CBC Generations filming: Rev Chan bible + descendants Rhonda and Tracey

On Saturday, we filmed Tracey, Todd Wong and Betty Wong with the Rev.
Chan family bible.  It is the largest bible I have ever seen. It is 106 years old, published in 1900.  Bound by leather, it was rebound several years ago, as it was held together by tape.  Karen Chan Wong is the keeper and preserver of the Rev. Chan bible.  She is the eldest daughter of Gerald Chan, son of Jack Chan, son of Rev. Chan Yu Tan…. so Karen is a 4th generation descendant.

Tracey Hinder is a 5th generational descendant of Rev. Chan Yu Tan.  Our grandmothers are sisters, the daughters of Kate Lee, the eldest daughter of Rev. Chan.  Last year in March 2005, Tracey won the BC regional Canspell contest held in Vancouver.  She later travelled to Washington DC for the annual Scripps Spelling Bee, as well as the inaugural CanSpell national championship in Ottawa. Tracey was interviewed by CBC documentary producer Halya Kuchmij on Friday morning.

Halya interviewed me
again to address head tax issues.  I share the story about Uncle Dan
writing to Parliament every year asking for an apology, but never
receiving an answer.  I spoke about how it was an important campaign for me to be involved in, as I have many ancestors who paid the head tax including my mother's father Sonny Mar, and my grandmother's father Ernest Lee.  Both are predeceased and will not be eligible for the Conservative head tax redress refund program.

Rhonda Larrabee, my mother's cousin was also interviewed. Rhonda is also Chief of the Qayqayt First Nations.  Her father Art Lee (my grandmother's elder brother) married Marie Charlie, a First Nations woman.  “Tribe of One” is a movie about how Rhonda came to understand both her Chinese and First Nations heritage, and resurrect the Qayqayt First Nations from obscurity.  When Rhonda first applied for Indian status, the Department of Indian Affairs had claimed that the Qayqayt no longer existed.  She proved them wrong.

CBC Generations:  Film interviews begin today on the history of Rev. Chan family

Todd Wong is interviewed by producer
Halya Kuchmij for the CBC Generations series documentary, at the Dr.
Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Gardens.  Wong's maternal 
great-great-grandfather Rev. Yu Tan Chan met with Dr. Sun Yat Sen,
during his visits to Vancouver.  Wong's paternal cousin Joe Wai is
architect of the gardens. – photo Rick Zimmerman.

We started filming interviews today on the CBC documentary series Generations, which will feature the the Rev. Chan Yu Tan family.  
It is part of a CBC series that focuses on the histories of families
through the generations.  Past episodes include: 100 Years in
Alberta; 100 Years in Sasketchewan; A Century on the Siksika Reserve.

Today our interviews were done at the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Gardens. 
We had a very nice shot of the gardens behind me, while producer Halya
Kuchmij asked me questions.  Camera person is Doug.  Sound
person is Rick.  They have both been doing additional filming of
me at the Richmond Terry Fox Run, and also for a Chinese Canadian
veterans reunion in Victoria last weekend.

Halya's interview topics included:
–  what I knew about my great-great-grandfather Rev. Chan Yu Tan;
–  what was Vancouver like when Rev. Chan Yu Tan came to Canada in 1896;
–  what kind of racial prejudice did Chinese-Canadians face in Canada;
–  how has knowing about Rev. Chan influenced any of my community service

Then the rain started getting bigger and wetter.  We went for
lunch at Foo's Ho Ho Restaurant which specializes in the old-time style
of Cantonese food favoured by the Pioneer descendants of the 20th
Century.  Co-owner Joanna was very friendly to us, and recommended
a number of dishes.  Halya, Rick, Doug and I exchanged stories
about eating Chinese food, and growing up in Canada.  Doug grew up
in southern Alberta.  Halya grew up in Manitoba, and I grew up in
Vancouver, BC.

We returned to the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Gardens in the afternoon to film me
playing the song “Amazing Grace” on my accordion.  It's a song
that imagine Rev. Chan playing on his own pump organ.  It was
written by former Scottish sea captain, John Newton, who sailed African
slaves to the United States.  He later “saw the light,” and
insisted that the slaves be treated humanely.  He later became a
Chuch minister.

We filmed me playing the song slow… then fast.  I was wearing my
“Fraser Hunting tartan” kilt, to emphasize my character of “Toddish
McWong.”  It was lovely playing Amazing Grace in the
gardens.  With the gentle rain falling, few tourists
visited.  The gardens were peacefully quiet despite the traffic
noise.  And indeed the gardens provide a cultural meditative oasis
in the heart of this busy city called Vancouver.

Tomorrow we travel to Vancouver Island to visit two of Rev. Chan Yu
Tan's grandchildren who remember attending his services at his Nanaimo
Church during the 1930's.

It's great to know where you family came from, who you are descended from, and what nice people are in your extended family.  I really am blessed to belong to the Rev. Chan Yu Tan family descendants.

The past 2 days, I have been busy introducing CBC producer Halya Kuchmij to members of the family, who will be interviewed or featured in an episode of Generations: The Chan Legacy.  Halya is an multiple award wining veteran producer, working CBC projects such as Man Alive, The Journal, and now the Documentary Film Unit – where she produced Life and Times of Northern Dancer, Who's Lorne Greene, Tom Jackson: The Big Guy, Chernobyl the Legacy, Mandela I & II, and many many more.

