WOU Chow Sha was born in China around 1892 in the [新會 Sunwui / Xinhui] county of [廣東 Guangdong] province.

He arrived in Victoria, BC, in 1913, and paid the $500 head tax. By 1924, he was living in Vancouver at 359 East Pender Street and working as a labourer. He had no family either in Canada or China. However, he made several trips back to China in the 1920s and 1930s.

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.

George Bun Wah CHAN was born in Canada on April 4, 1904. He grew up in a large family, as the second son of 12 children born to CHAN Sui Lun, and Lore Shee. His father had a second wife, with whom he had three children—George’s step-siblings.

George’s father was born in the district of [順德區 Soon Duck] in 廣東 Guangdong province, and arrived in Victoria, BC, in 1890. Shortly after, he married Lore Shee, George’s mother and another native of 廣東 Guangdong, and brought her to Victoria. The family settled in Victoria’s Chinatown between Fisgard and Cormorant Streets.

During the day, George and his siblings attended English-language school in Victoria. After school, they attended the Chinese Public School on Fisgard Street from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm. The school had been established through money raised by local Chinese merchants and was located on the third floor of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association building.

As a young man, George worked as a tailor, and was responsible for purchasing food staples for the family, including rice, yook beng ("minced meat patties"), and tofu.

On August 26, 1923, he married Jane Chan. The couple had nine children together: Isabelle (b. 1926), Clara (b. 1927), Wallace (b. 1929), Bertha (b. 1931), June (b. 1932), Georgina (b. 1934), Donald (b. 1936), Gerald (b. 1937), and Florence (b. 1939). Their first daughter, Isabelle, was born in Victoria. In 1927, George and his growing family moved to Vancouver, where they settled in East Vancouver and had eight more children.

George continued to work as a tailor in Vancouver. With his brother, Charles, George became a part owner of the Kent & Co. Tailor Shop.

During the Great Depression, tailoring work was scarce. Consequently, in the late 1930s, George and his extended family discussed moving back to China. George, his mother, and Charles’ wife wanted to return, while Charles was against it. George returned to China in 1939, and planned for his children and wife to follow six months later. George signed over his shares in Kent & Co. to Charles, giving his brother complete control in his absence.

Unfortunately, due to the outbreak of WWII, George’s family was unable to follow him, and George was forced to remain in China until 1947. While he was away, his wife Jane Chan ran a Seafood Market on Fraser Street in Vancouver from 1940 to 1943, with the help of her oldest daughters, son, and friends.

George Chan passed away in 1966 in Vancouver.

Shong Yaw was born in China around 1893. He arrived in Canada at age 20 in 1913 on the Empress of India. He was listed as a "merchant's son" and therefore did not pay the head tax. His intended final destination for settlement was listed as Clinton, B.C.

Born Myrtle O'Hoy on April 15, 1921 in Bendigo, Australia, Myrtle's family owned a store and was prominent in the local Bendigo Chinese Association.

During WWII, while on the beach whipping up cream (a rationed item at the time), Myrtle was spotted by a Canadian soldier named Henry Albert “Hank” Wong. He was part of a group of Chinese Canadians recruited by the British for clandestine operations in Southeast Asia (Force 136, also known as Operation Oblivion).

The two fell in love and married but found themselves in a difficult situation. Hank could not join Myrtle in Australia due to its restrictions on Chinese immigration. And Myrtle could not come to Canada easily as the Chinese Exclusion Act was still in effect. Hank returned to Canada, and the couple began to pursue ways for Myrtle to follow. She finally made it to Canada in November of 1946, admitted as a "war bride" under Hank's service in the Canadian Armed Forces.

She sailed to San Francisco and then travelled north and entered Canada through White Rock, B.C. Myrtle then made her way to London, Ontario to join Hank. The young couple lived and worked on a farm for a time. Later they bought a house on Weston St. in London, where Hank got a job at General Steel Wares. He became quite active in the union. Together they would have three children: Sandi, Rick, and Tina.

According to her obituary, Myrtle was “an avid gardener, devotee of big band music, Chinese brush painting artist and President and General Manager of the Chinese Calligraphy and Brush Painting Association from 1986 to 2002.” She was noted for "her tenacity, elegant style, quiet leadership and sophisticated design sense.”

Myrtle passed away on January 20, 2013.

Kam Len "Douglas" Sam was born in Victoria, BC on April 6, 1918. He was the eldest of nine children born to Mr. and Mrs. SAM Wing Wo, who immigrated to Victoria from [恩平 Yinping / Enping] county, [廣東 Guangdong] province, China.

While a teenager at Victoria High School, a classmate inscribed in his yearbook, “Doug has aspirations to become the Chinese Lindbergh.” Not just interested in aviation, Sam possessed great linguistic abilities, developing working fluency in Cantonese, Mandarin, French, and Japanese over the course of his career.

After the outbreak of WWII, Sam attempted to enlist in the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1941, but was barred for being Chinese. He was successful a year later when the government removed racial clauses in entry rules, and his Chinese ancestry later proved to be an asset.

While in the RCAF, Sam flew 28 terrifying raids over “Fortress Europe” in 1943 and 1944, including a mission over Nuremberg that saw 94 Allied bombers go down and another sortie over Berlin that resulted in 73 planes lost.

In early July 1944, Sam was presumed dead after his Halifax bomber was shot down in an air raid over Northern France. According to his son, Trevor Sam, Douglas’ grandmother remained certain he was alive after consulting a joss stick oracle in Victoria’s Chinatown temples, despite being a devout Anglican. She was correct.

Sam was alive, having parachuted narrowly to safety, and was now embedded in the French Resistance actively fighting the Nazi occupation through espionage and intelligence gathering. His orders from London were to stay in France to coordinate the escapes of other Allied airmen.

Resistance members provided him with clothing and forged papers to identify him as an Asian student trapped in France by the German occupation. Dodging the Gestapo and German army in numerous close calls, he witnessed the Holocaust in France while rising to leadership in the Resistance. When the American 3rd Army entered Reims, not far from Paris, their street maps were provided by Sam’s Resistance cell, already engaged in street fighting with air-dropped weapons. This was to be Douglas’ last fight in WWII and, for his efforts, he was awarded the high honour of the French Croix de Guerre with a Silver Star.

After reuniting with his joyous family, Douglas remained committed to the Canadian Armed Forces. He later served as a counter-insurgency specialist during the Malayan Emergency in the 1950s. He made use of his language skills to break up Chinese Communist efforts under the oversight of British Intelligence.

In November 1967, after 25 years of continuous service, including stints in London and Washington, Douglas retired from the RCAF with the rank of squadron leader, the most decorated Chinese Canadian ever. However, after retirement, the National Defence Headquarters in Ottawa was asked to reassign him with the Primary Reserve, Canadian Armed Forces as a lieutenant colonel until his honourable release in March 1978. He was the first, high-ranking Lieutenant Colonel in Chinese Canadian history.

Douglas also joined the Department of Employment and Immigration in 1967 as an intelligence analyst, rising to become the department’s chief of immigration intelligence for the British Columbia-Yukon region. After an historic and groundbreaking career, Douglas died in 1989 at age 71.

His son Trevor sums up his father’s dreams this way: “I think that from the time he was old enough to see the blue sky, he wanted to grasp it; he wanted to fly. And so, he did.”

Daisy WOON, born DERE Mee Gim, was born in China in [開平 Hoiping / Kaiping] county in 1912, to father DAR Woon, later known as David, and mother GUN Shee. Her father had first migrated to Canada in 1900, where he worked on the Canadian Pacific Railway and then as a tailor, saving up money to support his wife and daughter.

