Category Archives: Chinese Canadian History

Redress Express comes to Centre A – bringing art and examination about Canada's racist past

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Redress Express comes to Centre A – bringing art and examination about Canada's racist past

What is the Redress Express, and what does it have to do with racism?

2007 is a significant year for anniversaries in Asian-Canadian history:

1907 – 100 year anniversary of the Chinatown riots by the Anti-Asiatic League

1947 – the end of the Chinese Exclusion Act and the beginning of franchise rights including voting for Canadians of Chinese ancestry.

1957 – Canada's first Chinese-Canadian MP elected to Parliament – Douglas Jung

1967 – Changes in immigration law, making it more fair and accessible for Chinese immigrants.

1997 – Hong Kong turnover to China

1996 – 1st year anniversary of federal apology and promise of redress payments for the Chinese Head Tax.

Centre A, brings together an exciting program working with community groups and artists.  Here is what Ron Mah had to say about the weekend's events.

Redress Express Symposium ( 01 & 02 August )

– Sid Chow Tan  is now an “Artist” after his brief 5 minute talk & 10 minute video presentatsion of the journey of Head Tax Redress;  Hank Bull (curator plus) stated that “If Sid's  video isn't art, then I don't know what is!”

– Victor Wong had an excellent talk on Head Tax & Redress

  titled “True Grits, Kwan Gung and Luck: The Inside Stories of the Head Tax Redress Campaign”

– Many excellent national speakers of academia and the arts provided

  varied views from many perspectives providing an
interesting program.

– filming of the first day was done by both ACCESS, FEARLESS TV

  and also by the Symposium.

-Henry Yu, graciously, organized a delicious 10 course Retro period

 Chinese Canadian Restaurant Dinner.  Fortunately, I was sitting next to Henry and Karin Tam who were also at the same table.  They had both researched and provided  the chefs with the specific customized dishes that is not normally on their menus.  It was fun, filling and informative.

-Centre A is now transformed into a retro Chinese Canadian Restaurant for

 the next 5 weeks by Karen Tam but no food is served.  This is a must see

 free installation.

-Karin Lee's Friday evening outdoor showing at the Chinese Night  Market was just
starting and I saw myself for a brief second in the short produced by

 the women's dragon boat team Genesis.

-Sean & I networked and partied till  2am and 3am until  Karen Tam had to

 catch her 6am flight back home to Montreal.  The Saturday night party was

 great: lots of fun and jamming and all round opportunity for future collaboration with the whole group.

-Thanks to Alice Ming Wai Jim, Henry Yu and Victor Wong for making this happen for us.

from the Centre A website:

REDRESS EXPRESS

In conjunction with:
2007 Anniversaries of Change (http://www.anniversaries07.ca)
Powell Street Festival (August 4-5, 2007, http://powellstfestival.shinnova.com)
explorASIAN (Vancouver Asian Heritage Month, http://www.explorasian.org).

Patron: Anndraya T. Luui

EXHIBITION
Date: August 3 to September 1, 2007
Venue: Centre A, 2 West Hastings Street
Opening: Friday, August 3, 7pm, Centre A, 2 West Hastings Street

SYMPOSIUM
Date: August 2-3, 2007, 10am to 5pm
Location: Chinese Cultural Centre, 555 Columbia Street
Co-sponsors:
Gail & Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institute for Studies in Canadian Art
at the Department of Art History, Concordia University, the University
of British Columbia, and Emily Carr Institute for Art + Design + Media
(Click here to download the symposium program and abstracts)

Free admission

The
exhibition “REDRESS EXPRESS: Chinese Restaurants and the Head Tax Issue
in Canadian Art” features recent photography, video and installations
by five Chinese-Canadian artists: Gu Xiong (Vancouver), Shelly Low
(Montreal), Ho Tam (Victoria, BC), Karen Tam (Montreal), and Kira Wu
(Vancouver). It is held in conjunction with the two-day symposium
“REDRESS EXPRESS: Current Directions in Asian Canadian Art and Culture”
which brings together over twenty scholars, community activists,
cultural organizers, and artists from many disciplines to consider
current and future directions in Asian Canadian art and culture. The
REDRESS EXPRESS project is curated by Alice Ming Wai Jim and
accompanied by a colour catalogue with additional graphic illustrations
by Joanne Hui (Montreal).

