Tartan Day proclamation for City of Vancouver
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Category Archives: Vancouver Heritage and History
Vancouver Province: Vancouver to embrace Tartan Day on April 6
Here's the first public media acknowledgement that Tartan Day is officially happening in the City of Vancouver.
Indeed, the city of Vancouver, province of BC, and country of Canada – all trace it's historical beginnings to Scottish pioneers.
Vancouver's first mayor was Scottland born Malcolm Alexander McLean, elected in 1886. BC's first governor was born of a Scottish father in Guyana, then raised in Lanark, the Scottish market town where the Scots Parliament was first held and where William Wallace used to live. Canada's first Prime Ministers was Sir John A. MacDonald, born in Edinburgh.
But today in Canada's most Asian city, where BC traces it's Chinese ancestry to 1858, it's year of conception as a British colony, the charge to create a Tartan Day recognition is led by multigenerational Canadians of Chinese ancestry, Todd Wong and Raymond Louie.
Vancouver to embrace Tartan Day on April 6
Christina Montgomery,
The Province
Published: Thursday, April 03, 2008
Vancouver's
lads and lassies have until Sunday to press their kilts and dust off
their sporans for the city's first official Tartan Day.
Council
will declare today that Vancouver is joining a long list of cities
around the world that celebrate their Scottish roots on April 6.
The
idea of hopping on the international Tartan Day bandwagon was the
brainchild of Todd Wong, who founded the local phenomenon known as the
Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner.
The
event, which marries Chinese New Year with Robbie Burns Day at the end
of January, celebrated its 10th anniversary this year.
The
declaration comes at the urging of Vision Vancouver councillors Heather
Deal — still livid over her Macdonald clan's defeat at Glencoe in 1692
— and Raymond Louie — who claims to be a MacLouie, despite his
Chinese heritage.
Deal says the idea is to add a
Scottish-flavoured salute to the city's Celtic roots, already
acknowledged with an annual St. Patrick's Day parade, Celtic festival
and the Gung Haggis dinner.
Wong is expected to make an
appearance at the ceremony in council chambers, accompanied by a
traditional piper. The 47-year-old fifth-generation Chinese Canadian
says he came to love all things Scottish — including Robbie Burns —
in 1993, when he volunteered at a Burns dinner at Simon Fraser
University.
cmontgomery@png.canwest.com
Rhonda Larrabee, chief of Qayqayt First Nations, in CTV's One Women Tribe
This is the CTV documentary about my cousin Rhonda Larrabee's struggle to resurrect Canada's smallest First Nations band the Qayqayt.
Once upon a time the band flourished on the banks of the Fraser River. Then White settlers moved into their territories and renamed it New Westminster. The Qayqayt were put on a Reserve, but that was taken away from them too.
Rhonda's mother fled her homeland territories due to racism and shame. She came to Vancouver's Chinatown, where she met Rhonda's father. Rhonda grew up into her teenage years thinking she was Chinese. Then she discovered she was First Nations.
Now Rhonda Larrabee is resurrecting the Qayqayt Nation.
This show originally aired on January 26
Tribes & Treaties
Updated: Tue Feb. 05 2008 18:04:25
ctvbc.ca
One Women Tribe:
Rhonda Larrabee discovered the startling truth about her family
origins. She was not of Chinese and French descent as she was told
while growing up in Vancouver's Chinatown. Rhonda's mother was First
Nations. Then an even bigger shock – Rhonda discovered that she is the
last surviving member of the Qayqayt Tribe (New Westminster Band). She
is now striving to preserve the cultural legacy that her mother felt
forced to reject.
see the pod cast:
http://www.ctvbc.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20080127/bc_firststory_women_tribe_080127/20080127/?hub=BritishColumbiaHome
Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC honours Brandy Lien-Worrall
The Chinese Canadian Historical Society has contributed a lot to helping recognize and develop stories about the Chinese pioneers in Canada. I participated in the second set of writing workshops led by author/editor Brandy Lien Worrall. These stories became the book Eating Stories:
The CCHS likes to hold events at Foo's Ho Ho restaurant because it cooks the old style Cantonese dishes that the pioneer Chinese brought with them to Canada in the late 1800's and early 1900's. I remember many family dinners at the Ho Ho Restaurant during the 1960's and 1970's.
