Jessie Chow was born in Vancouver in 1916. She was the daughter of a well-known Vancouver Chinatown photographer, Yucho Chow.

During the 1930s, Jessie worked in her father’s studio. She performed many duties but was best known as the colourist. Using oils, Jessie would hand-paint black-and-white portraits turning them into colour photographs.

In 1946, she would marry Fred Chan (born CHIN Thick Foo) who already had a first wife in China. The 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act prevented him reuniting with his first wife and family.

Once Jessie was married, she moved with Fred to Sydney, Nova Scotia where he had a home and a restaurant business. Later they moved to Moncton, New Brunswick and raised a family of four children: David, Freeman, Carol and Wesley. During their time in Moncton, Fred’s son from his first marriage, Howe Chan (aged 16), immigrated to Canada in 1949 and lived nearby. In 1968, the family would return to the Vancouver area.

Her son, Wes Chan, recalls his mother fondly. “My mom was an incredibly selfless and brave individual. She married a man she knew only through written correspondence, and left a family and community she had known for nearly 30 years to begin a new life far away on the opposite coast of Canada.

After a week-long train trip across Canada, she would arrive in an unfamiliar place with few Chinese and a climate that exchanged rain for lots of snow. It must have been incredibly frightening for my newly married Mom, but she overcame any reservations and learned to thrive.

She supported Dad in his successful restaurant business and raised a growing family of four children. Mom put her husband and children first. We remember Mom, well past midnight, shovelling away the snowbank from the edge of the driveway after a passing plow so that Dad could get his car into the garage after work.

For the children, Mom would give us the choice pieces of meat, such as the chicken breast or thighs, and she would eat the less palatable parts or bones. She never complained, always saying that it was ‘fun’ eating those parts. We didn’t realize until much later in our lives, Mom’s selflessness and sacrifice. She truly loved her family.

After Dad’s passing and her children grew and left home, Mom blossomed. She found time to do more of her crafts and activities. Jessie was a skilled knitter, a lifelong learner, and read newspapers cover to cover, often cutting out interesting articles to share with her family. Her greatest joy, apart from family, was her time spent with friends at the local YMCA. She became a respected senior member of her aerobics class and an inspiration to much younger participants.”

Jessie passed away on June 27, 1999. She was 83.

Born JEW Goong Hai, Mabel Chow arrived in Vancouver with her mother (Quon Shee) and a brother in October of 1912. She was 12 years old and was traveling to join her father, Yucho CHOW, who ran a commercial studio in Vancouver's Chinatown.

Being the eldest child, Mabel worked assisting her father in the studio. Mabel became her father's muse, posing for many photos as he honed his skills. She also worked at the studio helping with customers, equipment and photo development.

She married NG Dick Jong in Vancouver on February 24, 1921. On the marriage certificate, her new husband’s occupation was listed as an "automobile general agent" which was likely another term for "driver" or a "chauffeur."

Together they would have nine children. For many years, Mabel continued to work at her father’s studio, often bringing her young children to work with her.

Mabel’s husband would die on March 25, 1937 at the age of 43. Sadly, Mabel died on August 21, 1940 leaving behind a group of children without any parents or guardians. Four months after her passing, Mabel's second oldest-child, Beatrice, would pass away at age 17 on December 9, 1940.

Marion Chow (also known as Marion Joe) was born CHOW Yin Oay in 1911 in her family home on Fisgard Street in Victoria’s Chinatown. She grew up during the Great Depression and worked in her father’s green grocery while attending school, eventually graduating from high school. She recalled those days as being very hard: going to school and then hurrying home to work in the store. Marion was the middle child with an older brother and sister, and a younger brother and sister.

Mario led a busy social life as evidenced in the photo albums she kept. She met her husband, Bing Wah Lee (known as Henry Lee) when he returned from Saskatoon. They initially carried on a passionate, long-distance relationship as Henry worked in Vancouver while Marion stayed in Victoria. They communicated through sometimes steamy love letters.

In 1937, the couple married in a church on Quadra Street in Victoria. Like many women of her time, Marion stayed at home and raised their three children. She was an excellent cook, seamstress, and knitter. In fact, she made all her children’s clothes until they finished high school.

She passed away in 1982.

Peter was born in Vancouver on February 5, 1915. He was the oldest son of well-known Vancouver Chinatown photographer Yucho Chow. Peter apprenticed with his father. Upon Yucho’s death in November 1949, Peter and his younger brother Phillip took over the studio. Around 1950 or 1951, they moved the studio from 518 Main to 512 Main Street. It is not clear what role each brother played, but they ran the studio until they retired and closed the business in 1986.

