Todd Wong with Lion Head

Asian Canadian adventures in inter-cultural Vancouver
and home of Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner.

Welcome to GungHaggisFatChoy.com

Home to my passions for my inter-cultural adventures,

Gung Haggis Fat Choy: Robbie Burns
Chinese New Year Dinner event.


Save Kogawa House campaign,

Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dragon Boat team,

Find what you are looking for by
1) scroll the topics links,
2) use the search function

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2009 TICKETS Available in October 2009

WHAT: GUNG HAGGIS FAT CHOY: Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner - 12th Annual Dinner, celebrating 250th Anniversary of Robert Burns' birth + Chinese New Year's Eve.

WHEN: 6PM January 25 2009, SUNDAY
doors open 5pm


WHERE: Floata Chinese Restaurant, #400 180 Keefer St.

CULTURE: Our Performers create something special for us every year with traditional and contemporary performances featuring everything in-between and beyond!

FOOD: A quirky fusion/mix/buffet of Scottish Canadian and Chinese Canadian culture 10 course Chinese banguet dinner In 2004, we presented the debut of Gung Haggis Won-Ton including haggis served with plum or sweet and sour sauces.! For 2005 it was haggis lettuce wrap! 2007 saw the creation of Haggis dim sum appetizer buffet - Watch for more surprises in 2008!

On-line tickets at
Tickets Tonight - Vancouver's Community Box Office
or NEW PHONE NUMBER 604-631-2872
$2.50 extra

Description of 2006 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner featuring performers: Rick Scott & Harry Wong, The Shirleys, Joe McDonald & Brave Waves, Sean Gunn, author Joy Kogawa, with co-host Prem Gill .

Media Inquiries
Call Gung Haggis Productions 604-987-7124
cell: 778-846-7090

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Join the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dragon Boat team
for lots of summer fun, fitness and friendship. We are a social team full of cultural vigor, that likes to eat.

We have been featured on television, local, national and international. We have a unique and internationally famous fundraiser dinner event.

We practice Sundays 1pm -3pm and Tuesdays 6pm-7:45pm We meet at Dragon Zone clubhouse - just south of Science World in Creekside Park above the Aquabus and dragon boat docks.

Our coach Todd Wong has over 12 years of experience including novice, recreational and competitive levels, and both community and corporate teams.

Our 2005 Season brought us the David Lam Award for being the team that best represented the multicultural spirit of the Alcan Dragon Boat Festival, and Bronze medals at the Vancouver International Taiwanese Dragon Boat Race. We also raced at Harrison Lake and Sea Vancouver regatta.



For more information:
Click on Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dragon Boat team information
phone: 778-846-7090
e-mail: gunghaggis at yahoo dot ca

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Year Archive
View Article  Todd Wong supports Raymond Louie's campaign to be Vancouver Mayor
Vancouver city councilor Raymond Louie asked me to support his bid to be Vancouver Mayor.  Raymond would be a great mayor... I immediately said "Absolutely!"

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Raymond stands in front of Historic Joy Kogawa House on April 25th, 2008.  This was his first visit to the house, after supporting motions on city council to help save the house from demolition, and plant a cherry tree graft at Vancouver City Hall in 2005.  Raymond holds some of Joy Kogawa's books to share with his wife and children - photo Todd Wong

Raymond Louie could be Vancouver's first Chinese-Canadian mayor.  He is a multi-generational Vancouverite from the East Side.  He is a second term Vancouver city councilor.

Raymond Louie has been getting some very significant endorsers including:
George Chow, Vision Vancouver Councillor
Joy MacPhail, former Deputy Premier and Leader of the Opposition
Doug McArthur, former Deputy Minister to the Premier
Wayson Choy, author of “The Jade Peony”
Richard Tetrault, artist
Darlene Marzari, former Vancouver City Councillor and B.C. Minister of Municipal Affairs
Eddie Chan, Chairman Zhongshan Allied Association
David Black, Canadian Office and Professional Employees Local 378 Vice-President
Margaret Birrell, Community Activist
and now..... me!

My statement of endorsement is now featured on Raymond Louie's website:

"Raymond Louie actually lives the culturally diverse Gung Haggis Fat Choy lifestyle that is my creative world. His own family straddles many cultures and many generations, and he actively demonstrates that he understands the many facets that can make our city shine like a diamond. I have seen how Raymond makes things happen as a city councilor, bringing together different groups and perspectives such as arts, economics, heritage and cultures. As a mayor that empowers others to be their best, Raymond will be dynamic and our jewel of a city should shine even brighter."

Todd Wong, arts advocate and creator of Gung Haggis Fat Choy
To support Raymond as the Vision Vancouver mayoral candidate, you have to
1) Join Vision as a member - click here!
2) Vote at the Vision Vancouver meeting on June 15th, Croatian Community Centre.

