The Faculty of Arts at UBC has offered German language and literary programming since the University’s inauguration, with a separate Department of German created in 1946 to reflect an expansion in course offerings. The name was changed to the Department of Germanic Studies in 1974 with the addition of Swedish-language courses, and further courses on Scandinavian and Northern European language, literature, and culture continued to expand its scope. In 1999, the department merged with the former Department of Slavonic Studies to become the Department of Germanic Studies and Russian and Slavonic Studies. Following the addition of the undergraduate program in Modern European Studies, the department acquired its present name and focus.

The Department of Central, Eastern and Northern European Studies (CENES) offers cultural, literary, and media studies courses that span the areas of Central, Eastern and Northern Europe. It offers undergraduate majors and minors in Modern European Studies, German Studies, Nordic Studies, and Russian; as well as a Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy.

Major French literary critic, revue director, editorial director and independent publisher, Maurice Nadeau (1911-2013) was the editorial director of “Le Chemin de la vie” collection at Buchet/Chastel (Corrêa) when Under the Volcano was first published in France.

He then moved to Julliard and afterwards to Denoël where he published Malcolm Lowry’s works in French (Lunar Caustic, Ultramarine, Écoute notre voix, Ô Seigneur, Sombre comme la tombe où repose mon ami, Choix de Lettres, En route vers l’île de Gabriola).

He also published in his revue, Les Lettres Nouvelles, a short story (Brave petit bateau, the French translation of The Bravest Boat) in November 1953 and two special issues about Malcolm Lowry in July 1960 and May-June 1974 respectively.

CKOV Kelowna was established in 1928 by George Dunn, Bobby Johnston, Harry Blakeborough and James William Bromley Browne with the original call sign 10AY. The station broadcasted church services, plays, and performances by the Ogopogo Concert Club and was known as the Kelowna Amateur Radio Club. Significantly, it is recognized as one of British Columbia’s first radio stations. By 1931, it received a commercial license and 10AY switched to CKOV with the slogan “The Voice of the Okanagan.” The station had a firm grip on media in the Okanagan. It was a CBC Trans-Canada Affiliate by 1946 and it even began CHBC-TV in 1957, alongside CKOK Penticton and CJIB Vernon, although CKOV sold their shares in the late 1970s. Further, CKOV became the first licensed private radio network in Canada through obtaining CKCQ Quesnel in 1957, CKWL Williams Lake in 1960 and CKBX 100 Mile House in 1971.
Okanagan Broadcasters Ltd. (owned by the Browne family for 50 years) sold CKOV to Seacoast Communications Group Inc. in 1988, and by 1998, Jim Pattison Industries Ltd. acquired the assets for CKOV Kelowna from Seacoast. CKOV Kelowna moved to the FM band at 103.1Mhz in 2007 and as a tribute to the Browne family who aided in launching CKOV, the new station continued with the official CKOV call sign but identified on air as “B-103.” In 2010, the call letters were changed to CKQQ-FM and by 2017, the station was rebranded as Beach Radio 103.1 which provided Classic hits from the 80’s and 90’s.

Elizabeth Raum is a prolific composer and oboist. She lived with her husband in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she was principal oboe with the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, until 1975 when they moved to Regina, Saskatchewan. She was an oboist with the Regina Symphony Orchestra from 1975 onward, and principal oboe with the Chamber Players from 1986 until 2010.

Her composition repertoire includes: four operas, 90 chamber pieces, 18 vocal works, and a variety of choral works, ballets, concerti, and major orchestral works. Three of her operas have been filmed for the CBC. She has been commissioned as a composer by orchestras and music organizations across Canada, the US, Europe, China, and Japan, and has received numerous Canadian achievement awards for her work, including an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Mt. St. Vincent University, Halifax, in 2004 and the Saskatchewan Order of Merit in 2010.

CHIN Dip was born in China in 1888, an auspicious year in Chinese culture with the number eight sounding similar to the word “fortune” or “wealth.” So, believing he was destined for riches, he wanted to join his uncle in Canada on the Cariboo gold trail. Dip arrived in May 1902. He was 16 and his name was incorrectly recorded as YEN Shar Jap.

Dip never did make a fortune. Instead, he ended up working in his uncle’s food depot serving gold miners in the area around Quesnel Forks, B.C.

Like many Chinese migrants, his loyalty was to the motherland and he aspired to return to a better China. He joined the Chee Kung Tong in Kamloops and raised funds to bring down the Qing Dynasty.

Kwoi Gin recalls that his great grandfather “never spoke much about his life on the Cariboo Trail, except that he handcrafted a knife from metal scraps found along the railroad tracks. He used that knife for protection against those that came into his uncle’s food depot to cause trouble. This blade also was used to cut off his queue after Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s successful 1911 uprising ending centuries of Qing rule. I was gifted this knife on my 15th birthday, nine months before he passed away.”

Around 1911, Dip wanted to return to China to find a wife, but his identity certificate had been destroyed in a kitchen fire in Quesnel Forks. His journey was delayed while he was interrogated by immigration officials and forced to prove his identity. After waiting a year, he finally was issued a replacement certificate for travel to China. There he married a Chinese-German bi-racial woman who was the daughter of missionaries. His wife remained in China and gave birth to a son.

In 1924, Dip travelled from Canada back to China to find his young son a bride. After the wedding, his son reportedly squandered much of the family’s savings and died at age 16, shortly before his young wife gave birth to a baby boy. Dip never returned to bury his son. He travelled to China again around 1932 to meet his grandson (later known as Suey Kee GIN). Shortly after he returned for Canada, the Japanese invaded China and Dip’s wife was killed when the Army invaded the village. It was a dark time for the family with war and the Great Depression making it difficult for Dip to support his surviving family in China.

After WWII, Dip found his best job. He was hired into the household of Joseph Albert Sullivan, a Canadian Olympic ice hockey player, physician, surgeon, and senator. Dip was treated like family and he remained with the Sullivans for over a decade until his retirement in 1956.

Dip’s grandson eventually made it to Canada in 1951, arriving as a “paper son” under the identity of WONG Dai Hing. It should have been a warm reunion. However, Dip, perhaps feeling he had somehow failed his late son, was overly tough on his grandson.

Dip’s dream was to retire in China, but political upheaval meant he was stuck in Hong Kong living near his daughter-in-law, his grandson’s wife, and his great-grandson. He spent his final years back in Canada where he passed away at age 88, another auspicious year, mirroring his birth in 1888.

YEE Yen Non (also known as Harry Ningnoon YEE) was born in China on March 1, 1908. His father (YEE Yoke Zhong 余煜中) and his older brother Frank were already living in Canada when Harry arrived in May 1923, shortly before the Chinese Exclusion Act went into effect.

Harry was only 12 years old and the immigration official noted that the boy was 4’ 9” and had a scar over his left eye. After clearing immigration, Harry boarded a train to Calgary where he joined his brother and father who operated a Chinese laundry called Paramount Tailors. Harry attended James Short School (formerly Central Public School) but likely also helped out in the laundry business.

In July 1928, Harry travelled with his father back to China. There his family arranged for him to marry CHU Sze on October 2, 1928.

On March 13, 1930, Chu Sze gave birth to a baby girl whom they named YU Seng Hai 余雙囍. Although her name contained the Chinese character for “double happiness,” she tragically died at a young age. But by then, Harry was back in Alberta working. Harry saved enough money to return to China a second time, in October 1936. On this trip he fathered a son, YU Sek Kei 余鍚棋 (YEE Thick Kee in Taishanese) who was born on June 13, 1937. This child contracted polio at a young age.

Sometime after the birth of YU Sek Kei, Harry left for Guangzhou and started a business that resulted in him serving jail time. Fortunately, his brother-in-law had an influential position with the Kuomintang government and arranged for Harry's release. Interestingly, once back in Canada, Harry changed his Chinese name from 余迎愋 to 余煦和. No one knows why, but it may have been an attempt to give himself a new start given the problems he encountered in China.