Peter died January 8, 1996. He had 8 children with his wife Helena: Anna; Madeline (Wong); Veronica (Kagetsu); Vivian; Ben; Connie (Ho); Susan (Ho); and Jerome.

Rose Chow (also known as Rhoda) arrived in Canada in 1912. She was born in 1910 or 1911. Her Canadian-born mother returned to China to get married and that is where she gave birth to Rose. The mother then returned to Canada with her husband and young daughter, arriving in Victoria, B.C. on the Chicago Maru.

Upon entry, Rose's father was recorded as 29-year-old, Chow Pik W., an “alleged merchant.” Not believed to be a merchant exempt from paying the head tax, Chow Pik had to pay the $500 sum for himself and $500 for his infant daughter. Rose's mother re-entered the country as 19-year-old, Victoria-born, Mrs. Ah Oy.

Growing up in Vancouver, Rose received no formal education which was typical for most Chinese girls at that time. By 1927, she was married off to Lee Chiang Kai who ran the Savoy Café in Trail, B.C.

Rose became the first Chinese woman to live in Trail and so she was a bit of a curiosity. Years later, she often remembered the many Caucasian people who were kind toward her in this small town; she felt accepted and respected.

Rose would have seven children and stayed home to raise the brood. It was only after WWII that she started to work in the café with her husband.

Her husband passed away in 1953. Rose remained in Trail until 1960, then returned to live in Vancouver, eventually settling in the Strathcona neighbourhood.

Although unable to read, Rose spoke English and Chinese fluently. This ability and her business background made her invaluable to the other residents in Strathcona and Chinatown, many of whom spoke no English. She helped make appointments for them, encouraged them to get bus passes, and then took them all over Vancouver by bus. While she could not read street signs, she had a good sense of direction and worked with bus drivers to get people to where they needed to go.

Her family recalls that Rose once arranged a road trip to interior B.C. and back. “Mom … navigated a friend to Kamloops and Armstrong (and back) to visit her daughter and a son. Neither could read a map. Although her friend hadn’t even driven out of Vancouver, these two senior ladies arrived and returned safe and sound!”

“Mom always encouraged us to assimilate, to become good Canadians. We younger children never did learn Chinese as our mom really wanted us to learn English. The older ones spoke Chinese until they went to school and they eventually lost it as they learned English.”

Shortly after her 88th birthday, Rose passed away January 1999 at Eagle Ridge Hospital in Port Moody.

CHOW Shun was born in China on May 22, 1889, in 廣東 Guangdong province.

He arrived in Victoria, B.C. in September 1910 and settled in Victoria, where he lived for most of his life, although he also spent some time in Vancouver, B.C.

Shun was a businessman who provided for his family. He worked a variety of jobs in Canada: at gambling establishments in Victoria’s Chinatown, as a cook in a logging camp, and as a shingle mill worker. Later, he owned a shoe repair store in Victoria’s Chinatown as well as a grocery store a short distance outside of Chinatown.

He married in Vancouver on September 9, 1918. He had eight children: Virginia, Rose, Jon (also known as Pack Chung), Daisy, Bill, Pearl, Edward, and Thomas.

Through the years, he helped sponsor some of his relatives in China to Canada.

Shun’s granddaughter, Salina, recalls, “I was just seven years old, but I did hear him speak a few words of English. I liked hearing his laughter. My mom recalled Goong Goong [my maternal grandfather] enjoyed it whenever she chauffeured him to Chinatown from their house on Quadra Street, or to other places in town. He and Poh Poh [my maternal grandmother] warmly welcomed her [my mother] immediately upon arriving after Mom and Dad's wedding in Hong Kong. They introduced her to her new family and helped her assimilate in her new community and country.”

CHOW Shun passed away on November 21, 1967.

CHOW Shung was born in China ca. 1893.

His brother, JOE Ng Tuk, arrived in Canada in 1900 and helped bring Shung over in 1913.

Shung operated a hand laundry business in Ottawa. At some point, the family decided to use the surname JOE instead of the more common surname CHOW.

Shung travelled back to China to marry, returning to Canada in 1921. He managed to save enough money to bring his wife over in July 1923, just as the Exclusion Act began closing the door.

Shung died in 1955.

CHOW Song arrived in Canada at around age 11 with his two brothers whose names are no longer known. Their uncle had sponsored them to the country as unskilled labourers.