Raymond has recently made some wonderful statements on:

He has also currently "advocating for the creation of a non-profit foundation that will establish a long-term funding source for the chronically underfunded Childcare Endowment Reserve."

I have personally known Raymond since the fall of 2002, when he ran for city council.  Initially, I met his wife Tonya first, because she was on the board of Vancouver Asian Heritage Month Society, where I had volunteered for, and then was hired as a program coordinator.  I finally met Raymond at the Chinese Cultural Centre when Mike Harcourt endorsed COPE mayoral candidate Larry Campbell. 

After that our paths just seemed to keep crossing, as Raymond was invited to present the Queen's Jubilee Medals to VAHMS board members Jim Wong-Chu and Kuldip Gill. As well, Raymond attended the opening of the "Three Pioneer Canadian Chinese Families" at the Chinese Cultural Centre Museum and Archives.  My great-great-grandfather Rev. Chan Yu Tan's family was featured, and I was one of the featured stories as a descendant.  Raymond attended because he was distantly related to H.Y. Louie, whose family was also featured along with the family of Lee-Bick.

I have seen Raymond at many events throughout Vancouver over the past 6 years.  He is an effective city councilor and is active in the community.

To see him in action at City Council check out this video:

YouTube - EgoDensity Round 1

Raymond Louie criticizes Mayor Sam Sullivan's Eco-Density program

Here are some of the highlights when Raymond and I have shared together:

Raymond_Louie

Raymond climbed on top of the Taiwanese Dragon Boat head... and reaches out to simulate grabbing a flag before crossing the finish line.  I taught him how to climb onto the dragon head - neglecting to tell him it had never been done in Canada before.  Raymond lost the demonstration race to Olympic medalist Lori Fung. - photo courtesy of Taiwanese Cultural Festival.

August to September 2003, Raymond Louie was instrumental in helping to launch the inaugural Vancouver International Taiwanese Dragon Boat Race.  Raymond helped stickhandle through bureaucratic channels during a Vancouver Port strike, and participated as the flag grabber vs '84 Olympic gold medalist Lori Fung in a demonstration race.

November 3rd, 2005, Raymond supported the Save Kogawa House campaign at Vancouver City Hall, when we appealed to City Council for help.  City council used an unprecedented motion to delay a demolition permit application by 3 months, to give us time to fundraise and purchase the house.  Raymond also said that this project was so important he asked all the city councilors to make a donation that day.

January 2006, Raymond brings his family with wife and 3 kids to Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner.  The featured performers are Rick Scott & Harry Wong, and the No Shit Shirleys.

IMG_2578

July 2007, Raymond Louie calls for mediation to end the Vancouver civic workers' strike.  Mayor Sam Sullivan and the NPA decline mediation and let the "unnecessary strike" drag on for 3 months, before a mediator is finally called in on Thanksgiving weekend to settle a contract very similar to what other municipalities already settled for 3 months earlier.  Following a July 29th rally at Vancouver City Hall, Raymond Louie comes out to talk with members of Vancouver's civic unions.  I introduce him to my fellow workers of CUPE 391, Vancouver Library Workers - photo Todd Wong.

January 25th, 2008.  Raymond Louie appears on Rock 101's Bro Jake show with "Toddish McWong" to help promote the Gung Haggis Fat Choy event.

Gung Haggis 2008 Dinner 242

January 27th, 2008.  Raymond Louie wears a kilt to Gung Haggis Fat Choy. photo Gung Haggis collection.  A highlight of the evening is Raymond on stage with a group of men wearing kilts as a "Toast to the Lassies" chorus with co-host Catherine Barr - photo VFK.

Raymond Louie for mayor

March 13th, 2008, Vancouver Sun reports Raymond Louie's declaration to run for Vancouver mayor.  Raymond  invites me to be one of his supporters in this photo taken at the Chinese Cultural Centre courtyard.  I am standing on the far left with many key supporters of the Chinatown business and community organizers.  Dr. Kerry Jang is 5th from right - Kerry will run as a candidate for councilor with Vision Vancouver. photo Bill Keay Vancouver Sun.

Photo Library - 2645

April 6th, 2008.  Tartan Day is officially proclaimed in Vancouver. Raymond seconded the motion in City Council, moved by Heather Deal, which passed on April 1st.  As deputy mayor, Raymond reads the proclamation prior to a Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team practice.  In this photo l-r: Chinese-Scottish-Canadian Michael Brophy holds the Scottish flag, Todd Wong, Raymond Louie holds proclamation, bagpiper Joe McDonald-  photo Todd Wong/Georgia Thorburn

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Raymond Louie speaks at the CUPE 391 Vancouver Library Workers annual general meeting.  He encouraged everybody to get involved in their union in order to help make positive changes.  He was very nicely received by the CUPE 391 audience.  In this picture, Raymond stands in front of another Vision mayoral candidate Gregor Robertson MLA for Vancouver-Fairview, while CUPE 391 president Alexandra Youngberg moderates - photo Todd Wong



View Article  Joy Kogawa celebrated at Kogawa House and receives George Woodcock Literary Achievement Award
It was a wonderful busy busy day of celebration at Joy Kogawa House on April 25th.

