and teeth were coming out of my mouth.'
There are also uncomfortable rumblings about the fact Mr Smith's alleged attacker is South Asian. Do Asians  have a lower tolerance towards  homosexuals? It's a sensitive subject.
Raj Chouhan, the province's opposition critic for human rights, multiculturalism and immigration, says there can be no clear-cut definition of certain communities or cultures as homophobic.
'It's people who create intolerance around people.  I'm surprised that in this day and age people are still stuck in the past.'
Mr Chouhan says he is aware that Vancouver's Asian communities have been vocal about demanding equality. It's fitting to point out that those rights should extend to everyone.
Tomorrow: New York



City's safe reputation under scrutiny after beating of homosexual on downtown street