Song landed in Victoria in 1902 hailing from the county of 開平 Hoiping / Kaiping in the 廣東 Guangdong province of China.

By 1914, he was living in Blackfalds, Alberta which boasted many employment opportunities through the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Song worked as a general labourer, and in restaurants washing dishes and floors, clearing tables, cooking, and as general kitchen help.

Like many early Chinese, Song saved to pay off the head tax, sent money home to China to support his family, adjusted to a different culture, endured the harsh winter prairie climate, and struggled with racism and not speaking English.

As a teenager, he had saved enough money to return to China to visit his family. While there, Song’s parents arranged for him to marry a young woman with the surname of Quan. While living in China, Song and Quan Shee had two sons. The first son, Harry Chow, was born in 1908.

In the 1920s, Song returned to Canada with his son, Harry. The two worked in cafes and restaurants in Roleau and Outlook in Saskatchewan. Harry often referenced the harsh winter living and working conditions they faced on the prairies.

Song never saw his wife again. He passed away in the early 1950s and is buried at Moose Jaw’s Rosedale cemetery. His wife learned of Song’s passing from their son, Harry.

In submitting this biography, Song’s grandson, Gordon Chow, notes “I have never met my grandfather, he was before my time. My recollection of my grandfather is from bits and pieces of information and stories that I heard from various family members. I only knew what he looked like from a black and white photograph of my grandfather that hung in my parents’ kitchen wall and the picture on his C.I.36 immigration document.”

As a result of Song’s journey to Canada, his son Harry was eventually able to open his own business, a restaurant and a grocery store which resulted in a better life for his own family and children. Harry settled in Moose Jaw in 1935 and opened his restaurant Modern Cafe in 1939 in partnership with five others. The restaurant operated in Moose Jaw for over 50 years, serving three generations of diners who frequented the popular restaurant.

CHOW Soo Hoo was born on November 11, 1905 in Nam Chun, Cheung Gong, [番禺 Punyu / Panyu] county in Guangdong province, China and brought up in Pong Wu village.

Soo Hoo’s father died at an early age in China and her mother remarried. According to the family, her mother either sold or gave the children away to the Chow Gan family who were based in Vancouver. Soo Hoo was placed on a steamship with her younger brother. However, he died enroute to Victoria during the six-week-long voyage.

Chow Hoo was bound for Victoria as a bonded servant to the Chow Gan family. She assumed the Chow name from the Joe/Chow family which likely claimed her as a daughter to Canadian immigration officials. She was brought over by Chow Duck Wah, who was coming to marry Chow Gan in an arranged marriage.

Soo Hoo landed in Victoria, BC on September 24, 1913 at the age of 8. She was exempt from paying the head tax as sponsored by a merchant family.

Soo Hoo quickly settled into her new life as a ‘mui jie’ (girl servant) and worked for the Joe/Chow family until she was married.

In 1926, she married Dang Yee Gee, who came to Canada in 1908 and owned a tailor shop. Dang Yee Gee had made arrangements with the Chow Gan family to marry Chow Soo Hoo as he was unable to bring his own wife to Canada due to the Chinese Exclusion Act.

Together, they had seven children: Gilbert (b. 1926); Larry (b. 1927); Florence (b. 1929); Jean (b. 1931); Laura (b. 1935); Joe (b. 1937) and Marion (b. 1942). They lived in the back of the tailor shop which was located at 343 East Hastings Street, Vancouver. In 1955, they moved into a “real house.”

According to her son, Joe Dang, “She was not educated in either language, Chinese nor English. She was brought up under normal family circumstances, but had to endure being separated from her family and shipped to a strange land with hostile people speaking a strange language as an 8-year-old… [She], along with all the other Wah Kews [Overseas Chinese], could only manage a few words of English and yet, she was able to do the shopping and make it known to the clerks what she wanted.”

He recalls, “There are vivid recollections in my mind as a youngster and still clinging onto mother’s skirt as she tried, in vain, waiting in a shopping crowd for someone to serve her at a counter in Woodward's Department store. She was constantly bypassed until there was almost no one left… Race discrimination was very prevalent and the sight of her vainly trying to attract the attention of clerks as they continued to ignore her was devastating and disheartening. The sadness still lingers in my heart as many of these instances are flashing back the thoughts of the shabby second-class treatments endured by both mother and father.”

Soo Hoo died on June 12, 1985 from cervical cancer. She is buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Burnaby.