Harry worked as a travelling salesman in Alberta and, at one time, established a business in St. Paul, Alberta called New Modern Tailors which was also a laundry. He lived in Alberta until April 1942, moving to Vancouver where he purchased a small business on Hastings Street called Windsor Tailors and started a new chapter of his life. He worked long hours at the shop and developed a broad and loyal customer base. He operated the store until 1980.

In 1947, Harry took a second wife, marrying Winnifred Lee (LEE Yuet Siew) in Canada. He and Winnie raised four children.

Harry was very active in the Chinese community with the Yee clan association (Yee Fung Toy Society) and many others. He held executive positions locally and at the national level.

In 1989, Harry finally returned to his ancestral village of Poon Tong (泮塘) in Toisan. It had been 51 years since he left China.

His son Gerry described the trip: “I was with him on that journey that was emotionally overwhelming for him and me. Seeing his first wife and many relatives, young and old, was pure joy. He was singing songs of his youth and savoured every moment of the familiarity of the language, scenery and atmosphere.”

Edward Lee was born October 27, 1921 in Windsor, Ontario. He was one of three children from the King LEE family who enlisted in WWII, with brothers Ben and Peter.

Edward was with the Royal Canadian Air Force from 1942-1945, where he worked as an aero-engine fitter mechanic in 404 Squadron. Part of Coastal Command with missions along the Norwegian coast, 404 Squadron was stationed in Northern England and Scotland during Edward’s tour. The squadron also took part in the D-Day invasion of Normandy, using their bombers to help clear German destroyers.

After the war, Edward returned home to work in the family business, Lee’s Imperial Tavern. He later started his own business, the Edgewater Marina.

All three Lee brothers lived on the same block in double-wide lots next door to each other, all purchased with veteran loans they received after the war.

During the war, on November 29, 1942, he married a Windsor girl named Jean Hong. She was the younger sister of Joseph Hong and George Hong (also from Windsor) who both were Killed in Action within six months of each other in the European theatre.

Edward and Jean had three children Tom (b. 1948); Martha (b. 1952); and Dianne (b. 1957).

He passed away in 2012.

Administrative History
Between 1913 and 1947 administration of the University was primarily conducted by the President, who delegated responsibility among the various Deans. As the University grew in size and complexity, the Board of Governors passed a motion in 1947 to identify a position called "Assistant to the President." While the Board did not clearly state the specific duties and responsibilities, the position did receive signing authority in 1954. At that point, the title was changed to "Dean and Deputy to the President," This position was occupied by Geoffrey C. Andrew (1947-1962). In 1963 on the recommendation of the Woods, Gordon Report (1963), the President and the Board of Governors passed a motion stating that a single person should be recognized as Vice-President to "assist the President in all areas" (BOG minutes, 241, 1963), a position held by William C. Gibson (1963-1969). As a result, either the "Dean and Deputy to the President" position was modified, or an additional VP position was created – Neil G. Perry held the position of VP from 1963 to 1966.
While the University had had positions analogous to Vice President – the position of Bursar and Treasurer, as well as Dean of Inter-Faculty Affairs, for example – the President argued that a position was necessary that was senior to the deans. The Board of Governors agreed, and in 1967 the Board sought to transform the positions held by the Bursar and the Dean of Inter-Faculty affairs into "Deputy President" positions. Accordingly, the Board passed a motion to create three Deputy President posts. However, in 1969 only two positions were created, Deputy President (held by William Armstrong until 1974) and Deputy President and Bursar (held by William White until 1984, during his tenure, the position became "VP and Bursar").
Changes in the British Columbia Universities Act in 1975 resulted in the two Deputy Presidents being replaced by four positions. The offices were set out as follows: Vice President of University Development (held by Michael Shaw until 1983), responsible for animal care, botanical gardens, computing centre, extra-sessional studies, institutional analysis and research; Vice President of Faculty and Student Affairs (held by Erich Vogt until 1981), responsible for athletics, university bookstore, ceremonies, foods services registrar's office, student housing, student awards, and student services; the title of Deputy President and Bursar was changed to Vice President and Bursar without altering the functions of the office (continued to be held by William White until 1984); and Vice President of Administrative Services (held by Charles Connaghan until 1980), responsible for employee relations, physical plant, purchasing, traffic and universities resource council.
In 1980, Vice President of Administrative Services Connaghan resigned. In 1981 the position was changed to VP of University Services, with James Kennedy at the helm until 1984. In 1984 the responsibilities of the office were combined with that of the new Vice-President position of Finance. As a result, the position has been known as Finance, Finance and Administration, Financial Services, Resources and Operations, and is currently Finance & Operations. At various times, the position has had ultimate responsibility for such services as supply management, campus security, the UBC Bookstore, the Development Office, food services, land and building services, human resources, budgeting, treasury, and other business and financial operations. During the search for the first VP, Allen Baxter served as acting VP for a few months in 1984. The first VP was A.B. Gellatly, who served from 1984 until 1995. He was replaced by Terry Sumner in 1995, who left in 2008. Pierre Ouillet became the new VP in 2009. Andrew Simpson replaced Ouillet in 2014. Peter Smailes replaced Simpson in 2018.
The resignation of the Vice President of Faculty and Student Affairs (Vogt) in 1981 resulted in the functions of this office being transferred to the Vice President of University Development (Shaw), whose title was then changed to Vice President Academic and Provost. This office included the associate positions of both Academic and Research, which, by 1986, would become bona fide Vice President positions. In 1983, Shaw left the position and was replaced by Robert H. T. Smith. In 1985, Smith was replaced by Daniel Birch. Birch was replaced by Barry McBride in 1997. Lorne Whitehead replaced McBride in 2004. Whitehead left in 2006 and was replaced by David Farrar in 2007, with George Mackie acting VP from 2006 to 2007. Farrar left in 2015 and was replaced by Andrew Szeri in 2017, with Angela Redish as acting VP from 2015 to 2017.
From 1984 to 1985, a Vice Presidency was created that did not last long. It was called Vice-President of Development and Community Relations. David McMillan held it.
In 1986, the Vice Presidency of Student and Academic Services was created. The position is now known as Vice-President Students. The first president was K. D. Srivastava until 1994. Maria Klawe replaced him in 1995. Mary Risebrough replacedher in 1997. Risebrough was replaced by Brian Sullivan in 1999. After Sullivan left in 2011, Louise Nasmith was acting VP until Louise Cowin was selected to fill the position the same year. Cowin left in 2018, and Andrew Parr worked as VP until Ainsley Carry was chosen to fill the position in 2019.
In 1986, the Vice President of Research was created. This position has been known as Research and International and (as of 2017) Research and Innovation. The first VP was Peter Larkin. Robert replaced him. C. Miller, Jr. in 1990. In 1995, Miller was replaced by Bernard Bressler, who left in 1999). David H. Dolphin was acting VP from 1999 to 2000 and again in 2005 when Indira Samaresekera, who attained the position in 2000, left. After that, John Hepburn took the helm from 2005 to 2016. After that, Helen Burt was acting VP until Gail Murphy became VP in 2017.
In 1992 the Board of Governors recommended that the office of the Vice Presidency expand from four positions to five. The recommendation was passed, and the Vice President of External Affairs was added. The functions of this office include university relations and development. Since then, it has been known as VP External and Legal Affairs; VP External, Legal and Community Engagement; VP, Communications and Community Partnership; and is currently VP, External Relations. Peter W. Ufford held this position until 1998); Charles Slonecker was acting VP until Dennis Pavlich was hired in 2001. Pavlich left in 2007, and Stephen Owen took over until 2011. Pascal Spothelfer held the position until 2014. Philip Steenkamp then held the position from 2015 to 2018. The search for the new head of this position is still ongoing (Feb. 2019). In the meantime, Michael White and Adriaan de Jager are co-acting VPs.
In 2008 the development (fundraising) and alumni engagement functions were aligned under the new VP position of Development and Alumni Engagement. Barbara Miles was the first holder of the office and remained so until 2018); Jeff Todd acted as VP for a few months until Heather McCaw took over as VP in 2018.
In 2012, the responsibility of human resources was removed from the VP of Finance and was subsequently placed under the responsibility of a new position known as Vice President Human Resources. This position was initially by Lisa Castle until 2017. Linda McKnight was acting VP for a few months until Barbara Meens Thistle became the new VP in 2017.