Generations is a fantastic CBC television program, that shows this history of Canada, through the experiences of a family's generations.  So far there have been 3 shows: 

Tuesday:  10am.  Halya and I meet at her hotel.  After many e-mails and phone calls. I like her at first smile.  It's the start of a wonderful friendship.  In between the many appointments we will have, small comments and gestures are appreciated.  The story arc that Halya senses is one of community service.  It begins with Rev. Chan Yu Tan arriving in Canada in 1896 as a Methodist lay preacher, serving the Chinese community in Vancouver, Victoria, Nanaimo and New Westminster.  It is carried through by many generations of his descendants, as they too, seek to build bridges between their Chinese culture and mainstream White Canadian culture, despite years of racism and adversity.

We go to the Goldstone restaurant in Vancouver Chinatown for some coffee and pastries.  She picks two different coconut pastries, and we share.  A gentleman comes to ask about the picture display of the Rev. Chan family that look at set up on the table beside us.  He has only been in Canada for 5 years, originally leaving Vietnam with the US withdrawal because he worked at the US embassy.

11am We meet Col. Howe Lee at the Chinese Canadian Military Museum.  Howe is the perfect person to give us a tour.  It was his idea to develop the military museum, and he was on the board of the Chinese Cultural Centre when the CCC Museum and Archives was being built (incidently designed by my architect cousin Joe Wai).  Howe gives us an introduction to the “Three Chinese-Canadian Pioneer Families” story boards left over from the 2002-2003 exhibit that had featured the Rev. Chan family, along with the Lee-Bick and H.Y. Louie families.  We are joined by my mother's cousin Gary Lee, who co-chaired the Rev. Chan Legacy Reunions with me for 1999 and 2000.

Upstairs, Howe gives a tour of the Military Museum, explaining the adversity and racism Chinese Canadians faced in joining the Canadian military, and how it was the British Military's need for Chinese soldiers to go behind enemy lines in the Pacific Theatre that finally allowed Chinese in the Canadian military.  Howe emphasizes the special combat units named Force 162, and Operation Oblivion that were sent to India and Burma.  My grand uncle Victor Wong was in Force 136.  My grandmother's brothers Uncles Daniel Lee, and his brothers Howard and Leonard went to England.  We see Uncle Dan's Air Force Uniform on display.  There is a picture with Uncle Leonard, with his buddies during the war.

In particular, Howe explains how the Chinese Canadian veterans were instrumental in helping to gain franchisement and the right to vote for the Chinese community. It is also the veterans that have also helped to lead the fight for redress of the Chinese Head Tax and the Exclusion Act, that finally came to and apology, community funds and indvidual payments on June 22, 2006.

12pm  Halya, Gary and I have lunch at the Ho Ho Restaurant.  It is a restaurant that I grew up with and specializes in old time Cantonese style food.  Gary talks about his father Gordon Lee, who had started up Lee's taxi with his brother Art. We also learn about Gary's entertainment history.  As a child actor, he appeared in an episode of the early television show Rin Tin Tin, with Keye Luke (known for his role in Kung Fu).  Gary was also locally known as “The Chinese Sinatra” as he performed on the local night club scene. Gary has also done a lot of community service work with many years spent as a Lion's Club member, even starting up the Westside Lion's Club.

2pm  Halya and I go back to the CCC Museum, and go through the archival picture displays that I have, and talk more about the family history.  We also go for a walk through the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Park and Garden, as she scouts sites for interviewing and view footage.  Of course I tell her that the Gardens and Park are one of my favorite places designed by architect Joe Wai, and that I bring the dragon boat team for our annual tour and Tai Chi lesson.

Thursday 10:30am  We visit artist/author Janice Wong and her mother Mary (visiting from Saskatoon).  Janice's contribution to the family is recent and enormous.  After growing up in Prince Albert SK, with vitually no contact to her Rev. Chan family in Victoria where her father grew up. Janice's mother shares that when she grew up in Nanaimo, she met Mrs. Chan Yu Tan, and that her mother was friends with her.  Janice authored the book CHOW: From China to Canada: Memories of Food and Family.  She shares the history of Rev. Chan Yu Tan, and how his grandson Dennis moved to Prince Albert to start up a Chinese restaurant.  Chow was published in 2005, and it recieved incredible local and national media attention across Canada.  Halya is surprised to learn that Janice and I have only known each other for a year.  We attribute our wonderful friendship, that seems like decades, to a shared knowingness of family history.

1pm  We meet my mother's cousin Rhonda Larrabee. I first heard of Rhonda many years ago, when I first started doing a family tree in the late 70's as an interest.  It wasn't until 1999, that Rhonda and I really got to know each other during meetings for the Rev. Chan Family Legacy, as we planned the 1999 and 2000 reunions.  Rhonda is the subject of the NFB film “Tribe of One” which recounts how she single handedly rebuilt the Qayqayt First Nations Band, which is her heritage from her mother.  Rhonda's father is Art, my grandmother's second oldest brother.  Rhonda shares that she feels both her Chinese and First Nations cultures really have a deep respect for elders.

3:30 We meet Tracy, daughter of my mother's cousin Gail.  Tracy was the first CanSpell Champion for BC, last year.  She went to Washington DC for the annual Kripp's Spelling Bee, and also to Ottawa for the first national CanSpell contest.  Halya asks Tracy what she knows about Rev. Chan Yu Tan, the WW2 Veterans and about the family reunions.  She answers all the questions easily and with a poise and awareness you don't expect from a 14 year old.  She says she is proud of her family history.  Even though she has both shared English and Chinese ancestry, she calls herself Chinese-Canadian rather than simply as a Canadian. She and her friends had come to Park Royal shopping centre to purchase pinatas to celebrate Mexican Independence Day at their school.  They are first year members of the Multicultural Club.  She figure skates, she plays flute in concert band.  She is exactly what you could wish all children could grow up to be like.  Accomplished, knowledgeable and still humble and a bit shy.  It makes you proud to be part of her family, and it makes Halya and I hopeful for Canada's future.