Wayne Wing CHOW was born in 1924 in Cumberland, BC to Der Shee (mother) and CHOW Foon Gar, owner of Chow Lee Company store in Cumberland. His older brothers, Park and Bill, both served in the Canadian Army in WWII; sister Mamie owned and operated Oriental Commerce in Windsor; and youngest brother, Jack, ran an insurance agency in Vancouver. Wayne was exempt from military service as a university student and due to being colour-blind.

Wayne moved to Victoria in 1938, attending school at North Ward and Victoria High. Because his parents were not city taxpayers, he was asked to leave Victoria High. His sister Mamie invited Wayne to live with her in Dauphin, Manitoba to continue his schooling and work at her husband’s diner called the Grange Cafe.

In 1950, Wayne graduated from the University of Manitoba with a B.Sc. Electrical Engineering. His university annual write-up commented on Wayne’s analytical mind, noting his favourite saying was “This can’t be right”.

It was rare for any Chinese to attend university at that time, so Wayne was considered a “catch” when introduced to Yvonne Wong of Elm Creek, Manitoba by her brother Jim (whom Wayne met in university). Wayne married Yvonne in 1951 and they raised five children: Gaylene, Lawrence, Douglas, Marla, and Warren.

Years later, Wayne remembered being bullied by the local Japanese children during the 1930s, when China was very weak. To ensure his sons could protect themselves, he enrolled them, ironically, in Japanese judo, as Chinese martial art classes were unavailable in the early 1970s.

After university, Wayne lived in Regina for five years while working for Saskatchewan Power. In 1956, he became a Distribution Engineer with B.C. Hydro in Victoria, until retirement in 1988. To provide his children a stable environment, Wayne declined promotions to other cities.

Wayne left the cooking to Yvonne, who used powdered skim milk to stretch the budget for feeding five children. Wayne’s “specialty” was steamed rice and Chinese sausage “lap cheong.” His grandchildren all knew that “Gong Gong loves his rice and Cantonese food.”

Family trips included annual vacations with brother Bill in Vancouver, as well as long road trips to Disneyland and Winnipeg.

Wayne was proud of his Chinese heritage and visited China several times. His first trip to China was in 1973 when the country was in the midst of the Cultural Revolution. He visited his ancestral village in 開平 Hoiping/Kaiping, 廣東 Guangdong Province.

Wayne went again in December 1983, at age 59, when he travelled with his son Douglas for a month, visiting Chinese scholars throughout the country whom he had once hosted in Canada. During this trip, he lived in a traditional courtyard in Beijing; wore a toque to bed in Wuhan where there was no heat in the winter; practiced taichi at 6AM in a Beijing park; and rode a bicycle to the Old Summer Palace in Beijing, unfortunately hitting a tree, resulting in a black eye and stitches.

Upon retiring, Wayne made more trips to China with his son Douglas and daughter-in-law Tong. On a trip in 2004, a funny incident occurred when the family squished six people into a taxi—including grandsons Andrew and Patrick—for a 10PM visit to the Shanghai Bund.

In retirement, Wayne also kept busy travelling with Yvonne, tending to his vegetable garden, and doing taxes with H&R Block for over 20 years. Being a disciplined engineer, Wayne had an established routine: daily walks until age 95, eating his apples, and gardening. Even at age 98 he did not wear glasses.

CHOW Yip arrived in Canada in 1908.

By 1924, at 37 years old, he was living in Ottawa at 197 Albert Street and working in a restaurant.

Born in China in 1876 in the [開平 Hoiping / Kaiping] county of 廣東 Guangdong province, Yucho Chow arrived in Vancouver in 1902, paying the head tax. Little is known about his early years in Vancouver; he offered translation and interpretation services and may have worked as a house servant.

Chow established his photography studio at 68 West Hastings Street in 1907, photographing families, individuals, and organizations, many of whom were recent immigrants to Canada. Chow welcomed clients from any background, and as such, his work documents diverse communities that have traditionally been excluded from dominant narratives of Vancouver’s history.

Chow operated the studio with assistance from his seven children, working out of 68 West Hastings Street from 1907-08, 5 West Pender Street from 1909-1913, 23 West Pender Street from 1914-1929, and 518 Main Street from 1930 until his sudden death in 1949, leaving his sons Peter and Philip to take over the business. Yucho Chow was recognized in Chinatown as a community leader and philanthropist. A community archive collection of his photographs is housed at the City of Vancouver Archives.

