Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Cheung, Wing Chee
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Other form(s) of name
- Chung, Wing Chee
- Chong, Jack
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Description area
Dates of existence
1911-1978
History
Cheung Wing Chee was born in China on July 30, 1911.
He arrived in Victoria, B.C. in May 1923 at age 11, paying the $500 head tax to enter Canada. Known in Canada as Jack Chong, he was one of the last cohorts to enter Canada before the Chinese Exclusion Act went into effect on July 1, 1923.
Jack joined his father (name unknown) who paid the $50 head tax, placing his arrival in Canada sometime between 1885 and 1901. Jack worked at the family business in Nanaimo, B.C. and attended the local Nanaimo public school until grade 9.
After his father relocated back to the family village, Jack (now 15) and his older brother moved the business to Vernon, B.C.
By the time Jack was 19, he would return to visit his ancestral home in [開平 Hoiping / Kaiping] and marry WONG Hon Fong (1911-1998) of 廣州 Guangzhou. The couple would have two sons together.
Jack supported his small family from Canada. He made a marginal living in Alberta and relocated often. He started a local corner store in Carstairs. He later operated the Canada Café in Tilley, then Beiseker, and finally settled in Torrington, Alberta.
He served the community, selling comic books, magazines, dry goods, food, and ran a small café, working mostly by himself while employing only one other staff member.
He saved up to bring his family over in the meantime. After 34 years in Canada, Jack finally received his Canadian citizenship in 1957, and his family joined him in 1959 in Torrington.
Jack’s sons, Wai Gen (1933-2013) and Wai Chiu (1935-1992) married their respective spouses, Susan TSE and KWAN Sui Lin, in Hong Kong in 1967.
Once reunited in Canada, the Chong family would operate the Sundre Hotel Café and Restaurant for decades, the only Chinese restaurant in the small resource and farming town of Sundre. The restaurant became a permanent fixture and a treasure in Sundre. It was a trusted ‘third place’ outside of the home and work where townsfolk would gather and build community and fellowship. Meanwhile, Jack and Hon Fong continued to run the corner store in Torrington, 70 kilometres away from the family restaurant. They operated the store together until Jack passed away from a heart attack on November 28, 1978.
Jack’s grandchildren would be the first generation of the family to be born on Canadian soil.
Jack was deeply dedicated to his children and grandchildren while they were trying to establish themselves in Canada. Jack was a true cowboy at heart and loyal Stampeder. Every year during the July week-long Calgary Stampede and Exhibition, he would make the trek to Calgary to join in on the festivities in full cowboy apparel. Other than gardening with his wife and fishing with his sons, the week off in July would be his only break from work.
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