Over the decades, my life-long passion for learning about early Chinese immigration in Canada and the specific historical/political contexts for my grandfather and other relatives, grew exponentially. Rich connections have been forged with a handful of aging relatives. Enhancing the research include academic scholars/authors, memoirists, historians, kindred amateur genealogists like me, and those invested in ancestral research in North America and, abroad. Truth be told, the research is a labor of love.
Category: Chinese Genealogy
Held on the west coast: the history of Albert Head and William Head Quarantine Stations (1884-1958)
In this post, I looked at the iterations of Canada's western quarantine stations, where medical inspectors inspected incoming immigrants to Canada for disease. As a genealogist, I want to fill in the bare bones of facts with ideas about what life was like, and this post was by turns enlightening and horrifying.
How to Access Chinese Case Files at LAC (2025)
The process for finding Chinese Case Files at Library and Archives Canada has changed considerably since I first wrote about the finding aids in 2020. Some individual Chinese Case file information is now findable through Collection Search. Use Advanced Search for searching by numbers.
Exclusion: Beyond the Silence – a chat with Keira Loughran and Helen Lee
Each May in Canada and the U.S., it's Asian Heritage Month. I spent the first part of the month in Vancouver, where I had the distinct pleasure of seeing "Exclusion: Beyond the Silence," at the Cineplex Odeon Theatre, International Village, Vancouver. On 14 May 2025, I had a chat with writer and director Keira Loughran,… Continue reading Exclusion: Beyond the Silence – a chat with Keira Loughran and Helen Lee
How an Ottawa journalist found my lost family village
It's been a revelatory couple of weeks. In this post, I'll share the story of how I learned that Ottawa journalist and jazz pianist Peter Hum is my cousin, and how he solved the mystery of my lost maternal family village.
The search for my mystery ancestor – a guest post by Jennifer Jang
In Chinese Canadian genealogy, we are both constrained and bolstered by the laws of the day. In the case of Jennifer's ancestor known only as a title - Dai Gung - she was able to piece together a family tree, family story, a photo, plus records to not only put a name to the face, but also fill in the unknown story of his life. The Chinese Immigration Act (1885-1947) laws which created such strife for so many is today an invaluable set of records for Chinese Canadian genealogy.
It’s Asian History Month
This month is stuffed with events, presentations, talks, and webinars about Asian history. Here's what's on at Past-Presence. On Facebook in Genealogy for Asian Canadians, I've posted a new Chinese Immigration No. 9 tool to help us find native-born Chinese Canadians, Port of Vancouver, 1939-1952, created by Gordon Fulton On Instagram, you'll see a SK… Continue reading It’s Asian History Month
Rev. Chan (陳) Sing Kai’s entry to Canada – a rare head tax refund tale using OIC records
The paying of head taxes was front page news but the refunding of head taxes was shrouded in murk. Even today, finding the supporting documentation at the national archives with the friendly assistance of reference archivists and librarians was barely doable.
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?