CHOW Yum Wing was born in China in 1906 in the district of [開平 Hoiping / Kaiping]. His father, JOE Hall, had arrived Canada in 1894 to work as a cook in Victoria, B.C., while Wing grew up in China with his mother.

Wing joined his father in Canada in July 1923; he was already in transit when the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act was passed. His reported age was 12, but he was in fact a teenager. Wing’s family paid his $500 head tax.

Wing initially settled in Driver, Saskatchewan with his father, where he attended school alongside his cousin, Kong Hall.

Father and son travelled back to China in 1929 to visit Wing’s mother. While there, Wing married KWAN Choi Har, with whom he had a daughter, CHOW Sau Ngan, born in 1931. Wing returned to China in 1937. On this visit, he and his wife had a son, Gale Chow. In Canada, he also had a longstanding common-law partnership with another woman, supporting her and her two children throughout his life. In 1950, Wing brought his son Gale to join him in Canada.

Wing was established in Moose Jaw where he owned a grocery store that was well known within the local community. Gale's schoolmate and friend, Bill Stadnyk, would recalled, “We always respected [Wing]—his small store was a lifeline in our part of town, and was always neat and well organized. He was a smart man. We were always cheered at Christmas time to get a hamper from the store.” Wing was also known for owning the first television set in the area; he would invite his friends over to join him in watching the small grey-black screen, the signal fading in and out.

Wing never reunited with his wife in China; she passed away in the 1970s. His son, Gale, was well-connected with local government officials in Canada, and would later help sponsor his nephew, Tim. Later, they helped sponsor Gale’s sister, her husband, and her daughter to join their son in Canada. Gale additionally used his connections to help bring many other Chinese immigrants to Moose Jaw.

Among his friends and relatives, Wing was known for his generosity. As his grandson, Kyle Chow, remembered, “Wing Chow was well known for his baking: apple pies, cream pies, lady fingers, mincemeat, butter tarts, and Christmas cake which he gave out during the holiday season. He also spent his money on holiday decorations to be part of the community at the expense of his son, Gale, who was constantly fed bologna to save money. When his son moved out on his own, he never ate bologna again.”

Wing Chow passed away in 1989.

CHOY Lee was born in 1886 in the district of [新寧 Sunning / Xinning, later 台山 Toisan / Taishan]. He married while in China and had two children with his wife.

He immigrated to Canada when he was 34 years old, leaving behind his wife and two children. Lee sailed to Vancouver, BC aboard the Empress of Russia and arrived in January 1917. He paid the $500 head tax and settled in Montreal working in the restaurant industry.

Choy Lee worked hard, but sometimes had a difficult time finding work and food due to the amount of anti-Chinese discrimination in Canada. His granddaughter-in-law, Yuk Ping Lee, remembered a story she had heard: “One day, he made a beef and daikon (navet) stew. The neighbour didn’t seem to like the smell, so the man grabbed the pot and took it away. Choy Lee had to run after him to try to get it back.”

She also recalled another story about Lee: “During the war, he was looking for work but there was no paid work to be had. So, he offered his services for a couple of meals but he was fired because he ate too much.”

By 1960, Choy Lee became a Canadian citizen.

His daughter came to visit Lee once in Montreal. However, Lee would never be fully reunited with his entire family, since his wife and children were unable to immigrate to Canada.

His grandson did eventually arrive in Canada and became the only member of Lee’s family to join him here. Sadly, grandson and grandfather had a distant relationship.

Choy Lee passed away in 1974. Yuk Ping Lee recalled, “My husband and I were the only family he had left, [to take] care of him, to the day he passed away, even for the funeral arrangements.”

CHOY Lee Lin was born in China in 1897.

Her family was well-off until bandits raided the family’s possessions; as a result, Lee Lin was sold as a maid to another wealthy family when she was eight. According to her granddaughter, Diane Yamada, “I asked her if she felt sad about being sold, but she said, ‘No.’ She had been sold for a bag of gold and she was allowed to hold it for a bit by her family. I'm guessing she felt her 'weight in gold'.”

She arrived in Victoria, BC, in 1904 with her foster family, and later settled in Vancouver’s Chinatown. Her husband, MAH Moon Yuen (1878-1943), was a sawmill worker; each day, he walked from their home in Chinatown to the sawmill in New Westminster.

The couple adopted two children: Robert Sing Mah (1929-1981) and Adeline Mah (1921-2000), whom they believed to be of mixed Chinese-Indigenous heritage.