On Saturday Night, CCHS honoured Brandy Lien-Worrall for leading the CCHS writing workshops, which singlehandedly helped fund and make a reality the Edgar Wickberg scholarships for students studying Chinese-Canadian history. Brandy really is an amazing and inspiring person. Not only did she succeed in editing the Eating Stories anthology over the summer and seeing it through to publication in November, but she did it while fighting a serious bout with breast cancer. On January 1st, I named Brandy to a list of Chinese Canadians that inspired me for 2007.
It was a wonderful community dinner. CCHS president Hayne
Wai was emcee. Malispina University professor Imogene Lim and film
maker Karin Lee took tickets at the door. Dr. Jan Walls made a
wonderful clapper tale tribute to Brandy. Author Wayson Choy was in
attendance.
The dinner also featured performances from sketch comedy troupe Assaulted Fish, performing their hilarious Jackie Chan skits.
After the skits, some of the members of the writers workshops gave tributes or roasts in speeches about Brandy. I chose the former, sharing that many of the people taking the workshops never before saw themselves as writers. They just wanted to learn how to document stories about their families with a food theme. But along the way, they all became writers. And I saw their confidence and their self-esteem as writers blossom.
“If there was one gift I could give to Brandy,” I said, “it would be as my new role as co-president of the Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop to continue creating workshops like these to continue to tell the stories of Chinese Canadians and share them with our communities.”
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And I forgot to say that way back in the late 1980's, ACWW founding
member Jim Wong-Chu started collecting stories for an anthology
published as Many Mouthed Birds
(1991). It included writings by Paul Yee, Denise Chong, Evelyn Lau.
SKY Lee, and a short story by Wayson Choy titled Jade Peony. Douglas
McIntyre saw the short story, and asked for it to be expanded into a
novel. The rest is history. Paul Yee won the inaugural Vancouver Book
Prize for Saltwater City (1989), followed by SKY Lee's Disappearing Moon Cafe (1990) Denise Chong's The Concubine's Children (1994), Wayson Choy's The Jade Peony (1996).
So…
you just never know where an anthology can go….
Congratulations to all you now-published writers…
and another round of thank yous and applause to our dear editor, teacher, mentor and visionary task master – Brandy!
Who was the first Chinese hockey player in the NHL? Tom Hawthorn tells the story.
Ever watch the Tim Horton hockey dad commercial featuring a Chinese Canadian grandpa telling his son that he did pay attention?
When I first spoke with actor Russell Jung, I asked him “Who was the first Chinese hockey player in the NHL?”
“Larry Kwong,” answered Russell.
Read my 2006 story about my the Tim Horton's hockey dad commercial with a comment by actor Russell Jung http://www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com/blog/_archives/2006/2/17/1769127.html
Kwong played in the 1947 NHL season – 11 years before Willie O'Ree became the first black player in the NHL. Long before Paul Kariya became the first Asian hockey star player.
The Asian North America Timeline Project lists this under 1947:
During the 1947-48 season, Larry ('King') Kwong is the first Chinese Canadian to play in the NHL as a member of the New York Rangers Hockey Club. Also known as the 'China Clipper' during an illustrious juniors and seniors hockey career in B.C., Kwong went on to become Assistant Captain of the Valleyfield Braves in the Quebec Senior Hockey League where he led the team to a Canadian Senior Championship and received the Byng of Vimy award for sportsmanship. Kwong later accepted an offer to play hockey in England and coach in Lausanne, Switzerland. He would spend the next 15 years in Europe as a hockey and tennis coach. In 1972, Kwong returned to Canada and is now the President of Food Vale in Calgary.
Last month Tom Hawthorn wrote an incredible story in the Globe and Mail about the Vernon BC, born Larry Kwong.
Check out Tom's story on his blog “One Minute to Make History”
http://www.tomhawthorn.com/?a=37
Then check out his writing buddy Terry Glavin's blog, about Tom's story.
