CFU President Raj Chouhan surveys the damage at the union's new office in Burnaby after a racist attack. Pacific Tribune Photo
"As the crisis in the Canadian economy becomes deeper and deeper, more and more people are hurt by unemployment, runaway interest rates, cutbacks in education, healthcare and other social services and housing shortages. This situation naturally makes people anxious and angry, but unfortunately they seek scapegoats for their frustration and turn against people who are perceived as part of the problem - immigrants. It is unfortunate in this case as it only divides those who should be fighting together against the economic crisis. Racism thus serves the interests of those who continue to exploit and profit from the division." - CFU Organizer Sarwan Boal in a speech to the Montreal Farmworkers' Support Committee, December, 1981.
"On July 18, 1980, a group of happy people celebrating the union's first certification had their merriment cut short when one of the union's organizers was attacked on an East-end (Vancouver) street. Brother Sarwan Boal, along with three jubilant workers from Jensen Mushroom Farms Ltd., left the celebration only to be confronted by four men in the street. The attackers decided they didn't want "a fucking East Indian walking our streets" and proceeded to jump Sarwan, knocked him to the ground and gave him the boots (concentrating on his head area). The Jensen workers came to his rescue but by now he was unconscious and bleeding profusely." - The Farmworker newspaper, September, 1980