WONG On Lee (known in Canada as Dan) was born on April 12, 1904 in a small village in [台山 Toisan / Taishan] county, in China’s Guangdong province. Dan arrived in Canada in June 1922, traveling to Vancouver on the Empress of Asia steamship, and paid the $500 head tax required for Chinese entry to the country.

Dan was 18 years old but was recorded as 15 years of age. He arrived with a 13-year-old “paper” brother. Travelling together meant a degree of security for the youth and allowed two families to benefit from having sons in Canada.

Dan headed to the Brooks, Alberta area to work with an uncle who cooked in a CPR work camp. From there, Dan worked in restaurants in Tompkins, Saskatchewan and The Pas, Manitoba. In 1927, he settled in the southeastern Alberta farming hamlet of Queenstown, where he opened a café.

Dan became a very proficient cook. A long-time friend from Queenstown told the family that Dan had perfected his skill for making apple pies and pancakes during his café years. He said Dan often sold his pies while enjoying his love of community baseball in Queenstown. Dan eventually converted his café into a general store.

In 1933, Dan returned to China and wed Mah See. The long years of the Chinese Exclusion Act were in effect, so Dan had to return to Queenstown on his own. When he left China, Mah See was pregnant with their first child. She remained in China, living with Dan’s mother and extended family. When Dan returned for Canada, he had no idea how long it would be before they could be reunited. Shortly after his return to Canada, the couple's first son, Gene, was born.

Through the years, Dan continued to operate his well-stocked general store and became a fixture in the Queenstown community. After WWII, the Chinese revolution, and repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1947, Mah See and Gene were able join Dan in Canada in the fall of 1949. After being on his own since the 1930s, Dan was now able to be in the company of his wife and and finally meet his son, now 15 years old. Between 1951 and 1955, Dan and Mah See had four more children: Lily, Ken, Art and Fred.

In Queenstown, as with other farming communities, a general store was important and relied upon for food and necessities. During hard times when money was tight, Dan often allowed customers to purchase on credit. There were times when he would be reimbursed months or years later, and sometimes not at all.

As the years passed, Queenstown’s population, along with its economic and business activity, declined. By 1960, approximately 30 people remained in the hamlet. Dan decided that a move to the Calgary area would be better for the family. Dan’s oldest son, Gene, had already settled in Calgary with his wife, after originally moving to the city for post-secondary education.

Dan and Gene decided to purchase a corner store (Parkway Store) in Calgary in 1961. Gene operated the store while a second story was added to the building to include family apartments. By November 1963, the renovations were complete, and Dan and the rest of the Wong family left Queenstown and moved to Calgary.

The Calgary store was typically open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, 363 days a year and only closed on Christmas and New Year’s Day. Dan kept the store stocked with groceries and had a wide variety of other goods including clothes, houseware, toys and hardware. It was truly a family operation with everyone spending time working in the store.

Operating a corner store occasionally had its dramatic moments. One Saturday evening in November 1989, a teenager attempted to rob the store. Dan, by then 85-years-old, used a hockey stick he kept behind the counter to fight off the would-be robber who pulled out a knife. Dan didn’t realize he’d been injured until he took off his shirt to reveal a blood-stained undershirt. Dan was taken to hospital to treat the wound. Despite the injury, Dan opened the store as usual on Sunday morning. On Monday morning, the Calgary Herald headline of the incident read “Blade no match for 85-year-old”.

Dan’s wife, Mah See, passed away in 1993 after suffering from poor health for a number of years. Though Dan’s family encouraged him to retire, he continued to run the store. Keeping busy and his love for interaction with his regular customers kept him going. In the latter years, when the store was not as busy as it once was, you would often find Dan chatting and laughing with a customer, with a hockey game on the store’s TV in the background.

By the time Dan moved to Calgary in 1963, he had already worked in and operated small businesses for 41 years in Canada. Dan would go on to operate the Calgary store for another 34 years. In 1997, at the age of 93, Dan suffered a debilitating stroke which left him in an extended care home. He passed away in 2000.

Dan was always admired for his hard work and determination and remembered for his great cooking, healthy appetite and his hearty laugh. He had a wonderful laugh that would come from his belly and his entire body would shake. The old-timers in Calgary’s Chinese community referred to Dan by the nickname “Happy”.

Around 1995, Dan learned that his older brother’s family in the home village had a telephone. He hadn’t spoken to his brother since his visit to China in 1933. He called the family but because his brother was disabled and the family needed to arrange to move him to the phone, Dan wasn’t able to speak to him on this call. He promised to phone again a few months later on Chinese New Year’s. When Dan called, he learned that his brother had recently passed away. This was a reminder of the sadness and disappointments that Dad faced in his life, but also his resilience.

Dan loved to wear Viyella plaid shirts in the winter. In his later years, instead of changing shirts for special occasions, he would put a tie on his plaid shirt. When his son Fred pointed out that the tie didn’t match with his shirt, he simply responded “At my age, I don’t have to match”.

NGAI Yit Oy was born LEE Yit Oy. She arrived in Canada in 1909 as 10-year-old, Miss LEE Yuk Oye, traveling with her mother and two other children, likely her siblings, aged 12 and 16. They were the family of a merchant named LEE Ann Soo whom they were joining in Canada. As members of the merchant class, they were exempt from paying the head tax.

Yit Oy grew up in Victoria. At the age of 17, she married NGAI Ling Hop, a sea captain also from Victoria. After marriage, she was known as NGAI Yit Oy and Mrs. NGAI Ling Hop (Mrs. Ay Lum Hop).

NGAI Ling Hop was born on Coal Island and was the grandson of a Hakka native, Ngai Sze, from Guangdong province who arrived in Canada in the 1860s. Ngai Sze is remembered because he packed a statue of the deity, Tam Kung, in his luggage. Before departing to work at gold panning along the Fraser River, he left the statue in a wooden niche near Victoria's Johnson Street Bridge so that others could worship there. The statue was recovered upon Ngai Sze’s return and the establishment of the historic Tam Kung Temple in Victoria's Chinatown came to pass.

Yit Oy and Ling Hop had five children: Jessie, George, Roy, May and Elmer. George, Roy and Elmer joined their father in the family business and became fishermen. Father and sons were adept in carpentry and mechanics. They built several fishing vessels: Laurel Point I, Laurel Point II, Laurel Point III and Laurel Point IV; as well as a cabin cruiser named Mercury.

Tragically, in May of 1952, George and Roy were lost at sea during a fierce storm. Their bodies and fishing vessel were never found.

It is said that Yit Oy never recovered from the loss of her sons. She was sombre thereafter and it is believed she died of a broken heart. She passed away on July 26, 1961 of myocardial infarction and had suffered from acute depression.

Her grandchildren fondly remember Yit Oy. “When we think of Grandmother Ngai, we can see her in the kitchen and in the parlour of the family home on Caledonia Street. Grandmother was often cooking and quietly going about household chores. We were young children at the time but wish that we had understood more of the hardships and her heartaches. We appreciate having the chance to recollect and honour her memory through this 100th Anniversary project.”

QUAN Hin (also recorded as QUAN Hui) arrived in Vancouver in the winter (January) of 1910 at age 18. He was from Hoy Ping and worked as a labourer.