The Story of Larry Kwong: Bellhop, Shipyard Worker, Grocer, Hockey Player, Hero. Terry even throws in a mention about Gung Haggis Fat Choy and Toddish McWong.
I emailed Tom Hawthorn asking for Larry Kwong's contact information, because Russell Jung wanted to meet him. Tom obliged and wrote back to me:
Good to hear from you. I wrote a story about you and Gung Haggis Fat Choy many, many years ago in the Province. Glad to see you've spread it around the globe.
I sent back a link to Tom, showing that a Feb 7 wire service story by Deborah Jones was printed in the Brunei Times: 'Gung Haggis' bridging the ethnic gap
Small world, isn't it?
Global TV News: Todd Wong and Gung Haggis dragon boat team interviewed for story on BC's cultural diversity
Watch GLOBAL NEWS on Tuesday Feb 26 –
6pm
TOMORROW!
Everybody knowns that BC's cultural diversity is one of the best things about living in BC. Where else can you celebrate almost all the world's cultures worldly cuisines in a single city, go dragon boat racing, go to First Nations pow wows, enter a St. Patrick's Day parade, and learn bangra dancing?
Todd Wong (me)
was interviewed on Feb 17th for a Global TV story celebrating BC's 150 years.
I talk about cultural diversity in BC, and am seen with the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team, paddling in the background.
Cultural diversity
is the topic, Todd and the Gung Haggis dragon boat team will
represent it to Global TV viewers. Our dragon boat team itself has a good mixture of not only Asian and Caucasian paddlers, but also one paddler with Iraqi heritage and 3 paddlers with both Asian/Caucasian DNA.
I also explain the history of the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year dinner, which celebrates not only the Scottish and Chinese pioneer histories of BC, but also “everything inbetween and everything beyond.”
From Global TV producer/reporter Elaine Yong:
We
did a poll asking people what they thought were the things that made BC
a world-class place, and people/culture/diversity was one of the top 10
responses. To illustrate some of BC's amazing culture and diversity, I
thought you would be a great person to profile. But of course, we need
some viz of you doing something, and since we missed the dinner, the
dragon boating would be great, as well as another example of cultural
diversity. The story is scheduled to air Feb 26.
Eric on the Road podcast with Gung Haggis Fat Choy – hitting US pod cast waves
Back in January, Todd Wong was interviewed by Eric Model for “Conversations on the Road.” Model describes his show as “journeys into the offbeat, off the beaten path, overlooked and the forgotten.”
“And today most appropriately takes us into the category of offbeat. And today's journey we go to Vancouver and we are discussing and event called 'Gung Haggis Fat Choy.'”
It's a very interesting 21 minute and 38 second pod cast with a stimulating conversation about the origins of Gung Haggis Fat Choy, early Chinese and Scottish pioneers in the late 1800's, racism, cultural traditions, inter-racial marriage, and the Canadian explorer Simon Fraser who was actually born in Vermont.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Gung Haggis Fat Choy – A Unique Scottish-Chinese Cultural Celebration
Gung
Haggis Fat Choy is a cultural event originating from Vancouver, BC. The
name Gung Haggis Fat Choy is a combination wordplay on Scottish and
Chinese words: haggis is a traditional Scottish food and Gung Hay Fat
Choy/Kung Hei Fat Choi s a traditional Cantonese greeting (in Mandarin
it is pronounced Gong Xi Fa Cai) used during Chinese New Year. The
event originated to mark the timely coincidence of the Scottish
cultural celebration of Robert Burns Day (January 25) with the Chinese
New Year, but has come to represent a celebration of combining cultures
in untraditional ways.
In Vancouver, the event is characterized by music, poetry, and other
performances around the city, culminating in a large banquet and party.
This unique event has also inspired both a television performance
special titled Gung Haggis Fat Choy, and the Gung Haggis Fat Choy
Canadian Games, organized by the Recreation Department at Simon Fraser
University.
In this conversation, we speak with event founder and spearhead Todd
Wong. He tells us how it got started, and what it has come to represent
around Vancouver and far beyond.