Her family remembers her as an excellent cook and loving grandmother. Her granddaughter Diane recalled, “Because we lived so close to the school, my cousins and I were able to have lunch at my home where Ah Poh lived with us. She would have lunch ready for us every day and often it would be rice with a raw egg and soya sauce mixed in, or canned salmon steamed on top of rice (and we would always fight over who would get the salmon bones). Such fond memories of the comfort food Ah Poh provided for us!”

CHOY Lee Lin died away in 1993.

Herbert Read Christie was born in Amherst, Nova Scotia. He graduated from the Ontario Agricultural College in 1908 and the Faculty of Forestry in 1913. Christie became the first member and director of the UBC Department of Forestry from 1921-1933.

Charles J. Christopherson, a Vancouver resident, was born in 1920. He was involved with the New School when it first began in 1962 and where his daughter was a student for two years. Beginning in the 1970s Christopherson was a member of the William Morris Society. He was also active in the Mount Pleasant community participating as a chairman in the Mount Pleasant Area Council, the Mount Pleasant Citizens' Committee, and the Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood Association. He was later to become president of the Mount Pleasant Neighbourhood Association.

CHU Chan Wah was the second of four sons of CHU Fock Chuck of the Buk Chan village in Panyu 番禺, in the historic Sam Yup district of 廣東 Guangdong province.

Chan was six years old when he arrived at Victoria, BC, likely with his father, in 1884. In his life, Chan was known by multiple English names, among them Chu Choon Wah, Chu Shou Sing, Wah Chew, and Mr. Wing Wah (the name of his company).

Although Chan arrived in Canada before the Chinese Immigration Act was passed in 1885, his life was shaped by it. When Chan brought his wife Joe Shee 周氏 (1877-1963) and two boys from China in 1914, all were exempt from the head tax because Chan was a merchant. The boys, claimed as sons, were nephews. Ten years later, the family had grown by three: a boy and two girls. Every member of the family was registered under the Chinese Immigration Act on July 27, 1924, immigrant and Canadian-born.

In 1904, a Victoria merchant, Chan was naturalized as a British subject. In 1912, Chan and his brother CHU Lum Wah started the Wing Wah Company 永華煙草公司. The first address was 41 East Pender Street in Vancouver. Originally a grocery, the Wing Wah Co. became a tobacconist and dry goods store by 1924. It supplied dozens of Chinese stores weekly with essentials from cigarettes and cigars to school supplies and penny candies.

The family lived and worked at several addresses in Chinatown. They moved from Pender to 504 Main Street (1926-35), then across the street to No. 509 (1936-38), then to No. 506 (from 1936). Chan, a formal man, was often seen in a three-piece suit and tie.

Chan’s death in 1948 was honoured with a large Chinese funeral. Chu Chan Wah and Joe Shee are buried together at Ocean View Burial Park in Burnaby.

Garrick Chu was born on July 15, 1950 in Vancouver, B.C. He was a writer, film producer, director, and community activist. He was one of the editors of one of the first anthologies of Asian Canadian poetry and fiction entitled Inalienable Rice: A Chinese and Japanese Canadian Anthology and along with Sean Gun and Gordon Mark, produced and editied Gum Shan Po, a Chinese Canadian tabloid-style newspaper. He died on December 30, 1979 in Vancouver, B.C.

Known in Canada by his English name, Henry CHU was born in China in 1901 and arrived in 1918, paying the head tax.

Henry travelled to Toronto and found work in a Chinese gift shop, eventually opening his own gift shop and named it The Oriental Trading Company. The store, located at 624 Yonge Street, boasted on its business card that it was “the only really genuine Chinese novelty store in Ontario.”

Henry would go door-to-door showing people items from his store. This was how he met 19-year-old Ethel Nealon, who had immigrated from South Africa in 1908 with her parents. Ethel’s father was intrigued by other cultures and invited Henry in to talk about China. Ethel took notice of the Asian visitor.

Eventually, Ethel would visit Henry at his store, and an unlikely romance slowly developed. When his relatives in China heard Henry was courting a white woman, he was summoned to China and forced to marry. His wife became pregnant and gave birth to a son. But Henry knew he could never be reunited with this family due to Canada’s restrictions on Chinese immigration.

Back in Toronto, Henry decided to marry Ethel and they moved into the apartment above his gift shop. They would have three children: Michael, Dennis and Mavis. Being of mixed race, the children were often taunted. And Ethel was viewed with disdain and considered a “loose woman” for having married a Chinese man.