In 1921, when Daisy was 9 years old, her father brought her and her mother to join him in Canada. The family settled in Calgary, where Daisy’s father ran a tailoring shop.

Daisy married Frank Chin FOON in 1930, and moved with him to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. The couple had one daughter together. In Moose Jaw, they owned and operated the Ace Hotel, while Daisy ran a dressmaking shop—Paragon Dressmaking—in the hotel’s storefront. Her clients included the ground crew of the aerobatic Snowbirds flight squadron, and the MJ Chinese bowling team.

Daisy was one of the first bilingual women in Moose Jaw, as she spoke both English and Chinese fluently. Consequently, Daisy was a key connection for Chinese immigrants who came to settle in the region. She and her husband Frank often gave newly arrived Chinese immigrants free room and board at the Ace Hotel until they could settle more permanently.

Daisy passed away in Moose Jaw in 2001, at the age of 89.

LEW Doo (also known as LEW Hee Jon and LAM Chu) also known as Frank Lew was born in 1894 in China.

He came to Canada in 1910 and settled in Toronto where he worked as a cook.

Frank married a Jewish woman named Rose. It was her second marriage to a Chinese man as her first husband, Chin Ng, had passed away.

Frank also had a family in China: a wife and a son.

LUE Jar was born in China in 1894 in the village of Sam Dor 三多, in the province of Guangdong 廣東, county of Taishan 台山 and the township of Tong Min Heung 塘面鄉.

In 1913, at age 19, he travelled to Canada for work, leaving behind his wife, Ng Shee 伍氏 and one-year-old son, Siu Lay 兆利. He landed at Victoria and was admitted to Canada upon paying the $500 head tax.

Lue Jar listed his destination as Calgary. He mentioned working for a white family as a house servant at one time and this may have been the work he was doing in that city. Other Chinese immigrants also have recalled working as house servants in Calgary when they first arrived in Canada.

Lue Jar was a quick study and this job gave him the opportunity to learn English. However, he was not happy with the work. The mischievous children were always going through his belongings when he was busy with chores. One day he was so fed up that he rigged a mouse trap within his belongings to teach them a lesson. He likely did stay long at this job.

Having learned some English, he found work at Fraser Mills as a mill worker in B.C.. He stayed for quite a number of years, eventually becoming a supervisor to the Chinese workers.

Lue Jar moved to Vancouver around 1922. From there, he found work at Dollar Mill in the Dollarton area of North Vancouver.

The 1923 Chinese Immigration Act required all Chinese immigrants in Canada to re-register. Shortly after Lue Jar did so, in January 1924, he left to visit China after being away for over a decade.

During his 15-month stay, he and his wife Ng Shee had two more sons in quick succession: Siu Yin 兆賢 and Siu Lung 兆能. Lue Jar was required to return to Canada in 1925 and to his job at Dollar Mill, so he did not see the birth of his youngest son.

In 1933, Ng Shee passed away due to poor health. She was only 40 or 41 years old. Lue Jar’s oldest son, Siu Lay, took over the care of the two younger children in addition to his own family.

During the war years, between 1941-1945, Lue Jar found work at Burrard Dry Dock in North Vancouver. Later, he spent a few years running a farm in Drumheller, Alberta.

After the repeal of the Exclusion Act, Lue Jar applied for his Canadian citizenship which he obtained on November 8, 1951.

In 1952, he purchased Ferry Rooms on Alexander Street in Vancouver: a rooming house with 34 rooms on three floors. Lue Jar operated the hotel until he retired in 1973.

Meanwhile, the youngest son, Siu Lung, immigrated to Canada around 1954. He arrived as a “paper son” with the surname Lee. He eventually corrected the surname of his family to Lui.

The middle son, Siu Yin and his family arrived in 1965. This son took over the operations of the hotel.

Lue Jar passed away in 1994, just two months shy of turning 100.

Alice Fong appears in various records under her maiden name of Jew Toy, Jew Guey, Ho Len Toy and Alice Chew. She was born in China in Lai Yue Gong village in the [開平 Hoiping / Kaiping] district of 廣東 Guangdong province. Alice was an orphan brought to Canada by her “cousins” as a servant girl at the age of nine. They paid the head tax for her in 1893.

Alice became known as Alice Fong 鄺文周氏女 after marrying Fong Mun King 鄺文瓊 (c. 1860–1930) in 1903. He appears in commercial directories as Fong King, also known as John Fong merchant/restaurant owner.

Alice was active in the Chinese Presbyterian Church after being baptized in 1909. She was very close to the missionaries of Chinese Mission in Montreal and was often out of the house helping new Chinese brides get settled in the city. After the death of her husband, she worked as a domestic.

Alice Fong’s son-in-law would take her down to Montreal’s Chinatown a few times a year, where she would buy groceries and get caught up on the local gossip. The proprietor of the store would personally serve her after inviting her into the back of the store to sit down and drink several cups of tea. During this time, she was speaking Cantonese.

When her oldest grandson was about 3 years old, he observed this exchange with great interest. He turned to his father and with great delight said, “I didn’t know that Granny spoke French.”

Born August 28, 1907 in Montreal, Margaret Calder FONG was the second oldest child of the family of Fong Mun King 鄺文瓊 and his wife Alice Fong 鄺文周氏女.

Margaret was active in the Chinese Mission and the Chinese Presbyterian Church, becoming a group leader in the Canadian Girls in Training.

Margaret worked outside of the household to support it. For many years, she was the housekeeper for the Tarleton family in Westmount.

Margaret was a poet and short story writer whose publications appear in various English-language newspapers in Montreal under the name of Peggy King.

Margaret was engaged, but never married. She died in 1952 of an allergic reaction to penicillin.

Annie preferred to use her other middle name Victoria and never liked being called Annie, hence in her adult life went by Ann Victoria Fong. She was born March 19, 1916 in Montreal, the daughter of Fong Mun King 鄺文瓊 and his wife Alice Fong 鄺文周氏女.

As a child, she attended the Sprites, which was the Canadian Girls in Training group for younger children. She graduated from Montreal’s Commercial High School in 1931 and took commercial courses at Sir George Williams College.

A talented amateur painter, she went to work in the printing trades, where she learned how to do photograph layout. In 1938, she went to work at Ronalds Printing (which produced the Montreal telephone books), where she met her husband-to-be, Norman Greig Stanley. When they married in 1943, they encountered significant racism, including from some of Norman’s relatives. Their wedding attracted quite a crowd of onlookers as mixed marriages were so rare. Furthermore, Norman, as a pilot-in-training in the Canadian Air Force at the time, had to get the permission of his commanding officer to get married. The permission was originally denied; according to the commander, “these mixed marriages never work.”

The couple were together for 59 years until Norman’s death in 2003. When they got married, the racism they experienced was so intense that they agreed not to have any children “to avoid visiting the sins of the parents on the children.” It was not until after the War that they felt comfortable having children, welcoming sons Robert in 1950 and Timothy in 1953.

Ann returned to work outside of the household in the late 1960s and ultimately became the head of the stenography pool at the Protestant School Board of Greater Montreal, providing all the district’s school secretaries with their initial training. Ann played golf until the age of 95 and continued to paint until shortly before her death on July 31, 2016. At her passing, she left behind her two sons and four grandchildren.

When Ann was young everyone, especially her brother, called her baby. When Jeanette Hamelin visited their household for the first time, she brought presents for everything including a rattle for the 14-year-old “baby.”

Helen Mary Turpin was AMS Secretary at UBC from 1923-24. In her first year at UBC, she was on her class executive and was a reporter with The Ubyssey. She later married John Allen Grant, who was AMS President.