Tailor Made: CBC TV documentary highlights Modernize Tailors' 80 year history in Vancouver Chinatown
TAILOR MADE: Chinatown's Last Tailors
CBC Newsworld
Tuesday February 12th
7pm/10pm EST & PST
Modernize Tailors began in 1913 when their father opened the store. Brothers Bill and Jack took it over in 1953. It's now 2007, and Bill's younger brother Milton wants to help brothers Bill and Jack retire gracefully by turning the tailor shop into a “living museum” and “hobby shop,” and move into the restored building and original site of their father's tailorshop. But will they pass the historic tailor shop on to an fashion journalist apprentice or the hot shot tailor at Holt Renfrew?
This is the story behind Tailor Made: Chinatown's Last Tailors, directed by Len Lee and Marsha Newbery, and produced by Marsha Newbery
This was a wonderful documentary that was more concerned with the present day human story of finding a successor for Modernize Tailors, rather than retelling the history of Chinatown and how the Wong Brothers Bill and Jack turned to their father's tailor shop after they were told there would be no jobs for them because they were Chinese, even though they had just graduated with UBC engineering degrees in 1946. In following the two different successor storylines, the viewer learns an appreciation for what Bill and Jack Wong created with Modernize Tailors, and why it has a special place not only in Chinatown history, but also Vancouver history. We learn that it once was Vancouver's busiest and largest tailor shop, employing up to 20 people and operating 7 days a week.
You really got to know a sense of Bill Wong, tailor. He is such as nice down to earth person. He genuinely was interested in apprentice JJ Lee, and the hot shot tailor David. But now Bill is 85 years old. There are other concerns in his life such as his wife and garden. It is shared that wife Zoe is in the beginning stages of Alzheimers disease, and there is a touching scene of them walking hand in hand in Queen Elizabeth Park near their home. And then there are the many children and grandchildren that we are never introduced to.
There are even some celebrity appearances! Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan comes into the shop to visit and says that he wants to be able to brag that he has a Modernize Tailors suit. There is a picture of Sean Connery who was a customer, as well as a thank you note from Gordon Lightfoot. At one time, Modernize Tailors was “the tailor shop” to go to in Vancouver – especially when the zoot suits were in fashion! Nowadays they just make zoot suits for the theatre and film companies.
But the best celebrity appearance is their baby brother Milton Wong. Bill shares that Milton was named to the Order of Canada and chancellor at Simon Fraser University. The narrator says that Milton is a well-known investor and philanthropist who has bought the historic Chinese Freemasons building and restored it as a senior's residence. It was also the early site of Modernize Tailors from for fifty years from 1936 to 1976. Milton has created a smaller storefront for Modernize Tailors to “retire” into, as a kind of living museum and hobby shop, because elder brothers Bill and Jack aren't ready to quit tailoring yet.
Tailor Made was filmed over a 1 1/2 year period from 2006 to 2007. Bill
Wong's son Steven is on our Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team so we
heard about some of the story ideas and filming events, such as “the
move.” From time to time I pop into Modernize Tailors, so I also
bumped into the film makers and Wong family members. At one point the
film crew was asking about having the 85 year old Bill Wong paddle on
our dragon boat team, because he had done so as part of “The Wong Way”
family dragonboat team in 2004 and 2005.
Bill Wong attended this year's Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner, and his son Steven is a paddler on our Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team. It's nice to get to know Bill over the past few years, as our family's have many connections.
It was nice to see my uncle Laddie in the show, since he is one of the tailors employed by Bill and Jack. And I saw my Auntie Verna, when there was a food celebration with the Wong families in the store.
My cousin Joe Wai made a brief appearance as “the architect” of the restored heritage building, that Bill Wong's younger brother Milton has bought to house the “living museum” of the working tailor shop.
Over the past 3 years there have been 4 documentaries about Vancouver Chinatown families and individuals: Mary Lee Chan: Taking On City Hall, I Am the Canadian Delegate (the Douglas Jung Story), Generations: The Chan Legacy and now Tailor Made: Chinatown's Last Tailors. I am proud to know descendants from each of the families documented, and especially that there are descendants from each family paddling on our Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team!
photo Todd WongHere's a picture of tailor-turned-woodcarver Bill Wong working on a dragon boat head with the youngest generation of Wongs. Both the Wong Way and Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat teams took part in an experimental workshop to carve wooden dragon boat heads in the spring of 2005.
