Person

Chan, Chick Foo

• Chan, Ernest
• Chan, Ernie

1908-1990

CHAN Chick Foo (known in Canada as Ernest or Ernie) was born in China on June 25, 1908, the last child and baby brother to 12 sisters.

His father was a Christian minister who often used storefronts as a church. Christianity was a new and foreign religion in China, so the storefronts were frequently ransacked. Ernie recalled many days when his family would have to put the furniture back in order after these attacks.

Ernie attended an American boarding school in China where he caught the attention of Canadian missionaries. They offered to sponsor him to study in Canada. He arrived in Vancouver on September 29th, 1928. He was 19 years old and one of the few dozen Chinese admitted to Canada over the exclusion period.

Ernie went first to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan where his sister and brother-in-law lived. There he worked in a fruit store for five years to save enough money to go to university. It was said he never enjoyed turkey at Thanksgiving or Christmas because he ate a constant diet of it while working in Moose Jaw. It was a cheap source of protein and one turkey could last a long time.

In 1933, Ernie entered the University of Saskatchewan’s Faculty of Engineering. He graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1938, but due to discrimination and the Great Depression, he never found a job in his field. He found work as a substitute teacher at the technical high school in Saskatoon.

In 1939, Ernie returned to teach at the engineering faculty. Under the War Emergency Training Program, he was able to return to the high school where he taught drafting, engineering, and sign painting. He was also commissioned as a flying officer in the cadet program. During the war, he taught navigation. Thus, in 1939, he began a long and storied career in teaching for the Saskatoon Board of Education. He was the first Chinese teacher in Canada.

For many years, Ernie could be found at the building of the Star Phoenix newspaper painting the latest news headlines. He arrived at 7:15 to paint the morning news, then again at noon to paint the day's news. His beautiful calligraphy was in demand in the city.

During the war, Ernie married Rose Yut Guen Lim on July 7, 1943. At first, the couple had difficulty finding an apartment as no one wanted to rent to Chinese. Eventually, they bought a house in Saskatoon and raised two children: Roger and Elizabeth.

Ernie became a Canadian citizen in 1950. He continued to teach drafting and surveying until 1974. He was a teacher at Saskatoon Technical Collegiate and head of the technology department at Walter Murray Collegiate. For several years, he was the chairman of the province’s curriculum committee on technical education. At one point, 15 of the 16 drafting teachers in the province were his former students. He taught surveying and mapping at night school. In 1973, Ernie was recognized by both the Canadian and American Industrial Arts Associations as Outstanding Teacher of the Year.

Ernie enjoyed people and it shows in the many groups he joined over the years. He was a member of Third Avenue United Church; was a leader in the Chinese Benevolent Association and the United Church Chinese Mission Committee. He also held leadership roles in the Highland Dancing and Piping Association, Rotary Club, and Saskatoon Folk Arts Festival. In retirement, he taught Chinese cooking classes with his wife.

He received many awards, the most prestigious being the Order of Canada which was bestowed upon him in 1984.

Ernie died December 1990.

Description supplied by collector/curator