Sperrin Noah Fulton Chant was born in St. Thomas, Ontario. After serving in the Canadian Expeditionary Force from 1916-1918, he enrolled at the University of Toronto, receiving a B.A. in 1922 and M.A. in 1924. He became a Psychology professor at the University of Toronto, where he remained until moving to the University of British Columbia as head of the Department of Philosophy and Psychology. Again his career was interrupted by service in World War II with the Royal Canadian Air Force from 1941 to 1944. In 1945 he was appointed Head of Psychology and Philosophy, and in 1948, he succeeded Daniel Buchanan as Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Science and served in this capacity until 1964. Chant played a leading role in post-secondary education in British Columbia by chairing the Academic Board. In 1958, Chant chaired the B.C. Royal Commission on Education, which investigated the curriculum and public schools administration. Published in 1961, the Chant Report resulted in numerous educational reforms in the province.

Harry Charlesworth served as the first secretary of the British Columbia Teachers' Federation and was also a member of the World Federation of Education Associations.

Ormand Lee Charlton was one of the first organizers of the British Columbia CCF party in the early 1930s.

Frank Charnley was born on July 15, 1895 in Rishton, England. He graduated from King Edward High School in Vancouver, BC. On August 12, 1915 he enlisted in World War I and served as a signaller until he was wounded at Ypres. After the war, Frank attended the University of British Columbia (UBC) where he graduated in 1924 with a Bachelor of Science. He was fluent in both English and French. Frank married Beatrice Chadwick in 1926 in Vancouver; they had two daughters, Beth and Frances. He worked for the BC Sugar Refinery and later the Federal Department of Fisheries in Prince Rupert and Vancouver as Chief Research Chemist. Frank retired from the Department of Fisheries in the 1950s and moved to Barnston Island, BC where he built a home on 50 acres he had inherited from his father. At Barnston Island, Frank took part in sheep ranching and beekeeping in addition to working on mathematical projects and creative writing. Beth died at the age of 32 (of jaundice) in 1960 and Beatrice died in 1964. Sometime after 1974, Charnley moved from Barnston Island back to Vancouver where he lived until his death in 1978.

CHEE Sing arrived in Canada in 1911 as a 32-year-old labourer with plans to settle in Winnipeg, Manitoba. By 1915, he was living in Edmonton, Alberta.

Chen Sing was born in China in 1860 and orphaned at a young age. He grew up in dire poverty living with his older brother and sister in 恩平 Yinping / Enping in the province of 廣東 Guangdong.

When he became a teenager, he left his siblings to find work in the provincial capital of 廣州 Guangzhou. It was there that Chen Sing heard about opportunities for work building the railroad lines in North America.

Chen Sing arrived in Canada in 1876, before the Chinese head tax was in effect with the passing of the Chinese Immigration Act. It appears he landed in New Westminster and soon found work constructing the CPR railroad track.

Chen Sing eventually settled in Merritt, British Columbia with his wife Kitty Chin and together they operated a ranch.

By 1924, at age 63 years old, he had six children ranging from age 16 to an infant born that year, on May 6, 1924. Altogether, Sing would have eight children with Kitty, all of whom were born in Merritt.

Three of Sing’s boys served Canada during WWII: George Sing; Ernest (Ernie) Sing; and James (Jim) Sing.

Chen Sing died May 1, 1941 at the age of 80.

Born in Windsor, Nova Scotia, Nan Cheney spent part of her childhood in Havana, Cuba, then studied art at Tulane University. She completed the “Art as Applied to Medicine” program at Johns Hopkins University (1921-23) where she worked under medical artist Max Brodel. She was a well-known B.C. portrait painter as well as a medical artist for the University of British Columbia, and McGill University. In 1924 she married Dr. Hill H. Cheney and in 1937 they moved to Vancouver. Cheney met and corresponded with many Canadian artists and she enjoyed a close friendship with Emily Carr in the period before Carr's work had gained general acceptance. Cheney collected material about Emily Carr until December 1979.