John Allen Grant was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He was AMS President at UBC between 1923-24. He met his future wife Helen Mary Turpin who was AMS secretary during this time. He was a member of UBC's delegation that petitioned the BC Legislature in UBC's successful bid to obtain the UBC Endowment Lands, his speech earned him the title of "Jack The Giant Killer" in one Vancouver newspaper.

CHAN Yee was born on the ninth day of the eleventh moon in 1900 on the Chinese calendar. (Equivalent to December 30, 1900 on the Gregorian calendar.) He arrived in Canada in 1918 at age 17, just as WWI was ending.

He settled in Victoria. Initially, he earned his living as a fruit and vegetable merchant. He had a truck full of fruits and vegetables, and had fixed routes over different days where he would go to various neighbourhoods around Saanich and sell fruits and vegetables to specific households. He had steady customers within these neighbourhoods. He would go to wholesalers every morning to stock up with produce prior to going on his routes. When grocery stores became more prevalent and his business of peddling fruit and vegetables became obsolete, he purchased and operated a small corner grocery store.

Even though he had little, he was very generous with whatever he had. During his time as a fruit and vegetable merchant, he would often encounter marginalized people along his route. He would allow them to take what they needed from his truck without question or exchange. During the time he ran the grocery store, there would be times where he would allow marginalized customers to buy on credit, and not collect on the bills.

Chan Yee travelled back and forth to China often enough to get married there and father 5 children. He managed to bring them all to Canada in 1953. His children in order of birth included: John Chan (Fai Yit); Ruth Lee (Sit Moi); May Wong (Sai Que); Rose Young (See Moi); and Jack Louie (Wah Hing).  

Over his lifetime, Chan Yee had to work extremely hard to overcome obstacles and raise a family. His success in doing so during those difficult times was a major accomplishment.  
  
Chan Yee passed away on April 30, 1969 at the age of 68.

The Pilgrimage, or later the Great Trek, was a mass student protest. This protest was due to overcrowded lecture halls and inadequate facilities that characterized UBC's early years at Fairview. Professors held agricultural classes in private residences, French courses in the basement of a church, and chemistry classes in a tent erected on the Fairview site. Unfortunately, the inadequate Fairview facilities would serve as home to the University for almost its entire first decade. As the number of students attending UBC grew, student frustration with government inaction also grew.

Planning for the student campaign began in early1922 under the leadership of returned war veteran and AMS president-elect Albert Richards. As a first step in what would become a massive and well-organized "Build the University Campaign," students were asked to take petitions back to their hometowns in the summer and collect signatures petitioning the government to resume construction of the Point Grey campus.

In October 1922, Varsity Week activities culminated in the "Pilgrimage" (the term "Great Trek" would be coined some 25 years later) on Saturday, October 28. Nearly 1,200 students with banners and placards, floats, and a marching band made their way through downtown Vancouver and onto the unfinished campus at Point Grey. After travelling to the campus, the marchers gathered beside the eight-year-old concrete and steel framework of the Science building and then climbed into the unfinished structure. That early student "sit-in" and subsequent Trek participants' formation of the human "UBC" helped lay symbolic claim to the unfinished Point Grey campus.

YIP Doo Tong (George Yip) was born in Cranbrook, B.C. on November 25, 1921. His father, YIP Chong Ban (aka YIP Chung Ben), ran a produce and grocery store on Durick Avenue in Cranbrook.

George completed Grade 8 and then was sent to China where he lived from 1933-1938. Upon returning to Canada in 1938, George spent three months working in a fish cannery in Prince Rupert. By 1939 he had moved to Vancouver and for five years worked as a clerk at the Shaughnessy Market, a produce store at 2915 Granville Street. He earned about $25 a week in that job.

Like many young Chinese men in Canada, George was willing to fight for Canada during WWII despite the discrimination faced by his community. He joined the Army on November 15, 1944 and did his basic training in Wetaskiwin, Alberta. George then volunteered to become a member of Force 136: a clandestine group of fighters trained and led by the British Special Operations Executive. These soldiers of Force 136 were trained in jungle survival and guerrilla warfare, and were sent on missions to undertake sabotage and espionage in Japanese-occupied territories.

George spent some time in London, England, and was then shipped to India for the final leg of training and to await his first assignment. He was stationed in Meerut, India and was being trained as a wireless radio operator. Fortunately, the war ended before George was assigned to any dangerous missions.

George was discharged on April 26, 1946 and later was awarded the Burma Star.

Within a couple of years, he married Tso Shee (aka Yip Chow Shee who was born December 28, 1922 in Canton, China). Together, they had two children: Ray and Ken.

Taking advantage of the Veterans Land Grant program, George acquired a 5-acre parcel of land on Byrne Road in Burnaby. There he operated a produce farm until his death in September 1971.

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.

Sam Shee was born in Canton, China, in 1896. She was brought to Canada and arrived in Victoria, BC on July 1, 1914, at the age of 18 years. She was arranged to marry a Canadian-born Chinese, CHAN Sun Sang, on July 4, 1914, a man she had never met before. Upon marriage, she became known as Chan Sam Shee.

She had two children with CHAN Sun Sang: Leslie Shue Hong Chan and Diamond Yee Jing Chan Quong. Within three years of arriving in Canada, her husband died.

She spoke no English but made money by becoming a seamstress. And although she never remarried, she raised and provided for her two children and bought a house in Vancouver in the 1940s. She lived with her son, Leslie, until she passed.

Chan Sam Shee passed away in New Westminster, BC on August 22, 1977. She was 81 years old.

Paul Wong was the first in his family to be born on Canadian soil. His mother arrived in Canada on September 27, 1912 heavily pregnant with him. Paul was born in Victoria two weeks later, on October 11, 1912.

Growing up, he moved around with his family—B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan—where his father (Wong Wing Yun) worked and owned small town cafes and grocery stores. His father had arrived in Canada in the 1880s to work on the railroad.

The Great Depression of the 1930s left the family hungry and desperate at times. A family story recalls that food was so scarce that Paul’s mother (Poon Lin Tsing) caught a skunk and fed it to the family for supper.

As an adult, Paul earned a living as a restaurateur and was in partnerships with two restaurants during his lifetime: New Look Café (High River, Alberta) and Seven Seas Restaurant (Edmonton, Alberta).

He married Margaret Christina Kergan and together they had one child: Margaret Rose Wong (later known as Margaret Verenka after marriage).

In 1947, Canadian citizens of Chinese descent were finally granted the right to vote. Paul never missed his chance to cast his ballot in every election until he died in 2004.

David Peter GUNG was born GUNG Gog Ping in Victoria, BC on July 13, 1916. He was the youngest of six boys and grew up in Victoria at 2115 Sayward Avenue and 1048 Pembroke Avenue.

David’s parents were Peter Yin Ching (aka Yan Ten) Gung (1875-1946) and Fong You Yeung (1877-1949). His father worked at a variety of jobs to feed the family including practising Chinese medicine, working as a chef on CPR ships, and running a photography business on Cormorant Street. His father also was a talented artist and painted a life-size portrait of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen for the Chinese Consolidated Association in Victoria.

After graduating from Victoria High School, David headed for Toronto in 1937. He enrolled at Central Technical School in the watchmaking course, and graduated in 1942, earning a scholarship.

In 1943, he married Helen Mah, who also had moved from Victoria to Toronto, and graduated from Women’s College Hospital’s nursing programme. Helen and Dave had two daughters, Patricia and Janet.

After working a couple of years as an instrument maker during the war, David opened his own store, Community Jewellers, in downtown Toronto, in 1946. He successfully ran that store until he suddenly died of a heart attack in 1968 at the age of 51. David was instrumental in establishing the Ontario Watchmakers’ Association and was its first president.