As a whole, the REDRESS EXPRESS
project is an attempt to examine the current politics of
representation, redress and recognition in Canada as they relate to
art, activism, identity and geography. The call for redress has long
been the bookends for Asian Canadian critiques of Canada's racist past.
The recent victory of the redress campaign for surviving Chinese head
tax payers and their spouses and its inevitable effects on the current
politics of reparation and representation in this country, however,
presents another challenge: to ensure an ongoing, rigorous treatment
these issues demand in political, cultural and educational sectors.
With the host of 2007 anniversaries of historical dates significant to
Canadians and Asian Canadian communities in particular celebrated this
year, this provision of critical texts in contemporary discourse and
practice and the broadening of understanding to address cross-cultural
perspectives and realities remains imperative.

Dim Sum with Olivia Chow in Vancouver

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Dim Sum with Olivia Chow in Vancouver


Olivia Chow and Todd Wong (center) with Barry Morley (left) and Mary-Woo Sims (right) – photo Todd Wong Collection

Olivia Chow came to Vancouver, ditched husband Jack Layton, and attended Meena Wong's monthly Dim Sum networking lunch at Rich Ocean Restaurant.  Actually, Jack Layton attended the Pride brunch, as Jack and Olivia attend Pride parades across Canada.  Meena has known Layton and Chow from her time living in Toronto, and is now continuing to handle communications and community building in Vancouver's Chinese language community for the NDP.  I've known Meena since 2002, when soon after arriving in Vancouver, she came to help volunteer for Asian Heritage Month events organized by explorASIAN.


Meena Wong and Olivia Chow addressing 40 people at Rich Ocean restaurant on Saturday- photo Todd Wong

The crowds came out to welcome Olivia to Vancouver.  Libby Davies MP for Vancouver East, dropped in to say hello.  COPE organizer Mel Lehan and his wife attended. Victor Wong, executive director of the Chinese Canadian National Council was in town.  Sid Tan, Sean Gunn and Ron Mah of the Chinese Head Tax Families Society attended.  Even Faye Leung dropped in.  In all there were about 40 people.

I had a nice chat with Olivia.  Meena had seated us at the same table.  I knew she would be interested in hearing about the CBC documentary Generations: The Chan Legacy.  And she was also very interested to learn more about Gung Haggis Fat Choy – which she would love to attend, if and when I bring my Robbie Burns Chinese New Year dinner to Toronto.


Olivia joins Vancouver's head tax descendants for a picture: standing: ??, Mary, Ron Mah, Olivia Chow, Sid Tan, Faye Leung, Todd Wong; sitting: Sid Wong, Sean Gunn, Victor Wong (executive director of Chinese Canadian National Council) + head tax redress supporter  Mary-Woo Sims.

The federal NDP was the first national party to recognize the
importance of redress for Chinese Canadian head tax issue.  Olivia
recognized that it was Margaret Mitchell who first brought the issue to
Canadian Parliament in 1984.  Olivia also supported the calls for Chinese Head Tax redress, as head tax became an issue in the 2006 federal election.  She also supports and inclusive redress that would honour every head tax equally, not just for the surviving head tax payers and their spouses, but also the head tax certificates that were left in the hands of the daughters, sons and grandchildren when the original head tax payers couldn't live to see the federal apology by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Powell Street Festival 2007

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Powell St. Festival 2007 – Always lots to see and do!


Is this Todd Wong?  He's wearing a Gung Haggis Fat Choy shirt and he's
Chinese-looking…  I tlooks like he's hawking haggis won-ton…

Noooo!!!!  It's Todd's friend Walter Quan… and he is holding up his
famous sushi and won-ton cnadles that he sells at the Powell Street
Festival every year.