Roger K. Cheng was born CHENG Won Hin (Ka) in Lillooet, B.C. on May 16, 1915.

He was among the second generation in his family born in Lillooet in 1915, the eldest son of H.D. Cheng and WONG Lai Kwai; and one of seven siblings: Kuen, Roger, Patricia, Nina, Fook Cheong, Luna, and Elmer.

Roger’s grandfather, CHENG Won (CHENG Tien Soon) immigrated to Canada in 1881 with his wife Cheng Shun Shee (aka Chin Shee or Shun See). They each paid the $50 head tax.

Cheng Won was a local businessman who owned the Wo Hing General Store in Lillooet, among other enterprises, including a pig farm dubbed “China Ranch” on Hogback Mountain in West Pavillion, B.C., during the Gold Rush and railway construction.

They had two children: Cheng Hing Dien (known as H.D. Cheng), (Cheng Yong Gunn) and Yvonne (Cheng Soon Yee). H.D. Cheng was born in North Bend, B.C. near Lillooet in 1888. H.D also managed Cheng Won’s businesses; and married Roger’s mother, Wong Lai Kwai, in 1914.

Roger and his family moved to New Westminster and Vancouver after the Wo Hing General Store burned down in the 1930s. His parents ran a laundromat and a fish wholesale business, representing some of the few businesses Chinese were allowed to operate.

Roger attended McGill University to study Electrical Engineering and received his degree in 1936. Roger and his friend, Fred Chu, paid their way through university by working as houseboys for a wealthy Montreal family. Sadly, despite getting an Engineering degree, Roger could not obtain work in his field because he was Chinese.

Discrimination inspired Roger to join the military to serve Canada in WWII but Canada did not accept Chinese recruits.

Roger was hand-picked by British Special Operations Executive to lead Force 136, a clandestine mission of 13 Chinese Canadians. He was the first Chinese Canadian officer in Canada, as Captain of Force 136, and specialist in wireless operations. Force 136 soldiers were trained and organized by British SOE to operate in Japanese-occupied territories of Southeast Asia.

Roger's first mission was named Operation Oblivion. Roger led a small team of four Force 136 commandos into Japanese-occupied Borneo. Their mission included: contact and befriend Dyak headhunters; organize tribesmen into local security forces; provide equipment and training; assist with sabotage; defend villagers; locate isolated Japanese units and force surrender; find prisoner of war camps; patrol jungle rivers; and prevent revenge massacres of Japanese troops and suspected collaborators. They fought beyond the official end of WWII and completed their mission. Roger helped repatriate POWs in Australia, then returned home to Vancouver. Roger recommended medals to his four soldiers as commander but he did not receive one.

After WWII, Roger, with other Chinese Canadian veterans and civilians, helped rally the vote for Chinese to become citizens. The vote was gained in 1947, two years after the war ended.

Roger then worked in various jobs including import/export businesses in Vancouver. His father, H.D. Cheng, also worked in import/export at CT Takahashi Ltd, and introduced Roger to the owner. Roger worked at and later bought that business when the owner retired. He employed his sons and later passed on the business to his children. In the 1960s, he was also a partner in Ming’s, a popular Chinese restaurant in Vancouver’s Chinatown.

Starting in the late 1960s, Capt. Roger K. Cheng served as an Honourable Aide de Camp for at least two B.C. Lieutenant Governors: Lt Gov. John Robert Nicholson & Lt Gov. Walter Stewart Owen. He was the first Chinese Canadian to serve in this honour.

Roger married Hazel Lam in 1950. They had five children: Stephen, Michael, Allan, Brett and Madeline.

Roger passed away June 4, 1990 in Vancouver.