David was multi-talented and a man for all seasons: an artist, who painted beautiful oil paintings, a great cook, an excellent photographer, a musician, a carpenter, and an all-round athlete good at many sports. He could do almost anything! He combined his deep faith and a love of music as the organist at the Chinese United Church at 92 Chestnut Street in Toronto, from the early 1950s until his death.

MAH Tin Yick arrived in Canada in June 1885 just before the passing of the Chinese Immigration Act with its requirement to pay the head tax. He settled in the interior of British Columbia and ran a hand laundry business in Salmon Arm.
 
At some point, Tin Yick married “Jean” (ING Loiew How), with whom he had two daughters, Helen (b. 1918) and Laura (b. 1923). Unfortunately, Jean died on January 18, 1924 not long after giving birth to Laura.

Due to the restrictions imposed by the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act, Tin Yick knew he could not bring a new wife from China, and, at the time, there were few eligible Chinese women in Canada for him to marry. Struggling to raise two young daughters while running a business, Tin Yick gave them over to the Oriental Home and School in Victoria where they could be cared for. Despite the distance, Tin Yick kept in contact with his daughters, visiting them when he could, both as children and later as young adults. Tin Yick closed his laundry in 1945 and died in Vancouver on January 21, 1948.

Joe Hong Eng was born in Vancouver in 1914, the son of millhand worker ENG Jack Heen.

Joe had little formal education and worked in a number of industries at a number of jobs. But he was best known for his activism in obtaining union rights for Chinese workers.

Joe was one of the leaders in a long and nasty, 11-month strike in 1938/39 involving the International Woodworkers of America against the Pacific Lime Company in Blubber Bay, on Texada Island, B.C. For his activities, he was charged and sentenced four months in jail.

In the end, Joe helped his fellow Chinese workers achieve wage parity with their white counterparts.

Joe lived many years in Blubber Bay. He spent his spare time salmon fishing and hunting duck and deer.

When Joe retired, he returned to Vancouver and lived at the Yin Ping Benevolent Society in Chinatown.

He never married, but he loved to spoil the daughters of his younger brother, George Hong Eng. At Christmas, Joe would attach $10 bills to the Christmas tree, one for each of his nieces. And he was known for dropping by on Saturday mornings and announcing his presence by yelling “Hot stuff”. It meant Joe had brought with him boxes of tasty dim sum treats.

YIP Wing Yen was born in 1922 in Vancouver, BC. His English name was Yen Yip.

His father was a bookkeeper for the Wing Sang company; he also worked as a ‘doorman’ for one of the Chinese gambling halls in Vancouver’s Chinatown.

During WWII, Yen attended UBC and graduated in 1945 with a degree in Agriculture. The family believes that, at some point while in university, he did some army training with the Reserves.

As an adult, Yen found work as a supervisor for a fruit and vegetable wholesaler.

He married Effie Fung Ming WOO and they had three sons.

One of his sons recalls, “Dad would always take us over to Victoria to stay at Uncle Allen’s ‘Fork Lake’ cabin during every school holiday break, something that we will always remember!”

Yen passed away in Vancouver in December 1999.

MARK Yu Wah 麥有華 was born May 15, 1906 in China, in the village of Sar Tan Chyun 沙坦村; Toisan / Taishan county 台山; Guangdong province 廣東. (Coordinates for the village are: 22 07 30 N, 112 48 30 E)

Yu Wah was the second eldest male in his family. Traditionally, the eldest son had the primary responsibility for the welfare of parents and other family members and, usually, they were the first to be sent to Canada. However, Yu’s elder brother was not in good health—in fact, he died in 1923. So, Yu Wah was selected to go to Canada.

He sailed on the Empress of Japan and arrived in Vancouver on December 15, 1921 paying the Chinese head tax of $500 at the time. The spelling of his first name was recorded as “You” but later he chose to spell it as “Yu” to be more phonetically correct in his Toisan dialect.

Yu Wah planned to make Saskatoon his destination in Canada. The family confirms that is where he went, but they know he also spent time in Vernon, B.C. and in Grande Prairie, Alberta before finally settling in Vancouver.

His wife, LIU Li Ying, (aka Mary) 劉麗英, was born in Victoria, B.C. She was a third-generation, Canadian-born Chinese. When Yu Wah married LIU Li Ying (Mary), she lost her status as a British subject and could not automatically receive Canadian citizenship with the Canadian Citizenship Act of 1947. The couple would eventually apply for and become Canadian citizens in 1954. A similar loss of status happened to one of Mary’s sisters when she too married a man from China.

The couple would have two sons: John Gee Ho MARK (b. 1947 in Vernon, B.C.) and Gordon Gin Gee MARK (b. 1948 in Grande Prairie, Alberta).

The boys were often told they had to study hard and learn to be proficient in Chinese because they would need it if they ever went back to China. Later, the sons realized they were told this because their parents were not Canadian citizens; they presumed that the Canadian government could send the family back to China at any time.

Yu Wah was an owner and cook of cafe shops in Grande Prairie and in Vancouver. He also owned and operated a grocery store on Arbutus Street in Vancouver.

Yu Wah’s sons recall: “For Christmas, he liked making fruit cakes for his extended family... To scrape the batter off the mixing bowl, he would curl his second finger and use it as a flexible spatula. He never had to look for a spatula and by simply washing his hands he always had a clean finger spatula to use again!”

Yu Wah passed away on January 29, 1965.

Born LOW Sui Oy, Lilian Sam was a headstrong feisty waitress, "glamour girl", translator, seamstress, and mother of six.

She was born on August 26th, 1919 at 389 E. Hastings Street, Vancouver to parents Low Wing (father) and Wong Shee (mother). Not much is known about her father, whom she claimed she never knew (though there is photo evidence they met), but there are tales of him being a butler for a member of parliament or a cook.

Lilian said her mother was a musician who played the "Chinese piano" in the brothels of Chinatown, though it was likely her mother, Wong Shee, was a sex worker and/or madam in the same establishments she played at. During Lilian's childhood, she spent many years in an orphanage for Chinese children in Victoria (possibly the Oriental Home and School) alongside her sisters, Jessie & Sui Hing Low, while her mother relocated to Toronto and Ottawa with her 4 sons: Richard, Harry, Tommy, and Jimmy.

At the age of 13, Lilian dropped out of school to support her family and began to waitress at the BC Royal Cafe and then the Pender Cafe. During those years waitressing, Lilian and her friends, Dorothy Burton and Marie Bandura-nee Joseph (sisters from the Qayqayt First Nation), were known about Chinatown as the "Glamour Girls" as they would often dress up in the latest fashions, gaining them attention from the young men of the neighbourhood.

At the age of 21, Lilian was betrothed to a man named Kenny Sui Yuk, who after impregnating her left her for another woman - leaving Lilian to raise their son, Robert Yorke (his last name was changed out of spite), alone.

In the 1940s, being a single-mother with a child out of wedlock, Lilian was ostracised from Chinatown, causing her to have many feelings of resentment towards the community and ultimately leading her to move from the area to the Commercial Drive area in the 1950s.

While in the new neighbourhood, she met Gordon Sui Chong Sam, a nearby mechanic, whom she later married in 1953. Together, they added five more children to their family and were deeply in love until Lilian passed in 2017 surrounded by her large family, shortly after her 98th birthday.

Lilian was loved deeply by her family and those who knew her. She was admired for her stubborn attitude, great-sense of humour, and determination to be happy - against all odds.