In the 1930s, the store was affected by the Depression along with conflict between China and Japan which made it difficult to import items. Henry was forced to close the store. He moved the contents of the shop to the basement of a rooming house he owned at 62 Edward Street. The family lived in two rooms while the other five rooms were rented to Chinese bachelors.

Sadly, before Christmas 1942, Henry became very ill and was hospitalized. He died of liver cancer not long after on January 15, 1943.

Ethel, now responsible for three young children all under the age of eight, took over running of the rooming house. Henry’s brother, Chu Yet Chan, tried to convince Ethel to marry him, but she refused. She later married a friend of Henry’s: Lew Kung Chee (Kelly Lew) who worked at a barbershop at Elizabeth and Albert Streets. The couple would add two more children to the family: Gene and Maylin.

Henry’s daughter, Mavis, recalls saying goodbye to her father while he lay in the hospital near death. “I remember walking down the corridors, our footsteps echoing, and looking under the rows of beds as we passed the rooms to reach the room my Father was in.”

On a happier note, Mavis remembers her father teaching the children how to roll down a grassy hill. “He was trying to teach us to lie down on the ground and roll down the hills at a park. My brothers could do it, but I always ended up rolling sideways, and never rolled to the bottom as my brothers could.”

Henry was buried in Mount Pleasant cemetery. Years later, without explanation, his grave marker was switched from a white stone to a brown stone. The family suspected the change was made by Henry’s first son, born of his Chinese wife; he had come to Canada in the 1970s but never contacted Henry’s Canadian family. After that son’s death, Mavis installed a new headstone on her father’s grave: one that will one day carry the names of all of Henry’s children.

Lily CHUN was born in Vancouver on April 21, 1918, at 1672 Albert Street, to CHAN Wah Shuck (father) and Hoo Shee (mother). Dr. T.H. Agnew was in attendance, which was unusual for the time, that is, having a medical professional. Her Chinese name, Fong Yee, is on her birth certificate, with “Lily” penned in ink. As noted, her father’s business is at 26 Canton Street (Chinatown).

Lily, or Lillian, was the fourth of eight children born in Vancouver to Hoo Shee. She also had a half-sister, CHIN Kam (aka Grace), who arrived in Vancouver in October 1912 (C.I.30 #00599). Kam was with her stepmother, Hoo Shee, and another relative, CHIN Oy (aka Annie). Both Kam and Oy were listed as “merchant’s daughters” from Ging Boy village, Sun Wui county, China.

Lillian’s siblings were Jessie (b. 1913), Kwok On (aka Harry/Harris, b. 1915), Margaret (b. 1916), Mary (b. 1919), Kwok Long (aka Jimmie/James, b. 1921), Yen (Rose, b. 1923), and Kwok Wo (aka Norman, b. 1925). Though her father had a business in Chinatown, the family lived in the area known today as Grandview-Woodland at 1870 Keefer Street; after 1929, that part of Keefer became Frances Street.

In 1930, the whole family left Vancouver for Hong Kong. Hoo Shee and her sons returned to Vancouver in 1934 (registered to re-enter under Section 24 of the 1923 Chinese Immigration Act; renewed, allowing them to be away for a maximum of four years). The Chan sisters remained in Hong Kong. Prior to the outbreak of WWII, the two eldest, Jessie and Margaret, succumbed to illnesses in Hong Kong; the youngest, Rose, managed to depart on the last ship leaving for Vancouver.

Lillian attended Macdonald School (1924-1930) in Vancouver, then Mui Fong Girls’ Secondary School (1931-37) in Hong Kong, followed by the Institute of Business Administration (1938-39). Upon completing her education, she found employment at Goddard & Douglas, marine surveyors (1940-41).

With the outbreak of war in 1941, Lillian and Mary fled Hong Kong, travelling to their ancestral village, Ging Mui Chuen, Ai Moon township, Xinhui (Sun Wui) county, Guangdong province. While there, they became aware of the US Army’s presence. This led to their employment in the military’s civilian secretarial pool given their bilingual and office skills.

Lillian was employed by the military for 18 months: 12th Service Group, Kweilin (May-June 1944), 69th Composite Wing, Kunming (July 1944-August 1945), and Army Exchange Service, Kunming (September-November 1945). During this latter period of service, her commanding officer, 2nd Lieutenant Jack Clements, Army Exchange Services, recommended that Lillian receive the Medal of Freedom with Gold Palm, specifically for her “exceptionally meritorious services as Stenographer and General Clerk [...] 1 September 1945 to 19 October 1945.”