Tailor Made: cbc documentary about Chinatown's Modernize Tailors featuring brothers Bill and Jack Wong
Chinatown History is happening in front of our eyes!
Tuesday February 12, 2008 at 10pm ET/PT on CBC Newsworld
Watch this CBC documentary about Modernize Tailors (1903) – the last Chinese tailor shop in Vancouver Chinatown.
Watch this CBC documentary about Modernize Tailors (1903) – the last Chinese tailor shop in Vancouver Chinatown.
Bill Wong the tailor attended our 2008 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner. His son Steven
paddles on our Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team. This is a
wonderful documentary that received a standing ovation at the Whistler
Film Festival.
Bill
and Jack's younger brother Milton Wong is one of Vancouver's important
figures, and former chancellor of SFU, and known as the “grandfather of
dragon boat racing” in Vancouver. Both Milton and Steven were interviewed for a German public television documentary addressing multiculturalism in Vancouver. The Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team was featured too!
Check out: http://wstreaming.zdf.de/z
My own family has known the Wongs for many year, my aunts and uncles went to school with many of the Wong family members. My uncle Laddie works as a tailor at Modernize Tailors.
In 2004, both the “Wong Way” dragon boat team and the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team participated in a workshop to carve dragon boat heads at the Round House Community Centre.
Check the Modernize Tailors Website:
http://www.modernizetailors.blogspot.com/
Tuesday February 12, 2008 at 10pm ET/PT on CBC Newsworld
TAILOR MADE
A naïve apprentice and a hot, young master tailor are both interested in taking over a legendary tailor shop in Vancouver's Chinatown, but they'll have a hard time convincing the hard-working Wong brothers to retire.
A naïve apprentice and a hot, young master tailor are both interested in taking over a legendary tailor shop in Vancouver's Chinatown, but they'll have a hard time convincing the hard-working Wong brothers to retire.
Modernize Tailors opened in 1913, and in the 1950s Bill and Jack Wong
took over from their father. Over the years, they've created suits for
all occasions and for customers from all walks of life-from lumberjacks
and new immigrants to movie stars like Sean Connery and politicians
like Sam Sullivan, the Mayor of Vancouver.
Now, a newer
generation is looking to make their mark and take over the Modernize
Tailors legacy. But will the 85-year-old Wong Brothers ever stop
working?
Tailor Made was directed by Len Lee and Marsha
Newbery, and produced by Marsha Newbery of Realize Entertainment Inc.
It was commissioned by CBC Newsworld.
Chinese-Canadians that inspired me in 2007
Last year in 2006, the Vancouver Sun published a list of 100 Influential Chinese-Canadians in B.C. in BC…. to much criticism – positive and negative. I commented on my blog article: GungHaggisFatChoy :: Vancouver Sun: 100 Influential Chinese…
I am now working on my list of “Chinese-Canadians that inspired me in 2007”
I was inspired by seeing the name of Roy Mah, in the Vancouver Sun's list of people we lost in 2007, and shared the idea with my friend George Jung. Rather than create a list of newsworthy or influential Chinese Canadians, we decided on CC's that inspired us. This way there is NO
official requirement or standards. It is very subjective and personal.
I also emailed some friends to create their own lists: David Wong and Gabriel Yu have sent me replies. David's list can be viewed on http://www.uglychinesecanadian.com
In no order, other than who came to mind first, who has crossed my path, and reviewing my blog www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com to remind myself who I wrote about in 2007.
Roy Mah –
the founder of Chinatown News, was written about in the Vancouver Sun
after celebrating his 90th birthday, as well as when the City of
Vancouver declared July 12th Roy Mah Day, in recognition of his
memorial service. I have known Roy since I submitted an article back in the early '80's. When he would make his regular trips to the Vancouver Public Library Central Branch, he would also wave to me sitting at the Information desk.