WONG Sew worked as a labourer on the railroad and then eventually in the restaurant business as a cook in the Calgary area and later Edmonton and Leduc, Alberta. He was born July 29, 1896 in Chew King, Sun Ning, China, and arrived in Canada on February 9, 1913.

Sew made a trip back to China that lasted over a year (June 1922 to December 1923) in order to have an arranged marriage with Mah Shee.

By 1924, he was working as a cook and living at 92 East Pender Street in Vancouver.

Sew would make the long trek to China again to be with his wife. He stayed this second time from November 1936 to 1938. The couple would have two sons.

In 1941, Mah Shee died and a young 19-year-old woman, Mah Wee Tong, took on the role of looking after Sew’s children in China.

In 1948, Sew returned to China yet again, but this time to marry Mah Wee Tong. By then, she was age 27 and Sew was 52 years old.

They would not be reunited in Canada until 1959. The couple would have two children together: a son born in China in 1948, and daughter born in Canada in 1960.

Sew officially became a Canadian citizen on January 14, 1958.

He passed away May 26, 1982 in Edmonton, Alberta.

WONG Ng Chee (known in Canada as Archie Wong) arrived in Vancouver on July 30, 1923, a few weeks after the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act was in force. The Act allowed those already in transit to enter Canada.

Archie was 12 years old. He lived with his father and four of his uncles who intended to open an import-export business together.

For a few years, Archie attended Strathcona Public School in Vancouver. But when he was a young adult his father died, and that led him to move to Toronto.

In Toronto, Archive worked as a grocer, then a restaurateur, and finally as a produce clerk.

He also loved to gamble. On Sundays, he would go to Chinatown with 2 or 3 kids in tow (all under the age of 7). He would set up the children at a table in a restaurant and buy each of them a bottle of the soft drink Orange Crush and a straw. He would then slip into the back room and the children would hear loud voices and excitement from behind the door.

In 1985, Archie visited his village in China for the first time in about 50 years. He didn't recognize the drive to the village; when he left for Canada, no roads had been built yet. Archie was delighted to see the huge banyan tree that he climbed on and played under as a boy. However, he was deeply saddened by the sight of his family’s original house; abandoned and neglected. That memory depressed him for some time upon his return to Canada.

Archie and his Canadian-born wife Marjorie had six children: Kathy, David, Frances, Carol, Richard, and Michael.

He passed away in Toronto on June 8, 1993.

GIN Yee was born in 1882. He arrived in Canada in 1908 with his two brothers, paying the $500 head tax.

One of his first jobs in Canada was delivering coal which involved having to ride in an open wagon during the winter months. Gin Yee was often harassed by gangs of white boys. He suffered a bad leg injury during one of these encounters and had trouble walking the rest of his life.

Later, Yee opened a laundry. It was a small, wood-frame store on Robson Street in Vancouver. He lived in the back where he washed the clothes. He did the ironing in the front of the store and wrapped up the cleaned laundry in brown paper bundles, which he placed on shelves behind the counter. Yee kept a long wooden pole beside the shelves. The pole was in easy reach and was intended to help him fend off any hoodlums who might try to rob him.

Over the decade separated from his family, Yee sent money back to China with the intention of returning one day and buying more land. However, when the Communists took over, all of Yee’s lands were taken away and the family was left with just the house.

With the farmlands gone, Gin Yee brought his two sons to Canada, in 1951 and 1952. However, Yee’s wife, his sons' wives and the grandchildren stayed behind. When the Communists began prosecuting former landowners, the women and grandchildren escaped to Hong Kong. Yee continued to send money to support his family and to help them buy a place to live in Hong Kong.

In 1958, his youngest son, Wing Hah (also known as George Gin) brought his wife, 8-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son, to Canada.

Yee gave up his laundry business when his eyesight started to fail him. There was no room in the small apartment his son’s family lived in, so Yee moved into a rooming house not far away. He would visit his son’s family for dinner every Sunday.

As his grandson, Bill Gin, recalls “Our apartment was on the third floor. I would watch from the window for him to come, so that I could help him walk up the stairs. For that, he would always reward me a nickel and tell me not to spend it, but save it.”

In 1965, Yee died suddenly when he fell from his second-storey open hallway. It was believed he had lost his balance and broke through the wooden railing. After his death, his son finally brought Gin Yee’s wife over to Canada.

In 1735 an academy of mining was established in northern Hungary in Selmec, in what is now Slovakia – courses in forestry were added in 1809. After the end of the First World War and the collapse of Austria-Hungary in 1918, Czechoslovakia gained its independence – the new country included the town of Selmec. As the School of Mining and Forestry was primarily a Hungarian institution, it was moved – first to Budapest, then in March 1919 to Sopron near the Austrian border.
After the Second World War, Hungary was occupied by the Soviet Union. In October 1956, a rebellion took place and Hungarian citizens, including students in Sopron, attempted to drive Soviet occupying forces out of the country. The Soviets crushed the uprising in November 1956. About 250 forestry students, professors, and their families fled Sopron across the border to Austria. Kalman Roller, dean of the Sopron Faculty of Forestry, did everything he could to keep his group of refugees together. When it became apparent that they would not be able to return to Hungary, Dean Roller sent letters to twenty countries asking for refuge. While several countries expressed interest, Canada’s response was the most promising. The Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia offered to “adopt” the Sopron forestry programme. UBC guaranteed it would remain separate – the Sopron Division of Forestry – until all current students graduated. Classes would be given by Sopron faculty in Hungarian, gradually phasing in English courses given by UBC professors. After several lengthy debates, many Sopron students and faculty decided to accept the offer from UBC. In January 1957, 14 faculty members and 200 students with their families left for Canada. After short stops in St. John and Abbotsford, the group settled temporarily in Powell River, taking time to study English and adjust to their new home.
The first academic year began at UBC in September 1957. There was initially a difficult period of adjustment. The language was the main barrier between the Sopron people and the rest of the University administration and students. However, both sides had enough goodwill to resolve any misunderstandings and other issues. A good working relationship between Dean Roller, UBC Forestry Dean George Allen, and UBC President Norman MacKenzie were also essential during this period. By May 1961, the last class had graduated from the Sopron Division, making the total number of graduates 141. Since arriving at UBC, Sopron Division faculty and alumni have profoundly impacted the forestry profession and the forest industry in British Columbia and across Canada.

Dorothy Edith Smith (née Place) was born in Northallerton in northern England. Her father, Tom Place, was a timber merchant and her mother, Dorothy Foster Place, was a chemist who had spent time in jail alongside Sylvia Parkhurst. Smith was accepted into the London School of Economics and received a bachelor's degree in Sociology in 1955. She married William Smith, an American who was studying in London at that time. They both moved to Berkeley and attended the University of California, but William Smith later left his family. Dorothy Smith joined the faculty at Berkeley and, being the only woman, was often ignored by her colleagues. In 1968, she moved to Vancouver and joined the University of British Columbia. Along with others, she created a women's studies program at the university, which, at the time, was only the second in Canada. In recognition of her contributions to the "transformation of sociology" and for extending the boundaries of "feminist standpoint theory" to "include race, class, and gender," Smith received numerous awards from the American Sociological Association, including the American Sociological Association's Career of Distinguished Scholarship Award in 1999 and the Jessie Bernard Award for Feminist Sociology in 1993.

Chan Shee was born in China in 1893 in [中山 Zhongshan] county. Upon marriage to CHOW/JOW Hong Yee, she became known as Chow Chan Shee and Mrs. Jow Hong Yee.

In late 1919, she journeyed to Canada to join her husband who already resided there. By 1923, the family had made a home in the small but vibrant Chinatown of Lethbridge, Alberta. She and her husband had two sons who were born in Canada: Fred (b. 1923) and Peter (b. 1925).