Erich Vogt was born in Steinbach, Manitoba, on November 12, 1929. He received his academic degrees at the University of Manitoba (B.Sc. Honours 1951, M.Sc. 1952), where he was awarded the Gold Medal in Science upon his graduation, and at Princeton University (Ph.D. 1955) as the student of Eugene Wigner, with whom he attended the last scientific lecture given by Albert Einstein. In 1965 Vogt became a professor at the University of British Columbia. He became one of the co-founders (with John Warren) behind TRIUMF, Canada's national particle and nuclear physics laboratory. Between September 1974 and April 1980, Erich was Chair of the TRIUMF Board of Management and was Laboratory Director from 1981 until his retirement in March 1994. From 1975 until 1981, he was Vice President of Faculty and Student Affairs at the University of British Columbia. In 1978, he was the founding Chair of the Science Council of British Columbia, a position he held until 1980.

Jim NIPP was born NIP Lung Jun in 1905 in Cumberland, B.C. He was the second oldest child of NIP Dip Wai and Ing Shee’s ten children, all of whom were born in Canada. Jim’s father worked in the mines at the time.

Around 1908, the family moved to Victoria. They lived first at 544 Fisgard at the family's dry goods store called Yick Fung. The store moved to 1605 Government in 1938, and in 1963 it moved again to 1624 Government. The store was run by Nipp family members until 1981.

Jim was considered the strongest man in Chinatown because he won the weightlifting contest multiple times at the annual Chinese School picnic at Beacon Hill Park. The contestants had to carry sacks of rice and Jim could carry the most.

Jim worked first at the family store, Yick Fung. About 1930, the family opened Sang Sang Livingstone Greenhouse, and Jim began working there with two of his brothers, Philip and Bill, as a farmer.

On August 29, 1931, Jim married Lily Chan in Victoria. In 1946, Jim and Lily moved to Vancouver and began operating Grand Grocers at 3663 West Broadway. The couple ran the store until 1952 when sadly they both passed away.

Lily (born July 21, 1906 in Victoria) died on January 5, 1952. Jim would pass away at the end of that year, on December 14th, 1952.

Jim and Lily had one daughter.

QUAN Sang Now (known in Canada as Charlie QUAN) was born in 1907 in [開平 Hoiping / Kaiping], China.

In 1923, Charlie left his family and journeyed to Canada alone. The Exclusion Act came into effect shortly after; those already in transit were allowed entry. He was sponsored by an “uncle” (likely a distant relative) who was already in Canada, claiming to be 12 years old. His actual age of 15 or 16 made him over the age limit for entry.

Charlie settled in Leader, Saskatchewan. Sometime in the 1940s, he moved to Vancouver where he lived the rest of his life.

He worked primarily as a restaurant cook and grocer. Charlie had to work and save over many years to repay the $500 head tax his “uncle” advanced.

In 1929, Charlie married LEE Own Yee (1910-1984) in China, who became QUAN LEE Own Yee. The Exclusion Act would separate the couple for over twenty years. They were married 55 years until her death in 1984.

The couple had four children. Two were born in China: QUAN Wah Fay, aka Philip QUAN (1930-2004); and QUAN Gem Len, aka Len QUAN (1936-2006).

Following the repeal of the Exclusion Act, Philip emigrated to Canada in 1949, followed shortly thereafter by Charlie’s wife and daughter. Charlie would have two more children born in Canada: Wesley QUAN (b.1954) and Gary QUAN (b.1955).

Philip’s son, Terry QUAN (b.1961), recalls his grandfather was actively involved in two Chinese clan organizations: Quan Lung Sai Tong and Lung Kong Kung Shaw. "He played mahjong regularly at the former for decades, and these Associations provided him with a vast social network that he navigated effortlessly.”

“As a kid in the ‘60s and '70s, I accompanied my grandfather on his Sunday morning shopping trips to Chinatown. People would recognize him and say hello everywhere we went. It seemed everyone knew him and everyone liked him. He was a fixture in Chinatown. After he retired, he took the bus to Chinatown every day from his home at 6th and Commercial Drive until he was well over 100 years old.”

“I was surprised when my grandfather, in his eighties, became a leader in the Chinese head tax redress movement through his involvement with the Head Tax Families Society of Canada and the Chinese Canadian National Council. I knew my grandfather as a quiet and modest man, slow to anger, content to stay in the background. But after joining the redress movement, his profile grew exponentially with his activism. He appeared frequently in print and television over the next 15 years, passionately advocating for social justice and redress. He met with two Prime Ministers (Paul Martin and Stephen Harper), and ultimately succeeded at age 99 in getting an official apology from the Canadian government for all head tax payers and their descendants. On October 20, 2006 in Vancouver, Heritage Minister Beverley Oda honoured my grandfather by presenting him with Canada’s first head tax redress payment.”

“My grandfather is often mentioned in textbooks and films about Chinese Canadian history,” says Terry. “He is an historical figure now. He had a difficult life, but he persevered and continues to inspire me and those who knew him. We are all tremendously proud of him.”

Charlie Quan died peacefully in Vancouver on February 23, 2012 at the age of 105. On January 23, 2013, Charlie was awarded, posthumously, the Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee Medal for his significant contributions to Canada.

Tommy Wong was born WONG Bing Tong in Victoria, B.C. in 1918. His father was a merchant named WONG Toy who had both his first and second wives living with him in Canada.

Although Tommy was the right age to serve in WWII, he was disqualified due to a foot problem. (His younger brothers Frank and Bing Chew both enlisted.)

As an adult, Tommy eventually found himself in Vancouver’s Chinatown where he owned and operated Pender Cafe for many years. After the cafe was sold, Tommy continued to work in Chinatown at Pacific Produce until his retirement.

In November 1948, Tommy was matched and married to Daisy Chong of Victoria (also known as SUE Yong Kue). The couple lived in Vancouver on East 5th Avenue for a time, then moved to Burnaby. There they raised their two children – Barbara (Barbara Chan after marriage) and Gary – and lived out their lives together.

Tommy’s wife worked outside the home (at Buckshon Pharmacy in Vancouver) at a time when it was not as common for married women to have careers.

Tommy loved being in the Chinese community. His daughter, Barbara, recalls in great detail the shopping trips she would have with her father. She remembers them for both good and bad reasons.

“I remember always going grocery shopping in Chinatown with my father. It was a special day for me as I would go to the cafe and get special treats: pop and sometimes a butter tart or apple tart which were Pender Cafe specialties. Then it was off to visit “uncles” at the other Chinese grocery stores on Pender Street. I always got more treats like little bags of ginger or preserved plums.

We would go to the dreaded chicken store which had a terrible smell that I disliked intensely. In those days, you picked your fresh chicken which was slaughtered and put into a big drum which defeathered the chicken. Quite the operation which, according to me, took forever as I had to stay in that stinky place as we had to bring home the "fresh" chicken. To this day, my husband Chuck and I laugh about this as he had the same experience with his father.”

Tommy passed away in 1989.

AUE Sum (known as Sam to his customers) was born in China on December 19, 1894. He came from [開平 Hoiping / Kaiping], a coastal town in the province of Guangdong.

Sum landed in Port aux Basque, Newfoundland in July 1921 and paid its head tax. He may have arrived in Canada previously at a different port of entry, possibly working on the railway in British Columbia.

In 1934, he sponsored his 13-year-old nephew, Hamme Chow Aue (aka Oue Heam Choo) to live with him in St. John’s. Sum arranged for a Mr. Hong to escort Hamme, as his nephew was too young to travel alone.

Sum was a “married bachelor”; he wed in China at a young age but never returned to visit his wife and have children. Sum lived the life of a single man in Canada.