Thekla Lit for her work with Alpha Canada, promoting the film Rape of Nanjing, and inviting media and public to meet Comfort Women survivors. Gabriel says that a columnist on the Global Chinese Press
has named Thekla the Chinese-Canadian of 2007, as she and her husband Joseph have been busy on these issues for a long decade. I got to know Thekla when she joined the committee for Chinese Head Tax Redress campaign in the months preceding the 2006 federal election. She is a very smart women, not afraid to say what she thinks.
James Erlandsen –
the young Eurasian SFU Student needing a bone marrow donor as he fights
leukemia (James was named honourary drummer for the Gung Haggis Fat
Choy Dragon boat team). James reminded me so much of my own 1989 battle with cancer, even going to the same high school and university. There have been ups and downs, and he still puts on a brave face. I did a City TV interview with James, when James and I met for the first time. It was James' cousin Aynsley who first contacted me about writing about James for my blog.
Tracey Hinder – the 15 year old inaugural BC CanSpell champion, featured in the CBC documentary GENERATIONS: The Chan Legacy. People constantly told me after watching the documentary that they thought that my young cousin Tracey was great in it. She was very inspiring for the future of Canada, especially with Tracey's Eurasian heritage, learning Mandarin and being involved with her school's multiculturalism club. This summer Tracey started an e-newsletter titled “Becoming Green” that gives suggestions how to create a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. I knew from the beginning that Tracey had to be in the documentary. The documentary also featured family elders Victor Wong, Helen Lee, and Gary Lee, artist/author Janice Wong and myself. Read my blog stories about Generations: The Chan Legacy
Tracey Hinder, Betty Wong and Todd Wong re: Generations: The Chan Legacy
Henry Yu –
UBC professor of History, chair and organizer of the Anniversaries for Change '07 events
recognizing the 100th anniversary of the Anti-Asian Riots in
Chinatown. Henry has organized events at UBC and throughout Vancouver recognizing the impact on Vancouver made by the 1907 Anti-Asian riot in Vancouver Chinatown, the 1947 franchise for Chinese Canadians enabling them full citizenship rights, the new immigration act of 1967, and the 1997 handover of Hong Kong. Henry has attended many Gung Haggis Fat Choy and Asian
Canadian Writers' Workshop events over the past few years. Henry always seems to have boundless enthusiasm and energy for all his projects. But this past year was also significantly inspiring because he also became a cancer support person for his wife (see below).
Brandy Lien-Worrall – editor of Eating Stories: a Chinese Canadian and Aboriginal Potluck
and All Mixed Up – a Hapa anthology. It is easy to be impressed by all the writing and editing projects that Brandy is involved in. I got to know Brandy better when I took
the writing workshops sponsored by the Chinese Canadian Historical
Society of BC. I truly learned what an incredible dynamo she is. She pushed us to write creatively, and from the heart. And it was fun to have my stories and pictures published in
Eating Stories. Read:
Eating Stories, a Chinese Canadian and Aboriginal Potluck: book launch Nov 25th at Vancouver Museum. But more important to recognize is that Brandy finished editing Eating Stories in between chemotherapy treatments, after she was diagnosed with cancer in the summer. Soon she started up a cancer blog in addition to her poem a day blog, and her 12 other blogs… Just like James Erlandsen, Brandy is Eurasian… and also reminds me of my own cancer experience.
more to come….
Jen Sookfong Lee –
Margaret Gallagher
Karin Lee
Bill Wong
Vicki Wong
see part II
More Chjinese Canadians that Inpired me in 2007: part 2
Head Tax survivors Mrs. Der and Ralph Lee
Sid Tan – head tax activist
Bev Wong – community activist on bone marrow and blood donors
Douglas Jung building at 401 Burrard St.
Lan Tung, leader of Orchid Ensemble, incredible musician and creator of Triaspora
Wesley Lowe – film maker, creator of I Am the Canadian Delegate – story of Douglas Jung
George Chow – city councilor
Raymond Louie – city councilor
Jenny Kwan – MLA
Jim Chu – 1st Vancouver police chief of Asian ancestry
Assaulted Fish – sketch comedy troupe
Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre VACT presented three productions in 2007, Cowboy VS Samaurai, Asian Comedy Night, and Bondage.
Twisting Fortunes duo – Charlie Cho and Grace Chin
Chinese Canadian veterans