Eventually, the Chow family settled in Vancouver, BC and resided in a house on the north side of the 400 block East Pender Street, between Dunlevy and Jackson Avenues, in the Strathcona-Chinatown neighbourhood. She was a housewife and a loving mother.

Sadly, in 1934 at the young age of 41, Chan Shee would pass away in Vancouver. Her granddaughter, Brenda Hoy, shares: “My paternal grandmother passed away at home. My father, Peter [Hong Yee] Chow, relayed that the song “When Irish Eyes are Smiling”, was playing on the radio at that time. Hence, whenever he heard that song, it would remind him of his mother.” She is interred in Mountain View Cemetery in the old Chinese section.

Wong Shee, wife of GOON Ling Dang, was born of the Wong clan sometime in June 1891 in a small hamlet in [新寧 Sunning / Xinning]. The area would later be known as Toisan/Taishan.

Not much is known about her youth, but she was previously married, giving birth to her first son, CHIN Chuck Wing, in 1911, becoming widowed at a young age. After many years, at the age of 30, she embarked on the steamer, the Empress of Russia, in 1922 for a new husband and a new life. She left her son, Chuck Wing, behind in China.

Her new husband, GOON Ling Dang, was a prominent merchant, contractor, and cannery owner. He also ran a general store between Canton and Shanghai Alley called Jun Kee Co. His first marriage had been to Jennie Wah Chong (1872-1921) who was one of the first Chinese to attend school in Vancouver. Jennie’s parents owned and operated Wah Chong Washing & Ironing; a portrait of the family in front of the business (with Jennie on the far left) is in the photograph collection of the City of Vancouver Archives, included to help fill gaps in the visual record of the city.

Unbeknownst to Wong Shee, Ling Dang was 33 years her senior. According to numerous relatives, “apparently she 'wanted to run' when she saw how old he was.” Her husband had two children, Tyson and Pearl, from his previous marriage. She would bare him 5 more children: Emily (b. 1923), Lily (b. 1924), Rose (b. 1926), Mary (b. 1927), and Susie (b. 1929). Concurrently, Wong Shee supported the growing family, holding various jobs through the years. She worked at a fish cannery, sack factory, Chinese sausage factory, and on a farm, where she hand-picked peas, beans and tomatoes.

In 1937, the elderly Mr. Goon remarked to The Vancouver Sun on the great many of his friends and neighbours who had now passed away or departed. By 1940, he was by some accounts one of the oldest Chinese-born residents of Vancouver. In 1946, the family had saved enough money to move from Canton Alley to a home on 746 East Pender Street in Strathcona because the Canton Alley/Shanghai Alley land was being expropriated by the city, so all residents had to move. Soon after, in 1952, Wong Shee was widowed once more.

With the end of Chinese Exclusion in 1947, Wong Shee at last was able to sponsor her son, Chuck Wing, to come to Canada, though their reunion was cut short, with Chuck Wing passing away in 1959. Wong Shee took comfort and pride in her garden, growing squash, green beans, and snow peas.

After she retired, when the Chau Luen Tower was built in 1973, Wong Shee was among the first to select a suite on account of her husband; he was a former Vice-President of the Chinese Empire Reform Association. Her grandchildren remember her for her nian gao (Chinese New Year cake), homemade clothes, and elaborately hand-embroidered slippers with flowers and lace. “When I think of what a grandma looks like, I picture my grandmother in her round spectacles, white wavy hair, thick knee high stockings, long skirt, knitted sweaters, and always had a smile for her grandkids!” In her old age, she still had strong hands, smashing peanut shells and cockroaches alike! After moving to the apartment, she still continued to garden, bussing to a different daughter’s home on weekdays to tend the plots and beds. Wong Shee died in 1977, much beloved by her children and grandchildren.

QUAN Joo (QUAN Yuen) was born in China in 1889. He arrived in Canada in 1911 and became known as Joseph Quan.

He met and married Betsey LAW (1906-1999) and the couple settled in New Westminster, BC and ran a tailor shop. Together, they had four daughters and two sons.

When Joseph passed away in 1943, Betsey took over the tailor shop and eventually moved to Burnaby.

One of their daughters, Denise, studied ballet and moved to New York City. She performed in the Broadway production of the Flower Drum song in the dream sequence.

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.

FUNG Tin Pun (known in Canada as Jack FUNG) was born in China in 1896 in the district of 開平 Hoiping / Kaiping, in 廣東 Guangdong Province.

He married and had a family in China.

Jack arrived in Victoria, BC in 1907. He never travelled back to China and was remarried to a second wife in Canada.

He worked as a sawer in the sawmills. Later in life, Jack opened his own drycleaning business and settled in Vancouver.

Jack passed away in 1981 in Vancouver.

WOO Sou Lum was born in 1883 as a peasant in the village of Sar Doi, in [新會 Sunwui / Xinhui] county, China. He came to Canada in 1898 paying the head tax. He was 15 years old and his name was recorded as "Wo Lem." Over his life in Canada, his name would be written in a multitude of ways.

In 1902, Sou Lum returned to his village to marry his first wife, LUM Song Kam. Upon marrying, his name became WOO Jew Sim. His first wife would give birth to a son whom they named WOO Gong Hing.

In 1919, Sou Lum was issued a C.I.36 certificate with his photo on it. The C.I.36 replaced his original C.I.5 certificate which had no photo. On the new document his name is recorded three ways: Wo Lem (WO Sow Lem) (WO Jew Shuen).

On a subsequent visit to China, he married his second wife in Hong Kong: LEE Wun Fong. They returned to Canada in 1920 and went to live in Revelstoke, BC. Their first two children died. Their third child, a son named William Woo, would live to adulthood as would seven other children that the couple had together: Effie, Edith, Margaret, Helen, Hazel, Mary, and Dugald.

Sou Lum’s most significant job was that of a fish cannery contractor, where he was responsible for the crew of labourers in various fish canneries, mainly St. Mungo cannery in New Westminster, BC.

His skills at home involved cooking for the family, which was something all the children remembered. In 1950, he was able to bring his teenage grandson from China, to live with this family in Vancouver.

Sou Lum passed away in 1961.

Her birth name was LEE Wun Fong. Records indicate she was born and raised in China in 1899, and there are indications that she spent time with her family in Hong Kong.

She married WOO Sou Lum in Hong Kong and was his second wife. Soon after the marriage, in 1920, she immigrated to Canada paying the head tax. She initially lived with Sou Lum in Revelstoke, BC but later settled with her husband in Vancouver.

The couple’s first child died. Their second child, WOO Lai Quon (also known as Ruby) also died as a teenager when the family moved to Vancouver. Their third child was a boy whom they named William WOO. He would be one of Lee Shee’s eight children who would survive into adulthood: William, Effie, Edith, Margaret, Helen, Hazel, Mary, and Dugald.

Stories have Lee Shee spending time socializing in the Chinatown area or travelling back to China to visit her family.

Her cooking skills were limited according to her children. However, she was fortunate to have her husband and children to help with the meals.

She died in 1964.

Abe KOO was born KOO Ah Lan on December 26, 1914, in New Westminster, BC, as the second of nine children. Her father, KOO Man Heen (1883–1966), originally from [廣東 Guangdong] province, had arrived in British Columbia in 1898. He returned to China in 1910 and married Wong Shee (1890–1955), also of [廣東 Guangdong]; she then immigrated to Canada with him.