Gordon Stanley (Stan) Chester was born on July 4, 1932 and grew up in the Kerrisdale neighbourhood of Vancouver, B.C. He attended Kerrisdale Elementary, Point Grey Junior High School and McGee Secondary School. After high school, Chester took a year off to take French at night school, in order to be able to meet the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) language requirement for enrolment, and worked on a fire suppression crew with the B.C. Forest Service. In the Fall, Chester enrolled at UBC, pursuing a degree in Agriculture. During the summer after his first year at university, he again worked for the B.C. Forest Service. When Chester returned for his second year at UBC, he switched to the Forestry program, graduating in 1956.

Chester’s first job after graduation was with the fire protection service out of Victoria, B.C., where he worked all over the province doing visibility mapping to locate lookout points. He then went to work for the fire protection group in Ottawa, Ontario, where he stayed for four years. In 1966, Chester returned to Vancouver Island, B.C. to work for Canadian Forest Products (Canfor) in the Englewood Logging Division as a fire control officer, with responsibility for all divisional fire control matters ensuring that all fire service prevention measures were met, as well as preparing all of the slash burning plans. In 1976, Chester moved his family to Vancouver, B.C. where he continued to work for Canfor. Chester spent approximately twenty years working for Canfor in Vancouver, where he was primarily responsible for stumpage – the price that a logging company pays to the province to harvest timber in a particular area. He retired in the late 1990s.

Throughout his career, Chester was very involved in supporting the field of forestry through the Association of B.C Forest Professionals and the Forest History Association of British Columbia, where he served as President.

Chester died on April 28, 2022.

Cheung Wing Chee was born in China on July 30, 1911.

He arrived in Victoria, B.C. in May 1923 at age 11, paying the $500 head tax to enter Canada. Known in Canada as Jack Chong, he was one of the last cohorts to enter Canada before the Chinese Exclusion Act went into effect on July 1, 1923.

Jack joined his father (name unknown) who paid the $50 head tax, placing his arrival in Canada sometime between 1885 and 1901. Jack worked at the family business in Nanaimo, B.C. and attended the local Nanaimo public school until grade 9.

After his father relocated back to the family village, Jack (now 15) and his older brother moved the business to Vernon, B.C.

By the time Jack was 19, he would return to visit his ancestral home in [開平 Hoiping / Kaiping] and marry WONG Hon Fong (1911-1998) of 廣州 Guangzhou. The couple would have two sons together.

Jack supported his small family from Canada. He made a marginal living in Alberta and relocated often. He started a local corner store in Carstairs. He later operated the Canada Café in Tilley, then Beiseker, and finally settled in Torrington, Alberta.

He served the community, selling comic books, magazines, dry goods, food, and ran a small café, working mostly by himself while employing only one other staff member.

He saved up to bring his family over in the meantime. After 34 years in Canada, Jack finally received his Canadian citizenship in 1957, and his family joined him in 1959 in Torrington.

Jack’s sons, Wai Gen (1933-2013) and Wai Chiu (1935-1992) married their respective spouses, Susan TSE and KWAN Sui Lin, in Hong Kong in 1967.

Once reunited in Canada, the Chong family would operate the Sundre Hotel Café and Restaurant for decades, the only Chinese restaurant in the small resource and farming town of Sundre. The restaurant became a permanent fixture and a treasure in Sundre. It was a trusted ‘third place’ outside of the home and work where townsfolk would gather and build community and fellowship. Meanwhile, Jack and Hon Fong continued to run the corner store in Torrington, 70 kilometres away from the family restaurant. They operated the store together until Jack passed away from a heart attack on November 28, 1978.

Jack’s grandchildren would be the first generation of the family to be born on Canadian soil.

Jack was deeply dedicated to his children and grandchildren while they were trying to establish themselves in Canada. Jack was a true cowboy at heart and loyal Stampeder. Every year during the July week-long Calgary Stampede and Exhibition, he would make the trek to Calgary to join in on the festivities in full cowboy apparel. Other than gardening with his wife and fishing with his sons, the week off in July would be his only break from work.