In St. John’s, Sum earned a living running a laundry, perhaps with other business partners. There were workers doing different jobs, including deliveries. But Sum stayed at the laundry serving customers, wrapping laundry in brown paper, and other shop tasks.

One grandniece, Marie, recalls, “As a child, I remember Sum Aue as a very short man with a bald head who worked very hard, non-stop at the laundry. He was always very stoic. He always spoke to us in a matter-of-fact tone, and only occasionally smiled with a twinkle in his eye.”

Another grandniece, Rita, recalls, “[M]y grand-uncle would walk to the dock of St. John’s harbour near Water Street where the local fishermen were selling their daily catch and processing it with cod heads heaping in piles below the dock. [He] would buy a large cod and… drag it home with its tail just barely touching the ground. We would have poached cod with stewed tomatoes, vegetables and rice that afternoon. Then at times, my grand-uncle would give me a nickel to buy a bag of chips or a dime to buy a bottle of coke at the convenience store next door.”

In 1969, upon closing and selling the laundry, he was invited to move in with his nephew’s family on Pleasant Street. Having lived a life as a bachelor, he declined to give up that lifestyle. He continued to live on 5 Bates Hill, known as the Tai Mei Club (a.k.a. the Aue/Au/Oue/Ou clan house). Anyone who was an Aue/Au/Oue/Ou could stay there freely and would enjoy the support of the clan. There, he lived with other bachelors, and enjoyed playing mah jong and sharing news and stories from his fellow clan relatives and friends.

Sum Aue passed away on August 26, 1980.

AUE Heam Cho was born in China on October 15, 1920. He arrived in St. John's, Newfoundland in 1934 at 13 years old, sponsored by his uncle, AUE Sum, to join him. He would be known in Canada as Hamme.

Hamme was the eldest child in his family. His parents and siblings stayed behind in China to work the land. Times were hard for the family; it was fortunate that Hamme was sent out of China as he ended up being the only child to survive.

In St. John’s, Hamme helped his uncle Sum at his laundry business. By 1942, Hamme ran a restaurant on Water Street. He returned to China to marry on February 21, 1947. The arranged marriage would result in seven children (three sons and four daughters).

From 1949 to 1952, Hamme moved around quite a bit. Besides St. John’s, NL; he spent time in Trenton, ON; Killarney, MB; and Winnipeg, MB.

His wife and oldest son joined him in Winnipeg in 1952. In 1954, the couple returned to Newfoundland and settled on Bell Island, opening a snack bar/confectionary store on Main Street known as Hamme’s Store. In 1960, he bought a restaurant and downsized the store.

In the mid-1960s, he went to Grand Falls for work, while his family stayed at Bell Island.

By 1969, his entire family moved back to St. John’s where he ran the restaurant at Ashton Motel until 1972. They also opened the Pleasant Street Restaurant where his family lived until 1989. His wife ran the Pleasant Street Restaurant while he ran the Ashton Motel Restaurant. All their children helped out in both restaurants.

His eldest daughter, Rita, recalls, “My most prominent memory of Dad was how hard he had to work to support his family of 7 children. Therefore, we all had to do our share to support each other… [A]t times Dad would call for my help and I would have to go, hoping that it would not be dark before I would arrive there. The main reason for my assistance was to have an extra pair of eyes to watch the cash register and the restaurant’s inventory so that nothing would get stolen or vandalized while Dad would go out to board up the large windows for the night… [W]e were often taunted by the neighbourhood boys… who would often throw tomatoes or rotten eggs when Dad would go out to board up the windows. The extra pair of eyes would help to identify the trouble-makers. If boarding up the windows was not done, inevitably the windows would be trashed during the night...”

From 1972-1991, Hamme owned and operated the Mei Mei Restaurant at the Goulds, a rural neighbourhood within the outskirts of St. John’s proper. And between 1991-1997, he helped out at his oldest son’s restaurants, the Hot Shoppe and New Moon Restaurant.

Over this period, Hamme and his wife made many long visits to Oakville, Ontario where many of their children lived.

Hamme's wife helped found the present-day Chinese Association of Newfoundland Labrador (CANL). The couple hosted families who were immigrating or transitioning into their new lives in NL.

Hamme Chow Aue passed away on July 13, 2001.

GIN Chok was born in China in 1916. He arrived in Newfoundland in 1931 during the early years of the Great Depression. He was 16 years old and did not speak a word of English. However, he had connections in the Dominion of Newfoundland as his father had been working there periodically since 1911.

Although still a teenager, he was already married. His wife, Hong Shee, remained in China and the couple would not see each other again for almost 16 years.

He was known in Newfoundland as Frank. In his first years in Newfoundland, Frank worked in different Chinese hand laundries in the capital city of St. John’s. His son Gordon recalls: “Years later, [our] father’s laundry (ironing) skills at home were impeccable and the cleaned-crisp dress shirts he ironed were much better than what I could get through dry-cleaning today.”

Frank eventually left the hand laundry business when his brother, Hong JIM, arrived in 1947. The two opened up a café and restaurant business in downtown St. John’s.

Frank sponsored his wife to join him in Canada in 1955. The couple had had one child together when Frank visited China after WWII, but the boy had passed away. Reunited in Canada, the couple would have two more children: a daughter (Annie, b. 1956) and a son (Gordon, b. 1957).

By 1957, the brothers had relocated uptown and opened Frank’s Snack Bar which their respective spouses helped run. In the early 1960s, Frank’s brother opened up his own café in Mount Pearl and called it Jim’s Snack Bar.

Running the snack bar business involved very long hours. Frank’s son, Gordon, remembers that when the kids came home from school and before doing their homework, they were assigned to K.P. duty such as peeling bags and bags of potatoes to make french fries for the family business.

Despite the demands of the snack bar, Gordon recalls his father going somewhere every Sunday afternoon. Only later in life did he learn that it was to the local Chinese clan association where the men gathered for a friendly game of mah jong. As the children grew older, the family would go out for Sunday family drives, and on fishing trips to local ponds.

A stoic man of few words, Frank was not one to share stories of discrimination and he never told his children that he paid Newfoundland's $300 Chinese head tax. Instead, he focused on the children’s future. He encouraged them to speak the family’s native Toishan (Hoisan) dialect. And, despite having no formal education, he helped his children learn to read and write elemental Chinese characters. As his son, Gordon, remembers, “All my father wanted for his children was for us to be honours students, find a good job, and [settle] down and to raise a family.”

Frank was an avid reader and was always caught up on the world news. He had a subscription to the Shing Wah Daily News, a pro-Nationalist Party newspaper for Chinese immigrants in Canada that was published in Toronto between 1922 to 1990. When Frank finished reading his newspapers, they were collected and passed on to Chinese friends in the community.

Gordon sums up his father’s life this way: “My father lived a meagre life with few material belongings. Anything that was broke, he 'jury-rigged' and fixed until it was non-repairable. This spoke to his generation and how they scrimped and saved for a rainy day. …He taught us that nothing in life is free and that we had to work hard to get what we want in life.”

Frank passed away in 1995.

JIM Fung was born in 1878 in [台山 Toisan / Taishan], China. He was the first of his family to travel to the Dominion of Newfoundland, arriving in November 1905, a year before it introduced its Chinese head tax.

Fung settled in St. John’s and, along with some of his travel companions, started Soon Lee Laundry on the corner of Military and Monkstown Roads. After working for a few years, he won a large sum of money while gambling with his fellow laundrymen. It was enough for him to arrange the long return voyage to China around 1911 or early 1912.

Back in China, and now aged 34, he married Tam See who was 17 years old. They would soon have their first child, a boy born in 1913 who they named JIM Au Tow.

While in China, Fung also invested in property. Over time, he purchased additional plots of farmland; installed irrigation systems to increase production from two to three crops per year; and built a 5-storey concrete, pagoda-style house complete with 4th floor windows with gun slits to ward off bandits.