Abe’s father worked as a tailor in New Westminster’s Chinatown, owning and operating the Sun On Company. At the time, New Westminster was home to the oldest Chinese Canadian community in western Canada until it was expropriated in 1948. A devastating fire destroyed the family business in 1922, and the Koo family moved to Calgary in 1929. Abe’s father became a market gardener, operating Koo’s Market Garden on the Colonel Walker Estate near the Bow River, from 1929 until the 1950s. Abe and her siblings grew up helping out on the farm.

While living in Calgary, Abe was introduced to Louie Gum Ho 雷金灝 (known after marriage as Louie Gar Shek 雷家碩) who had arrived in Canada in 1921 and was working for the H.Y. Louie company. They courted and were engaged by Chinese custom and tradition, eventually marrying on November 1, 1932. After marriage, Abe was also known as LOUIE Wai Lan.

The couple honeymooned in China to visit Gum Ho’s family in [中山 Zhongshan]. Back in Canada, they lived in Vancouver, where Gum Ho bought a truck and sold produce door-to-door.

Abe and Gum Ho had 11 children: four daughters and seven sons: William, Edward, Marian, Norman, Richard, Robert, Thomas, Andrew, Maxine, Elizabeth and Deborah. Six of Abe’s seven sons graduated from medical school and went on to practice medicine in Calgary and Vancouver, while two of her daughters—Elizabeth and Maxine—also became medical professionals. Robert and Deborah became successful businesspersons. Abe and Gum Ho were both very proud of this family tradition, which carried on amongst their grandchildren and great-grandchildren, many of whom also entered medicine.

In 1949, Gum Ho moved to Calgary while Abe stayed in Vancouver. In Calgary, Gum Ho opened the Tai Lee Herbal Shop at 206 Centre Street in Calgary’s Chinatown, which he ran until he retired.

In Vancouver, Abe became a shopkeeper. In 1952, she first operated the 7th Avenue Grocery at Commercial and 7th Avenue. A year later, she sold the business and moved with her children to join her husband in Calgary. There, she opened the Glenmore Grocery at 1621 34th Avenue in 1953, which she ran until she retired in 1968.

Abe passed away in Guadeloupe on April 10, 1997. Her legacy, along with her husband’s, lives on through her many children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. To carry on his grandparents’ values, Abe’s grandson, Dr. Brian Louie, founded a scholarship in his grandparents’ names for aspiring medical professionals at the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Alberta.

Norman LOW was born LOW Chew Mon on May 9, 1923 in Vancouver. At the time of his birth, Norman’s father, LOW Mutt, worked at a store called Wo Yick. Later, the family would work on a farm located on Marine Drive near Main Street. And, eventually, the Low family would own and operate Lowe’s Fruit Market in West Vancouver, BC.

During WWII, Norman served with the secretive, guerrilla-trained Force 136 in Southeast Asia. The group was recruited and trained by British Special Operations and were sworn to secrecy, some say for 50 years.

Norman was part of a small, five-man team of Chinese Canadians who parachuted behind enemy lines in Japanese-occupied Borneo. The men survived in the jungle and for five-months helped train Dayak headhunters who were the local resistance fighters. Norman, together with these resistance fighters, undertook espionage and sabotage of Japanese supply lines.

It was during his time, struggling to survive in the hot and humid Borneo jungle, that Norman contracted malaria. When he returned to Canada in February of 1946, he ended up in a hospital suffering from pneumonia and pleurisy arising from his malaria. The local doctors were baffled and skeptical that any Canadian soldier could have contracted the disease. Firstly, Norman’s service records did not indicate he had left Canada. As well, it was not common knowledge that some Chinese Canadians were secretly deployed to the jungles of Southeast Asia and Norman was not at liberty to share details with the physicians.

Norman and his teammates were awarded the Military Medal in September 1946. A Vancouver Sun newspaper photograph shows a thin, young man (Norman) in a dressing gown being presented the award while in his hospital bed. Sitting next to him is his good friend and fellow Force 136 soldier, Louey King.

After the war, Norman would marry Anita Jack Jang and the couple would have two children: a daughter and a son.

The former soldier also was in and out of hospital suffering the after-effects of malaria and also recuperating from back surgery. During this time, Norman studied through correspondence school. He focused on electronics, radio and television, and eventually found work in overseas telecommunications.

Norman never fully regained his health and died in 1960. He was only 37 years old.

Kwan Kwai's record was found among the private papers of the QUAN Gow family, suggesting a fraternal relationship by the same surname (Kwan/Quan) and/or village in [開平 Hoiping / Kaiping].

George Chong was born CHONG Ham Wing in Canada in 1905, the second child of Chong Hooie (1861-1936) and Fong Shee (1885-1957). He would eventually be of 11 children.

George left elementary school to help support his family. He was a hard worker, dependable and uncomplaining.

At age 34, George married 21-year-old Dorothy Wong. When asked why he married Dorothy, George replied “she had good teeth.” The couple would have three children.

Early on, George supported his family working as a cook at the Canadian Army Training Centre in Saint Jerome, Quebec. His children attended a one-room schoolhouse for their first year of school.

George eventually moved his family to Toronto where he bought a house. He was always self-employed and, for a time, he owned and operated a fruit and vegetable store with a business partner.

In his later years, Chong took the skills he learned from his father, and ran a shoe repair store called “Bill’s Shoe Repair.” Bill was the name of the previous owner but George, having lived through the Great Depression, valued money. He decided not to change the name of the shop as he could save money by not commissioning a new sign. Not surprisingly, customers called him Bill.

George enjoyed remarkably good health throughout his life. His children have no memory of him ever missing a day’s work.

In his retirement years, George had time to enlarge his vegetable garden which included a pear tree. Well into his 80s, he climbed a ladder each year to trim the tree's top branches.

George was accepting and optimistic about life. His final three days of life were spent in a hospital as he battled pneumonia. On the third evening, his voice was deceptively strong when he gave a simple instruction to “bring my cane tomorrow.” George passed away in 1993.

Quan Jew Louie (J38242) was born in Vancouver, B.C. in 1921, the son of influential Chinatown businessman, H.Y. Louie. Louie attended the University of British Columbia and was an outstanding student as well as an all-round athlete. Louie enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in November, 1942. He was trained as a bomb aimer and posted to No. 6 Group RCAF Bomber Command, No. 420 (Snowy Owl) Squadron at Tholthorpe, England. Louie flew almost 30 missions over Europe.

On a mission over Madgeburg, Germany on January 16/17, 1945, Louie’s Halifax bomber was hit by enemy flak and caught fire. An eyewitness to the carnage, a German farmer, later described the plane as out of control and a ball of fire before it crashed in a field. Quan died in the crash along with four other crew mates. Louie was only 23 years old. He and his crew mates were buried in Collective Grave No. 5 in the Berlin 1939-1945 War Cemetery located in Charlottenberg, Germany.

Gerald Kwok Wing LEE was born on August 31, 1920, in Victoria, BC, to father Cecil Sit-Shin Lee and mother Grace Won Cumyow. He grew up in Victoria before moving to Vancouver during the Great Depression.

At the age of 24 during WWII, Gerald enlisted in the U.S. Navy. As there were limited employment opportunities in Vancouver at the time, he felt this was the best choice to make a better life for himself. He was assigned as a minesweeper in the Pacific Ocean. Upon his discharge, he received his U.S. citizenship and made the country his home until until his death.

After being discharged from military service, Gerald attended a vocational school and studied radar equipment. After completing his studies, he headed to San Francisco where he embarked upon a 32-year career as a radio technician with United Airlines. His career there developed what would become a lifelong love of travel and enjoying new cuisines.