Lots to see and do at the Powell Street Festival. 
Great arts, entertainment, history and culture displays.  It integrates
traditional and contemporary Japanese-Canadian cultures with the
Downtown Eastside and the historic sites of Japantown.


Noisy ceremonial procession – Powell St. Festival 2007 – photo Todd Wong

Dancers resting – Powell Street Festival 2001 – photo Todd Wong

Octopus dumplings at Powell Street Festival – photo Todd Wong

Ricepaper magazine at Powell St. Festival – Elizabeth, ??, Don, Alex, and Chrystal – photo Todd Wong

Head Tax Families Society of Canada booth soliciting support and signatures – photo Todd Wong

Check out more photos on flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/53803790@N00/sets/72157601264597982/

True patriot Love: North Shore News article on Todd Wong, Betty Wong and Tracey Hinder re: The Chan Legacy

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True patriot Love: North Shore News article on Todd Wong, Betty Wong and Tracey Hinder re: The Chan Legacy

http://www.canada.com/northshorenews/news/live/story.html?id=281951b4-4181-4c68-a39b-5e5855445271

True patriot love

Family proud of its Canadian heritage

Erin Mcphee,
North Shore News

Published: Sunday, July 29, 2007

– Generations: The Chan Legacy is re-scheduled for August 19, on CBC Newsworld at 4 p.m. PST / 7pm EST

Three generations of the Chan family: Tracey Hinder (left), Betty Wong and Todd Wong look over their family's impressive legacy.

Three generations of the Chan family: Tracey Hinder (left), Betty Wong and Todd Wong look over their family's impressive legacy.

NEWS photo Mike Wakefield

To say that Todd Wong, a 47-year-old North Vancouver resident, is proud of his roots would be an understatement.

Wong's
family is one that has greatly impacted Canada's history and as a
result its members continue to celebrate where they come from.

Wong's
ancestors arrived on the West Coast from China in 1896 and were able to
integrate into Canada despite the many barriers that existed. Inspired
by that impressive past, today, the Chan family, one of the oldest on
the West Coast, continues to thrive with its new generations working
hard to keep their legacy alive.

“We're just a Canadian family,”
says Wong, not downplaying his family's identity, but rather stating,
realistically, who they are.

Not only has the Chan family survived, its members are continuing to thrive, exemplifying what it means to truly be “Canadian.”

Wong's
family's unique story is being brought to life in Generations: The Chan
Legacy, a CBC documentary airing today on CBC Newsworld. It's part of a
series of documentaries called Generations and was produced by Halya
Kuchmij.

Filmmakers approached Wong, known in the Lower Mainland
for his unique interest in multiculturalism, community work and
activism. He's the founder of Gung Haggis Fat Choy, a website promoting
inter-cultural activities.

Wong is also behind a 10-year-old
Vancouver tradition, the Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner — a mix
of Chinese and Scottish traditions meant to play against racial
stereotypes — and he's a member of the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon
boat team that further promotes multiculturalism and community spirit.

Wong's
website site also details his adventures, told at times through his
alter ego, “Toddish McWong,” further celebrating what it is to be
Canadian, he says.

The documentary discusses Wong's great, great
grandfather Reverend Chan Yu Tan and how he and his wife came to the
West Coast in 1896 to “spread the gospel” throughout, he says.
Methodist church missionaries, they were tasked with “Westernizing” and
“Christianizing” the Chinese pioneers, the majority working in
labour-based jobs like the railroad.

Filming and interviews with Wong and his relatives, encompassing a number of generations, happened last fall.

“Before
the documentary, I didn't know a lot about my ancestry,” says Wong's
second generation cousin, West Vancouver resident Tracey Hinder, 15,
who's featured in the film. Hinder attends West Vancouver secondary.