Jim Fung returned to Newfoundland by August 1913. Newfoundland had since introduced a Chinese head tax of $300 which Fung was required to pay. The laundryman must have returned to China again sometime in the early 1920s, as his second son, Fong JIM was born in 1922, followed by a daughter, Rose JIM, in 1923.

In the early 1930s, Fung made yet another round trip to China, returning to Newfoundland in 1932 with his eldest son and paying his head tax. Father and son worked together at Soon Lee Laundry.

Fung passed away on January 19, 1945, at the age of 61 and was buried at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in St. John’s, NL.

JIM Fong was born on December 10, 1922, in [台山 Toisan / Taishan], China, the second son of JIM Fung (father) and Tam See (mother). He was raised by his mother alongside his elder brother, JIM Au Tow, and his younger sister, JIN Moy Guey. His father, Fung, had traveled to Newfoundland before he was born, and returned occasionally to visit his family in China whenever he had enough money to make the return voyage.

His brother, Au Tow, left for Newfoundland in 1932 to help their father run the laundry business—Soon Lee Laundry. Fong first attempted to join his brother and father in 1941 on a ship sailing from Hong Kong, but was prevented from doing so by the Japanese invasion and occupation of Hong Kong.

Still in China, Fong married Wong Kim Sue. The couple had a daughter, Betty, in 1945, and a son, King, in 1948.

Fong’s father, JIM Fung, died in St. John’s in 1944, leaving his older brother, Au Tow, to run their family's share of the laundry business. In 1948, Fong was finally granted a passport from the Republic of China to join his brother. At long last, in 1949, 27-year-old Fong arrived in St. John’s to join his older brother at Soon Lee Laundry, paying the $300 head tax upon entry.

As the laundry industry became increasingly mechanized, Fong and his brother decided to close Soon Lee Laundry and embark on other business ventures in Newfoundland. In 1953, Fong moved to Stephenville to open the Crescent Restaurant with a friend, hoping to attract clientele from a nearby U.S. military base. His brother opened a general store in Harbour Grace. A few years later, Au Tow joined Fong in the restaurant business.

Now firmly established, Fong was finally able to arrange for his wife, son, and nephew, Quong, to join him in Stephenville in 1956. His daughter, Betty, was held behind due to suspicion of active tuberculosis by a Hong Kong immigration officer. Thanks to the active support and sponsorship of a lawyer Fong had befriended in St. John’s, further testing proved Betty was healthy and she finally arrived in Newfoundland in December 1958. With Fong’s mother, Tam See, arriving the next year in November 1959, the family was fully reunited after 27 years apart. Fong and his wife had four more children in Canada: Jeanie (b. 1957), Patrick (b. 1958), William (b. 1961), and Patricia (b. 1962).

In 1956, Fong and his wife opened another restaurant called Tip Top Restaurant (also referred to as Tip Top Grill) in Stephenville, which they ran until 1965, coinciding with the closure of the town's U.S. military base. Fong, his brother, and his nephew moved to Baie Verte in 1961 where they opened Jim’s Restaurant. The venture proved to be a great success. Fong continued to supervise the operations of both restaurants in the period between 1961 and 1965, while his wife, Kim Sue, ran the daily operation of Tip Top Grill in Stephenville.

In 1963, due to the economic opportunities available, he opened a general store—Jim’s Store—in an adjacent building. Two years later, Fong brought the rest of his family to join him in Baie Verte, where they settled permanently.

After a lengthy illness, Fong passed away on April 1, 1983, in Baie Verte, at the age of 61, and was buried at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in St. John’s.

AU Ming Shu (commonly known as AU Ming Lee) was born in China in 1911. He arrived in Newfoundland in 1938, paying the $300 head tax on Chinese entry.

His father was living and working in Boston, Massachusetts, however, its country's Chinese Exclusion Act prevented Ming Lee from joining him.

Ming Lee settled on Bell Island, a small island located off the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland in Conception Bay. There he owned a convenience store, then later a restaurant.

He had left behind in China a wife and a young daughter named Chew (b. 1937) who was born shortly before he left. It would be almost eight years before he returned to China for a visit and fathered his second child, another girl named Sherry (b. 1949).

The family would not reunite until the mid 1950s, after Newfoundland had joined Canada and the Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed. In 1955, Ming Lee’s wife and daughter Sherry arrived in Canada; their eldest daughter Chew stayed in Hong Kong to marry and immigrate to Boston in the early 1960s.

Ming Lee and his wife would have two more children, both born in Newfoundland: Janie (b. 1956) and Gary (b.1957). He would eventually live in the capital of Newfoundland, St. John’s.

His daughter Janie Au fondly recalls her father’s generosity towards children. “A memory I have of my father occurred when I was about ten years old, I used to go to a neighbours to play during the summer. They had a farm and about 12 kids so I liked to go there since was always another kid to play with. One day I saw my father coming up the road towards us and I thought he was coming to bring me home. But no, he had a box of popsicles with him (we used to sell them in our store) and he started to give all the kids popsicles. I found out later that he used to do this often.”

Ming Lee passed away in 1999.

The Kelowna Capital News is a free community newspaper, published once weekly. Central Okanagan Capital News is alternative and supplementary title. The paper was founded in 1930 by Leslie L. “Les” Kerry, who published the first issue on August 30 of that year. The Capital News was initially printed on a hand-cranked Gestetner duplicator. In the 1950s, ownership transferred to Kerry’s daughter Jane and her husband, Graham Takoff. In 1970, Takoff, assumed the role of publisher and increased publication frequency to thrice weekly by 1978. Business locations have included the base of Bernard Avenue and Enterprise Way (since 1990). Takoff sold the Capital News to Lower Mainland Publishing Ltd. in 1993, which ended 63 years of family ownership and marked the sale of the largest privately owned community newspaper in Western Canada at that time. Lower Mainland Publishing Ltd. sold its interest in the paper in 2001 to a group of Kelowna investors including Bruce Hamilton, then-owner of the Kelowna Rockets Junior Hockey Team. This group sold the paper to Black Press in 2003. Karen Hill is the publisher as of 2022.

The Paper Trail to the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act was conceived in 2020 by community curator and exhibition designer, Catherine B. Clement, to commemorate one hundred years of the passing of Canada’s Chinese Exclusion Act. The community-based project has two components: first, a national, year-long exhibition opening July 1st, 2023 in Vancouver’s Chinatown; secondly, a community archive of the Chinese Immigration (C.I.) certificates issued to implement the Chinese Immigration Act (1885-1947), within which the 1923 Exclusion Act was a significant amendment and dark turn.

Project values include paying tribute to those who lived through this period, preserving documentary evidence and oral history, educating new generations, and public telling of this collective story. The project prioritized community participation through the “crowdsourcing” of family histories and archival documents from across every province.

The methodology of community collection was adapted by Clement from her previous ten-year research project, Chinatown Through a Wide Lens: The Hidden Photographs of Yucho Chow, that was coming to a close. Many families who had contributed photos from their private family collections also had Chinese Immigration certificates in their custody. Original C.I. certificates were identified, borrowed, digitized, and returned to families, while helping members interpret the records. Family history was also collected as important context to understanding the records and remembering certificate subjects.

In 2020, the project team expanded its capacity for identifying and digitizing certificates through a volunteer scanning network with locations established in Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Halifax, and St. John’s. In 2021, the team worked with Library and Archives Canada to have previously restricted Chinese Immigration records opened and made accessible, namely, C.I.44 forms related to the registration of all Chinese in Canada required by Section 18 of the Exclusion Act.

In 2022, the project pursued collection of oral history interviews and digital content creation in complement to concept development, design and outreach of the exhibition. The project will launch on Canada Day, July 1st, 2023 as an exhibition at the Chinese Canadian Museum of British Columbia based in Vancouver’s Chinatown.