Gerald married Bernice Jean Moy on August 18, 1950 in Los Angeles. The couple had one daughter together: Sabrina Lee (known after marriage as Sabrina Lee Vasquez).

He passed away on June 6, 2008.

Ben Dick QUAN, the second Canadian-born child of Quan Gow and Der Shee, was born at the family home in Mount Pleasant. He arrived into the world in 1923 as the 1923 Chinese Immigration Act was coming into effect. With his sister Mary and brother Dick, he attended boarding school in Guangdong, China in the late 1930s.

In 1942, he ranked first in the province in the junior matriculation examinations and won a full scholarship to the University of British Columbia. Graduating with first class honours in mechanical engineering in 1947, he was discouraged from finding work in the automotive industry, which was closed to Canadians of Asian descent. He was, however, hired by the National Research Council in Ottawa to work on projects including the engine testing programme for the Avro Arrow Fighter. Unlike private industry, the government was willing to hire Chinese Canadians as engineers.

While in Ottawa, Ben met and married Isabel Yee in 1956. Tragically, that same year, while travelling back from Vancouver after visiting Ben’s family, Isabel died in an automobile accident. In 1957, Ben accompanied his father on an extended trip to Taiwan, Japan, and Hong Kong; in Taipei, he met and married Cathrine Wu. He worked in Ottawa at the National Research Council until 1961, after which he and his wife moved back to Vancouver in 1962.

In 1964, when he discovered that his 1962 income tax return had been stamped "Oriental" by the Canadian government, Ben raised his voice in protest, sending letters to Prime Minister Lester Pearson, the Leader of the Opposition John Diefenbaker, members of the Cabinet, and local MPs, noting that the use of the word to single out Canadians of East Asian ancestry was disturbing and inappropriate, particularly since he was born and educated in Canada. After the Deputy Minister of National Revenue responded with some unconvincing excuses about the need to ensure the proper identification of taxpayers, the department bowed to public criticism, including commentary by Vancouver Sun columnist Jack Wasserman, and ended the use of the term "Oriental" as a designation.

Ben worked as a consulting engineer in the pulp and paper industry, for periods in both Seattle and Vancouver. In his spare time, he enjoyed working with his hands to design and make contemporary mid-century furniture. He died in Vancouver in 1989. Ben and Cathrine had two children, Winston and Virginia. Virginia passed away from leukaemia in 1978. Winston went into finance and then academia, and now lives in Scotland with his partner and three children.

Mary SAM was born SAM Mee York in Victoria on February 16, 1915. She was the third of eight children.

Along with her siblings, Mary was blocked from attending regular public schools. She instead received an education at a place called “the Chicken House” (Gie Jie Ook in Cantonese).

While growing up, she worked at Loy Sing Guen, a well-known butcher shop on Fisgard Street in Victoria's Chinatown that her father owned. The store is still operating today. Back then, it was a butcher shop by day, and a restaurant by night. Mary did the necessary chores like plucking duck feathers, barbecuing the pork, and serving in the restaurant. As one of the older children, she also looked after her younger siblings. Later in life, Mary worked in greenhouses and on farms.

In 1934, she married Chan Que ENG who was employed at the Pioneer Fruit and Vegetable Co. Together, they had seven children, although one child, a boy, died shortly after birth.

Mary passed away in 1988 at age 73.

Jennie Howe was born Sue Ping on March 19, 1898 in China.

She arrived in Vancouver in 1907 at about 10 years old. However, Jennie recalled being carried off the ship by her mother, Mrs. Woo Duck (28). Jennie's mother was either the second or third wife of Goon Hug Qual (45) who was a merchant.

Also on the same ship was Jennie’s younger sister​,​ Woo Dia. She was also recorded as age 10, however, she was in fact 2-3 years younger than Jennie.​

In 1918, Jennie’s parents arranged for her to marry Wong Get (also known as Wong Get Howe). She was 16 and he was only 25 years old, but Jennie thought he was too old.

Regardless of her initial feelings toward her husband, the couple moved to Oyen, Alberta in 1921 where their first child, David, was born. By 1923 the family was living in Blaine Lake, Saskatchewan where their second child, Pearl, was born. By the end of that year, they were living in Marcelin, Saskatchewan and running the Star Cafe.

Jennie's husband passed away in 1941. She continued to run the restaurant with her son.

Her daughter Pearl died in 1985. And two years later, in 1987, Jennie passed away in Marcelin. She was 89.

Marion Laura MAH Yick (known as Mary "Laura" MAH and Mary Laura WONG after marriage) was born in Salmon Arm on November 12, 1923. She was the second daughter of MAH Tin Yick who owned and operated a hand laundry business.

Shortly after Laura’s birth, her mother died. Her father, unable to find another wife due to the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act, was convinced that the best thing to do was to place both Laura and her older sister Helen into the care of the Oriental Home and School in Victoria. Despite the distance, he maintained a relationship with his daughters throughout their lives.

During WWII, Laura wanted to join the war effort. She dreamed of joining the Air Force, but when she discovered it was not taking any more women, Laura did not hesitate to sign up with the Army. She enlisted with the Canadian Women’s Army Corps.

With her round, baby face, Laura did not look old enough to enlist. When she tried to join, the recruiting officer said “You’re too young, you’re not 18.”

Laura shot back “I’ll be back tomorrow with my birth certificate,” but the officer still found it hard to believe that she was 19 years old.

Laura was sent to Kitchener, Ontario for basic training. Later she took some clerical courses. She was so good, that a staff sergeant asked if Laura would be willing to become a teacher for new recruits. She declined and later found herself back in Vancouver where she was employed as a teletype keyboard operator stationed out of the old Hotel Vancouver.

Years later, Laura recalled she felt no discrimination from her peers and had many good memories of her time in service. “Staying at the Hotel Vancouver, they had a beautiful rooftop garden there. So sometimes in the afternoon before we had to go to work, we would sunbathe out on the roof garden.”

After the war, in 1947, Laura was chosen to be among the first Chinese Canadians to receive their citizenship.

She married Larry Wong, also a war veteran and they had one daughter: Teresa (later known as Teresa Bradford after marriage).

Her daughter described what happen when Laura announced to her employer that she was getting married. “My mom worked as a teletypist after she left the military for Trans Canada Airlines (Air Canada). She had to leave the company when she told them that she was getting married. At that time, any woman who had plans to get married was asked to resign from their job.”

Laura was not out of the workforce for very long. As Teresa recalls “she went back to work in 1959, when I was four years old. She worked for several different stock brokerage companies as a teletypist. In the mid 1970s, my mom applied for a job as an educational assistant working for the Toronto Board of Education. She worked in three different public schools and worked with the Kindergarten classes. She loved her job and so enjoyed working with the children. She retired at 65.”

On March 22, 2016, Laura passed away in Toronto in her 93rd year.

Hong Shee was born in 1880 in Toishan. She arrived in Canada in December 1911 as the wife of businessman, Lee Thung, who had arrived earlier in 1889.

Her husband was influential and the family was quite well off. Like many women of her time, she stayed home and raised her two children: Alice and Kepment. Hong Shee did not interact much with Caucasian society and confined herself to her home or to Chinatown.

Some of her later years after her husband passed away in 1955 were spent living first with her son, and later with her daughter.

Hong Shee’s great granddaughter, Lisa Lee, shared that “While she lived with my father (her grandson Ian Lee), she did not cook, as the daughter-in-law did the cooking. But, during the Spring Festival, Hong Shee would make amazing dumplings and zoong (glutinous rice wrapped in lotus leaves). My father says that the ones shaped as crescents were so delicious. He has, to date, not tasted better dumplings or zoong.”

Mrs. Lee Thung passed away in 1973.