2023 is roaring to a close. If you're like me, you're simultaneously trying to relax while also checking off everything on your to do list. (How's that working out for you? :-)) I can barely wrap my head around what our community has accomplished this year. We have a new, permanent, dedicated museum. New records… Continue reading Reflecting on 2023
Author: wanderernolonger
Accredited Genealogist® professional in the region of Canada Western Provinces (BC, AB, SK, MB). I love sharing what I've learned through blogging and public speaking. Member of genealogy societies across the country. My specialities are Western Canada and Chinese Canadian genealogy, and I have a deep interest in SOE F136.
Why do we care about the C.I.9s? – a guest post by Robert Louie
In this post I am delighted to share an essay by Robert Louie where he talks about the C.I.9 Transcription Project, a project by a group of community historians in my group Genealogy for Asian Canadians.
New releases of C.I.9s for Vancouver and Victoria – 2023
We began 2023 with about forty-eight thousand C.I.9s and we end with almost double. The questions that come up for me are: Is this it? Do we have all the C.I.9s now?
Review: Road Work: Street photography from the 70s & 80s, by Greg Soone
A love of art has enriched my life in countless and unexpected directions. When I remember those long, slow, frequently wet days spent at galleries, it's with a sense of peace and quietude that is missing from my normal life. Greg's work reminds me of all of it - from gallery to street - and underneath all of that, to my family.
The startling details of a Chinese Case File, pt. 4 – How to get your ancestor’s file
This is the follow up post to "Chinese Immigration Act Case Files: Finding aids at LAC," written exactly three years ago. In that post, I'd hoped to one day acquire a Canadian Chinese Case file. Now I have seen four and they are everything I'd hoped - and feared - they would be. For my community, simultaneously ignored by some systems while being overdocumented in others, it feels right that we reacquire the information collected about us.
The startling details of a Chinese Case File, pt. 3 – stories & tools for analysis
In this series, I have focused on one Chinese Case file as the source material and applied an intensive analysis to the correspondence. My advice to all those who have acquired one or more Case Files: Go slowly. Take your time processing. Write a story.
The startling details of a Chinese Case File, pt. 2 – What happened to George’s sons?
When I reflect on this story about George Sing's ten year battle to bring his sons Gee and Get to Saskatchewan set against the backdrop of the Second Sino-Japanese War where twenty million Chinese died, I'm reminded of another sorry tale in Canadian immigration history. A high-level immigration official, when asked how many Jews should be admitted to Canada during the Second World War, said, “None is too many.” This xenophobic quote has been ascribed to Prime Minister William Lyon MacKenzie King and Immigration Director Frederick Blair and is probably neither but shows the attitude at the highest levels of government. Canadian Immigration, helmed by Blair, was deaf to the pleas of Canadians desperate to shelter their relatives living under the threat of war and too many died as a result of his "careful control" of Canada's borders.
The startling details of a Chinese Case File – the story of Quon Hing, aka George Sing, pt. 1
I received my first Canadian Chinese Case file this summer. And it's everything I hoped (and feared) it would be. For some time my research into the records of the sixty years of the Chinese Immigration Act (1885-1947) has been hinting at something bigger. And that the currently available bits and pieces refer to an even bigger genealogical treasure in Chinese Case files.
[updated] My Chinese family in Vancouver was [not] overlooked by the 1931 Census of Canada -a guest post by Carol F. Lee
In this update to a Jul 2023 post, Carol finally finds her family on the 1931 census. This two-part post shows how truly difficult it can be to find your family, even when you are a careful, skilled, and thorough researcher.
When my house became a museum – celebrating the new Chinese Canadian Museum
I've been working on Chinese Canadian genealogy for almost three decades. It's almost laughable how forgotten our history has been. I think of how I have spent twenty years visiting used bookstores looking for any mention of Chinese Canadian history. The idea that it was possible for one person to collect nearly all significant titles in this genre speaks volumes about its underrepresentation. But no longer. There are entire groups across Canada, the United States, and in Jiangmen, Guangdong, that are devoted to the study of Chinese diasporic history. Our rich stories are being uncovered, our records released.