George Michael Volkoff was a prominent theoretical physicist known for his pioneering work on neutron stars, his calculations for the design of the CANDU nuclear reactor during World War II, and his important role at the University of British Columbia as a teacher, researcher, and administrator. He was born in Moscow, Russia, on 23 February 1914. With his family, he emigrated to Canada when he was 10 years old – settling first in Winnipeg, then in Vancouver, where he attended Lord Roberts School. His father, Mikhail Mikhailovich Volkoff (spelled “Volkov” in Russia), was an engineer but could not find appropriate work in Canada. The family relocated to Harbin, Manchuria, in 1927, where George attended a Russian-language high school, and his father taught at a Russian technical school.
George returned to Vancouver in 1930 to attend the University of British Columbia, where he would earn a B.A. in physics in 1934, followed by an M.A. in 1936. He was a brilliant student, finishing top of his class in 1934 and winning the Governor-General’s Award. His mother died in Manchuria in 1928. His father returned to the Soviet Union in 1936, only to be caught up in the Stalinist purges of that period. In 1937 he was arrested and exiled to a work camp, where he died in 1940. Before this happened, however, he corresponded regularly with George. He also compiled his family history and collected various family documents, all of which he sent to his son before his arrest.
As a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, George wrote his pioneering paper, “On Massive Neutron Cores,” with J. Robert Oppenheimer as co-author. In this paper, he postulated the existence of neutron stars three decades before they were actually observed in nature. After earning his Ph.D. in physics at Berkeley in 1940, he continued to investigate topics in nuclear physics.
George returned to UBC in 1940 as an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and, apart from his war work, remained there for the rest of his career – he was promoted to full professor in 1946. From 1961 to 1970, he was the head of his department, and in 1970 he was appointed Dean of Science, succeeding his brother-in-law Vladimir Okulitch – he held that position until his retirement in 1979.
During World War II, George lived in Montreal, where he worked in the Allied war effort at the University of Montreal, designing the first nuclear reactor to produce plutonium and other nuclear materials in connection with the Manhattan Project. It was completed in 1945, and the design became known as the CANDU reactor. For this, he was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1945 by UBC. In 1946, he was also made a member of the Order of the British Empire.
During the Cold War, George carried out important work as a liaison with scientists from the Soviet Union and translated many Russian-language physics articles into English. He served as the Canadian Association of Physicists president from 1962 to 1963. In 1994, George’s earlier work on neutron stars was largely acknowledged by his appointment as an officer of the Order of Canada.
In 1940 George married Olga Okulitch, whom he had met while he was a student at UBC. He had become good friends with her and her family. The Okulitchs were also Russian emigres – they had fled during the 1917 Revolution, eventually settling on a family farm in Abbotsford. Like George, Olga had been an outstanding student (B.A. 1933, M.A. 1935), majoring in bacteriology and microbiology, and was also an excellent scientist. While living in Montreal, she worked on the first commercial production of penicillin. She later taught at UBC and did research in industrial mycology. Olga and George would enjoy almost sixty years of married life together, living off-campus in the University Hill neighbourhood. They had three daughters: Elizabeth, Alexandra, and Olga.
Two of Olga’s brothers, Vladimir and George, also attended UBC, majoring in geological engineering and dairying. A third brother, Vladislav (“Lindy”), took the UBC agriculture occupational training course. Vladimir Okulitch became the first Dean of Science at UBC after the Faculty of Arts and Science was split in 1963; George eventually became general manager of Dairyland, and Vladislav became manager of the Okulitch family farm.
George Volkoff suffered a severe brain hemorrhage in 1996, which left him paralyzed but unable to speak. He spent the rest of his life in the extended care ward of UBC Hospital. He died on 24 April 2000. His wife Olga died on 10 January 2005.

Peter Jepson-Young, better known as Dr. Peter, was born in New Westminster, British Columbia, in 1957 and raised in Nanaimo and North Vancouver. After graduating in 1975 from high school, he attended the University of British Columbia, graduating with a BSc in 1979. He wrote the entrance exam for UBC’s School of Medicine three times before he was accepted in May 1981. Unfortunately, in 1986 he was diagnosed with AIDS and became the longest surviving victim of the disease during this phase of the AIDS epidemic. He began promoting HIV/AIDS awareness and education in the early 1990s through his regular segment on CBC Television news broadcasts called The Dr. Peter Diaries. By his death in 1992, he had recorded 111 episodes. Surrounded by family, friends, and his partner, Andy Hiscox, Jepson-Young passed away on 15 November 1992.

Lois Cudmore (née Still) was born in 1915. She attended UBC from 1934 to 1938, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree. While at UBC, Lois was an active member of the Biological Discussion Club and UBC Players Club. After graduating from UBC, Lois received a Master of Sciences in Zoology and Botany from the University of California, Los Angeles. Lois lived with her husband Ralph Cudmore in New Westminster and Montreal. After Ralph passed away in 1980, Lois moved to Guelph, Ontario to be closer to family and had retired from her career by 1988. Lois was an artist, passionate gardener, field naturalist and environmentalist. In her later life, she took a special interest in Carolinian forest preservation. Lois passed away on September 5, 2010.

GO Kee Gim arrived in Vancouver, Canada shortly after WWI. He made his way to the other side of the continent and settled in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Initially, Kee Gim worked in a laundry. But later, he pooled his money with three business partners and opened up a restaurant in Halifax.

He would travel back to China numerous times to get married and have a total of four children born there: two daughters and two sons.

His eldest daughter and grandson came to Canada in the 1950s, after the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act. His other children would immigrate to Canada later.

During the final years of his life, Kee Gim moved to Ottawa, Ontario and lived with his eldest daughter.

Kee Gim passed away in 1962 at the relatively young age of 62.

Mickey Yip was born YIP May Woo in 1924 in Vancouver to YIP Sing and LEE Shee. Mickey was the youngest of nine children. Her father was a nephew of Chinatown pioneer Yip Sang.

Mickey grew up in a big house in East Vancouver with her siblings and later with some of her in-laws and nieces and nephews as well. They all shared one bathroom. She excelled in athletics at a young age, becoming a midget champion.

After WWII, Mickey married Henry Soone who had returned from serving in the US Navy. When Henry found a job in California, Mickey and Henry settled in Oakland. They had three children: Wendy, Greg, and Lisa.

Though the couple was able to buy a house, their housing choices were often more limited in those early years due to discrimination. Mickey recalled being treated badly by a hospital nurse when Lisa was born because the nurse mistook Mickey for a Korean in the aftermath of the Korean War.

Mickey did not work when her children were younger. After they matured, she worked in retail sales and in a series of clerical positions.

Upon retirement, Mickey and Henry lived in Oakland for a number of years before moving back to Vancouver in their final years.

Her only son, Greg, shares a memory of Mickey. “Mom was infamous for never divulging her age. In fact, she even got mad when I revealed my age. Anyone who tried to guess her age was usually way off the mark due to her ageless beauty.”

Mickey passed away in 2016.

LEE Hee Chong (also known as LEE Fat Sing) was a leading Montreal businessman whose family spans several generations of Chinese Canadian history. Lee Hee Chong’s father came to Canada around 1880; Lee Hee Chong’s eldest son, Arthur Lee, was a prominent community leader and philanthropist who lived until 2002. Many of Lee Hee Chong’s descendants live in Montreal, Toronto, and elsewhere in North America.

He was born in August 1883 in I Gong village, 台山 Toisan / Taishan, 廣東 Guangdong province. His father arrived in Canada to work on the railroad before returning to China. Lee Hee Chong came to Canada in August 1903 on board the Empress of China. He paid the $100 head tax shortly before the amount increased to $500. He worked in a laundry in St. Jean before moving to Montreal to become a partner and manager of Wing Lung, an import-export trading company.