“I
only knew that I was Chinese-Canadian, that my mother was Chinese and
that my father was British-Canadian. With the making of the
documentary, I found that my family history started to unfold and I
never knew that part of myself. It was absolutely fascinating,” Hinder
says.

Hinder is a member of her school's multiculturalism club,
which organizes activities for students to participate in. She's also
learning Mandarin.

Wong says he's proud of her as he believes
it's important to ensure the younger generations of his family come to
know and recognize their ancestral roots.

Read More:

Generations: The Chan Legacy on CBC Newsworld. July 29th – 4pm and midnight

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Generations: The Chan Legacy on CBC Newsworld.
July 29th – 4pm and midnight

The
Chan Legacy is the lead episode in the new documentary series
Generations on CBC Newsworld.  It debuted on July 4th – my grandmother's 97th birthday.

How fitting!  Because the show is about her grand-father Rev. Chan Yu Tan who came to Canada in 1896 as a Christian missionary.

Feedback
has been very positive.  Family members are very proud.  Friends are
very supportive.  Historians are enthusiastic. Strangers are thrilled.

Listen to Auntie Helen and Uncle Victor tell stories about Rev. and Mrs. Chan, and about growing up in pre-WW2 BC, and facing racial discrimination.  Uncle Victor Wong also tells about enlisting as a Canadian soldier to go behind enemy lines in the Pacific for suicide squadrons, fighting for Canada, even though Chinese-Canadians could not vote in the country of their birth.

The next generations assimiliated more easily into Canadian culture.  Gary Lee became an actor and singer.  Janice Wong became a visual artist and author of the book CHOW: From China to Canada – memories of food and family, which addressed the history of Rev. Chan coming to Canada, and how Janice's dad started a Chinese restaurant in Prince Albert SK.

Then there is Todd Wong – cultural and community activist who founded Gung Haggis Fat Choy: Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner – which inspired a CBC Vancouver television performance special.  Todd is shown active in the dragon boat community, and speaking at a Terry Fox Run in the role of a 16 year cancer survivor.  Renowned Japanese-Canadian author Joy Kogawa makes an appearance, as Todd was also involved in helping to save Kogawa's childhood home from demolition and to turn it into a national historic and literary landmark.

July 29th Sunday – repeats at midnight

  4:00 p.m. Generations: The Chan Legacy
– Missionaries from China come to the West Coast help Westernize Chinese immigrant workers in the late 1800's.		 Generations: The Chan Legacy

J

Kilts and family history abound during two episodes of the 6-part Generations series on CBC Newsworld

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Kilts and family history abound during two episodes of the 6-part Generations series on CBC Newsworld

Find
out what a 250 year old Anglophone family in Quebec City and a 120 year
old Chinese-Canadian family in Vancouver have in common.

Both have:
bagpipes and kilts
+ accordion music
+ canoe/dragon boat racing
+ immigration as a topic
+ Church music
+ archival photos/newsreels of an ex-premier
+ cultural/racial discrimination stories
+ prominent Canadian historical events to show how
   the families embraced them or were challenged by them
+ both featured saving a historical literary landmark.
+ younger generation learning the non-English language

Generations: The Chan Legacy features Todd Wong, founder of Gung Haggis Fat Choy, a quirky Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner, which inspired a CBC Vancouver television performance special.  Todd's involvements with Terry Fox Run, Joy Kogawa House campaign and dragon boat racing are also shown.

July 29th 4pm PST / July 30th 12am

4:00 p.m. Generations: The Chan Legacy
– Missionaries from China come to the West Coast help Westernize Chinese immigrant workers in the late 1800's.		 Generations: The Chan Legacy

August 5th 4pm PST

4:00 p.m. Generations: The Blairs of Quebec
– An Anglophone family with 250 years of history in Quebec City struggles to maintain it's heritage.		 Generations: The Blairs of Quebec