Lillian returned from the war to Hong Kong to assess her options—stay or return to Vancouver and family. She arrived in Vancouver on August 28, 1946, aboard the S.S. Samflora.

Lillian successfully found employment at the Bank of Nova Scotia on her return, where she worked until her marriage to Wilbert Wong Lim on February 27, 1952. They had two daughters, Wil (Wilberta) Marilyn and Imogene Letitia.

With her children grown, Lillian returned to the workforce, which included Tai-Pan Restaurant (3005 Granville Street) where she mastered the art of mixology (although notable since she did not drink), and ended her work career with Canada Permanent Trust Co.

In retirement, she found community in practicing tai chi, and pleasure in lapidary and the craft of Chinese knotting.

Lillian died on November 15, 1997, in New Westminster, BC, due to complications following a medical procedure.

CHUNG Chee Pan was 11 years old when he arrived in Canada in 1923 to join his father who ran a restaurant in Fort William (now known as Thunder Bay) in Ontario. He would pick up the nickname, Jonesy.

Chee Pan attended public school until grade 6, then went to work at his father’s restaurant called the Poplar Café. He became a very adept cook.

Later, he would open a restaurant in the Fort William Curling Club. It was one of the few arenas anywhere that had a restaurant inside. The eatery became a popular spot and enhanced the reputation of the local club which twice hosted the World Cup Curling Championships (in 1960 and 1969).

Chee Pan travelled back to China in 1923, 1930 and finally in 1949. On one of those trips, he married CHAN Toy Lin. Together they would have two daughters (although one died) and an adopted “paper son.”

Chee Pan worked incredibly long hours to save money to support his family in China and then to bring them over to Canada. The family was reunited in 1956, when Chee Pan’s mother, wife and two children finally emigrated to Canada.

Born Lily CHUNG Quon Dai, also known as Sandra CHONG and later upon marriage as Sandra KING, was born on November 24, 1922, in Vancouver, BC. Her father, Chung Gok Doh, was from Moy Kwok, [新會 Sunwui / Xinhui] county, in [廣東 Guangdong] province, and immigrated to Canada in 1892 with his family at the age of 9. He travelled back and forth between China and Canada, eventually marrying; he brought his wife to join him in Canada in 1914. Sandra’s father worked a variety of jobs throughout her childhood, including as a farmer in Burnaby, as a fisherman, and as a contractor for a cannery near Prince Rupert, but soon returned to Vancouver to start a family with his wife.

Sandra married a fellow Chinese Canadian, Louis Yee KING, who was born in Didsbury, Alberta. In WWII, Louis participated in Operation Oblivion, a secret operation led by the British army that used Chinese Canadians to infiltrate Sarawak in Malaya under the assumption that they would blend into the local population. Louis and the other Chinese Canadians involved in the operation hoped that their contribution would lead the Canadian government to extend equal rights to Chinese Canadians, recognize them as Canadians, and allow them to vote.

After the war, Louis began a poultry business in Vancouver called Visco Poultry. Sandra and Louis hoped to purchase a home and start a family, but they had a difficult time finding a home in Vancouver. Certain neighbourhoods in Vancouver had adopted restrictive housing covenants that banned the sale of homes to Asians, even though Sandra and Louis had been born in Canada. Sandra and Louis thus decided to build a home in West Vancouver. Although certain neighbourhoods in West Vancouver, such as the British Properties, employed similar restrictive covenants, the family was able to build a home in Dundarave in 1949. Their daughter, Leilani, was born a few years later.

Sandra and Louis divorced in 1960, and Sandra started employment in a company that worked with visiting dignitaries to support herself and her daughter. Most notably, she met the Prime Minister of Malaysia, who displayed a keen interest in her, and invited her to join him abroad. Sandra refused, since he was already married, and Sandra had no interest in becoming a secondary wife; she would remain single for the rest of her life. Her daughter, Leilani, recalled, “[she] enjoyed telling that story, as it was a reminder of how things could have been very different if she had chosen that path!"

Sandra worked in the head office of the accounting department of MacMillan Bloedel, a forestry company, until 1989, when she retired. After retiring, she moved from West Vancouver to Richmond to be closer to her daughter and grandchildren.

In the last six years of her life, Sandra had progressive dementia, and succumbed to pneumonia during the pandemic. She passed away on August 20, 2020, at the age of 97.