Around 1910, he returned to China and married Fong Shee and their daughter Jessie was born in I Gong in 1911. In 1915, he brought them to Canada. They were exempt from paying the head tax as the wife and daughter of a merchant. A further six sons were born in Montreal. Lee Hee Chong continued to manage Wing Lung, and remained in Montreal when his two oldest children, Jessie and Arthur, moved to Hong Kong in 1935 with Jessie’s in-laws. Lee Hee Chong and his family lived at 1162 St. Urbain in Montreal. The family business suffered greatly during WWII after shipments from China were cut off.

When Lee Hee Chong’s son Arthur returned from China in 1946, the family founded Wing Hing Lung, a noodle manufacturing business in Montreal Chinatown which later became known as Wing’s Noodles Ltd. Lee Hee Chong and his wife moved to Notre Dame de Grace, a suburb of Montreal, after the war. He died on June 25, 1954. Arthur and Samuel oversaw the growth of the noodle business, which produced fresh, dry and fried noodles, along with egg roll and won ton covers, and later diversified into fortune cookies, almond cookies, sauces and rice noodles. Wing’s was the first producer of fortune cookies in eastern Canada and introduced bilingual French-and-English fortune cookies. From 1965 until 2022, Wing’s factory was located in the oldest building in Montreal Chinatown, the former British and Canadian School, built in 1826. Wing’s continues to be owned and operated by Lee Hee Chong’s grandchildren.

Arthur Lee was a kindly, unpretentious and generous man. He felt blessed for the ability to give to worthy causes in the Montreal community, including hospitals and churches. He donated a pagoda that stood in Chinatown for many years. He also gave generously to his ancestral village in Toisan, including donations for the village school. He died in Montreal on November 10, 2002, at age 86. His wife Maureen died on December 30. 2017, at age 94. He and Maureen had four sons, Gilbert (Rebecca), Carson (Deborah), Gavin (Linda) and Garnet (Joanne).

MAR Shing was born in the district of 新寧 Sunning / Xinning (later known as 台山 Toisan / Taishan), 廣東 Guangdong Province. He arrived in Victoria, BC, in May 1903 paying the $100 head tax.

In 1922, he lived in Bella Bella, BC, but by 1924, he was living at 509 Main Street in Vancouver and working as a laundryman. He was married but had no spouse or children in Canada.

He traveled abroad on two occasions in the early 1930s, likely on visits home to China.

Shing passed away on August 15, 1937, in Quathiaski Cove on Quadra Island, BC, while being in the employ of the Quathiaski Canning Co. Upon death, he had no possessions considered by the Campbell River police department to be valuable other than his C.I.28 certificate.

He was buried in Cumberland, BC.

LEE Choy Ting was born in China around 1900 in the district of 中山 Zhongshan in 廣東 Guangdong province. He arrived in Vancouver, BC, in 1918 paying the head tax of $500.

By 1924, he was living at 809 Cormorant Street in Victoria, BC, and working as a labourer. He had a wife and a son in China that he traveled home to visit throughout the 1920s and 30s.

Choy Ting was found dead on August 1, 1946, in a lumber cabin at the site of a logging operation in Port Alberni. He had been employed by the Alberni Pacific Lumber Company for several years. His death was ruled a suicide by hanging. The effects recovered from him included $136.49 in cash, two Chinese bonds, and a steamer trunk of clothing.

Douglas Theodore Willis (D.T. Willis) was born in Dauphin, Manitoba in 1911. He graduated from high school in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan in 1929 and enrolled at the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon that same year. In 1934, he graduated with a B.Sc. Engineering (Civil) from the University of Saskatchewan.

After graduation, Willis worked with several companies in both Manitoba, Ontario, and Atlantic Canada. This involved geological surveys and roadwork projects (Canadian Mining & Smelting Co. 1934-1936), road and airfield construction (Routly Construction Co. 1936-1939), and site supervision for roads and airfields (Routly and Storm’s Construction Co. 1939-1942).

In 1941, he was employed in an Extra-Regimental position as a Royal Canadian Engineer; from 1942-1946 he was an Officer in the Royal Canadian Engineers in the Overseas Canadian Army. In this role he was responsible for the construction of military roads and routes, forward advancing landing strips, bridges, and allied work. He directed several pavement plant operations for the repair of military and civilian roads.

Upon returning to Canada in 1946, he took on the role of Chief Surfacing Engineer with the Department of Highways (Ministry of Public Works) for the Province of British Columbia. He acted as supervising surfacing engineer for the major highways and bridges in the BC Interior. He was involved in several projects, including the Fraser Canyon reconstruction (Hope to Cache Creek), Hope-Princeton connection to the Okanagan Valley (Allison Pass) onto Calgary, AB, road approaches to new Hagwilget Canyon Bridge (Bulkley River), Salmo-Creston skyway (Kootenay Pass) and the Kinnaird Bridge (Columbia River near Castlegar).

Willis was a founding member, and served as President of the Canadian Technical Asphalt Association (CTAA). He maintained his involvement with the CTAA from 1955-1986. During this time he established Willis, Cunliffe, Tait & Co. Ltd., an engineering consulting firm, while continuing to work as a consulting engineer for the BC Ministry of Public Works.

Douglas T. Willis began an international career in 1964, serving as a United Nations Technical Expert in Kuwait (1964-1966), Indonesia (1967) and Saudi Arabia (1968-1970) where he worked on road construction, paving and stabilization projects. He continued his work into the 1980s, senior engineer, Norconsult AS (global); transportation infrastructure oversight and water control management in The Philippines and East Africa (1970-1980); consulting engineer for Norconsult AS in Cyprus and Hoff & Overgaard, in Saudi Arabia (1981-1982). Repatriated to Canada and resident in Kaslo, BC, he died in 1986.

Bill Der was born DEA Mon Quong in Nelson, B.C. on January 20, 1908. He was the son of DEA Ham Moon who hailed from Tam Bin Yuen village in [開平 Hoiping / Kaiping, 廣東 Guangdong], China, and his wife, DEA Him Wo.

Bill had six siblings: five brothers and a sister. He married Tam Toy Ken in China and together they had three children there: two sons and a daughter. Only the eldest child, a son named Jack, survived into adulthood.

Meanwhile, in Nelson, Bill may have worked at a general merchandise store called Wo Kee before moving to Dawson Creek, B.C., where he was a partner in a restaurant called Wing's Cafe. Once Bill's son Jack immigrated to Canada in 1949, he also worked at the restaurant.

Bill died at Dawson Creek on July 14, 1958. He was only 50 years old.

GEE Pak arrived in Canada in 1912 as a 27-year-old labourer with plans to settle in Vancouver, B.C.

GEE Huey Fai was a businessman in Vancouver's Chinatown who ran a store on East Pender Street called the 5 Continents. He dabbled in traditional Chinese medicine, producing and selling a few herbal remedies. At one point, he owned a company called Jimmy’s Fine Food, located at 2020 Dundas Street in East Vancouver, which produced beef jerky and Chinese sausage.

Edgar “Eddie” Wilfrid Aldredge (1901-1992) was one of Penticton’s best known residents. After having worked stints with on the railroad with CPR and in the mining industry with Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company (Trail) in his youth, Aldredge returned to Penticton and began his career as a journalist with the Penticton Herald newspaper in the 1920s. He eventually settled into writing a recurring column dedicated to profiling prominent white settler families of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Later, he wrote a similar column for Okanagan Sunday. He married Winnifred Sadler of Kaleden (d. 1986) in 1963. Ed Aldredge was awarded the City of Penticton’s Merit award for his contributions to the community at in 1973 at the age of 72.

MAH Foo-Tong was born in China in the village of Mak Lim in the Baisha region of Guangdong province. He traveled to Canada as a boy but passed away, leaving his identity document to his younger brother, MARR On-Foo, to use to leave China. Their uncle, MAH Cheng-Wong, had journeyed to Canada, settling in Calgary with his wife.