July 4, 10 pm ET/PT, July 8 10 am ET, July 29, 7 pm ET
The
documentary begins with Todd Wong playing the accordion, wearing a
kilt. He promotes cultural fusion, and in doing so, he honours the
legacy of his great, great, grandfather Reverend Chan Yu Tan. The Chans
go back seven generations in Canada and are one of the oldest families
on the West Coast.
Chan family
The Chan family
Reverend
Chan and his wife Wong Chiu Lin left China for Victoria in 1896 at a
time when most Chinese immigrants were simple labourers, houseboys and
laundrymen who had come to British Columbia to build the railroad or
work in the mines. The Chans were different. They were educated and
Westernized Methodist Church missionaries who came to convert the
Chinese already in Canada, and teach them English. The Chans were a
family with status and they believed in integration. However even they
could not escape the racism that existed at the time, the notorious
head tax and laws that excluded the Chinese from citizenship.
In
the documentary, Reverend Chan's granddaughter Helen Lee, grandson
Victor Wong, and great grandson Gary Lee recall being barred from
theaters, swimming pools and restaurants. The Chinese were not allowed
to become doctors or lawyers, pharmacists or teachers. Still, several
members of the Chan family served in World War II, because they felt
they were Canadian and wanted to contribute. Finally, in 1947, Chinese
born in Canada were granted citizenship and the right to vote.

Today,
Todd Wong, represents a younger generation of successful professionals
and entrepreneurs scattered across North America. He promotes his own
brand of cultural integration through an annual event in Vancouver
called Gung Haggis Fat Choy. It's a celebration that joins Chinese New
Year with Robbie Burns Day, and brings together the two cultures that
once lived completely separately in the early days of British Columbia.

We
also meet a member of the youngest generation, teenager Tracey Hinder,
who also cherishes the legacy of Reverend Chan, but in contrast to his
desire to promote English she is studying mandarin and longs to visit
the birthplace of her ancestors.

Produced by Halya Kuchmij, narrated by Michelle Cheung.

July 11, 10 pm ET/PT, July 15, 10 am ET, August 5, 7 pm ET

For
250 years, the Blair family has been part of the Protestant Anglophone
community of Quebec City. The Anglophones were once the dominant
cultural and economic force in the city, but now they are a tiny
minority, and those who have chosen to stay have had to adapt to a very
different world. Louisa Blair guides us through the story of her
family, which is also the story of a community that had to change.
Ronnie Blair
Ronnie Blair

The
senior member of the family today is Ronnie Blair. He grew up in
Quebec, but like generations of Blairs before him, he worked his way up
the corporate ladder in the Price Company with the lumber barons of the
Saguenay. Ronnie Blair's great grandfather came to the Saguenay from
Scotland in 1842. Ronnie's mother was Jean Marsh. Her roots go back to
the first English families to make Quebec home after British troops
defeated the French on the Plains of Abraham in 1759. The Marsh family
amassed a fortune in the shoe industry in Quebec City.

The
Marshes and the Blairs were part of a privileged establishment that
lived separately from the Catholics and the Francophones, with their
own churches and institutions. The Garrison Club for instance, is a
social club that is still an inner sanctum for Quebec's Anglo
businessmen.

Blair family
The Blair family

Work took Ronnie Blair and his family to England in the 1960’s but his
children longed to return to Canada, and to Quebec City. Alison Blair
was the first to return, as a student, in 1972. Her brother David
followed in 1974. Both were excited by the political and social changes
that had taken place during the Quiet Revolution in Quebec and threw
themselves into everything Francophone. David learned to speak French,
married a French Canadian and settled into a law practice.

Then
came the Referendum of 1995, a painful moment in the history of the
Anglophone community, and for the passionate Blairs. But David decided
he was in Quebec to stay, and today his children are bilingual and
bicultural. More recently his sister Louisa also returned to Quebec
City and a desire to rediscover her past led her to write a book
called, The Anglos, the Hidden Face of Quebec. Her daughter is also is
growing up bilingual and bicultural, representing a new generation
comfortable in both worlds.

Produced by Jennifer Clibbon and Lynne Robson.