3pm press conference, introduction of formerly anomnynous $500,000 donor (Sen. Nancy Ruth) + baby cherry tree planting

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At 3:40pm, we sat inside the living room of Historic Joy Kogawa House and listened to CBC Radio One's Arts Report by Paul Grant.  Paul had interviewed Sen. Nancy Ruth, Bill Turner and Joy Kogawa for his story on how the house was saved, and how Sen. Nancy Ruth's formerly anonymous gift of $500,000 was important.  In this picture Hon. Iona Campagnolo, Sen. Nancy Ruth and Joy Kogawa.- photo Todd Wong

Hon. Iona Campagnolo (former BC Lt. Gov. speaks about importance of preserving culture and heritage represented through Historica Joy Kogawa house.  She stands next to Joy Kogawa, Bill Turner (TLC executive director), Senator Nancy Ruth, Ujal Dosanjh MP for Vancouver South, Ellen Woodsworth (former Vancouver City councilor) - photo Todd Wong

4pm VIP reception - where we sold 6 baby cherry trees that will be planted at designated public sites (I want to plant one at Government House in Victoria)

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Joy Kogawa signs books for MP Ujal Dosanjh and Vancouver councilor Heather Deal - two of the politicians we first contacted in 2005 to find ways to save the house and ensure its heritage designations. - photo Todd Wong

8pm  Music and Poetry with Joy Kogawa and Friends, featuring poets George McWhirter, Heidi Greco, Marion Quednau, soprano Heather Pawsey, flautist Kathryn Cernauskas, pianist Rachel Kiyo Iwassa, and composer Leslie Uyeda.

Author Joy Kogawa reads to a packed house in her childhood home. Composer Leslie Uyeda stands 2nd from left.  Vancouver Public Library Community Programming director Janice Douglas sits in the front row, 3rd from left. - photo Todd Wong

Following the music, Joy was presented with the George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award from BC Bookworld Publisher Alan Twigg, Vancouver Public Library Community Programs Director Janice Douglas, and historian Jean Barman.

Alan Twigg speaks of Joy's acomplishments

Joy Kogawa accepts the award

Alan Twigg speaks of Joy's accomplishments         Joy Kogawa accepts the George Woodcock lifetime achievement award

This morning Joy Kogawa sent this email out to our Historic Joy Kogawa House Society

Dear Friends,
 
For a day of unalloyed happiness --
 
I have had many many wonderful days in my life -- but this one!  It was the happiest. If ever I've felt at home.... Or felt the love that underlies all...
 
My friend Heather Pawsey, soprano wrote:

Last night was one of the most beautiful and profound evenings of my musical life.  Heartfelt thanks to everyone behind Kogawa House.  May it continue to rise and spread its wings.

Pictures and more details to follow.
see:

Kogawa House April 25 2008

Kogawa House April 25 2008


View Article  Globe & Mail: 'Instead of dying, it's been given a second chance' - story about Joy Kogawa's childhood home and beloved cherry tree

Globe & Mail: 'Instead of dying, it's been given a second chance' - story about Joy Kogawa's childhood home and beloved cherry tree

 
1) Joy and Timothy @ Kogawa House circa 1939 2) Joy and Timothy with friends circ 1939 3) Rev. Tim Nakayama, Roy Miki, Joy Kogawa and Todd Wong May 2005, at the Obasan Launch for One Book One Vancouver, Vancouver Public Library.

This is truly a miracle story.  I remember in the early 1980's shelving "Obasan" on book shelves while I worked at the Vancouver Public Library.  Just the existence of the book spoke to me about Asian-Canadian history and identity.  I was inspired to learn more about Japanese-Canadian history as part of my own Asian-Canadian history, as part of my own identity as a Canadian. 

The very first time I met Joy Kogawa was at Expo 86.  She gave a reading, and read a poem titled "Oh Canada," about the sorry and loss of the internment.  I introduced myself to her friend Roy Miki and he gave me Joy'
s copy of the poem.

Many years later, I am honoured to call these great Canadians as friends.  It is a pleasure to be president of the Historic Joy Kogawa House Society, with so many good-hearted people on our board.

As I told CBC arts reporter Paul Grant, back in 2005 when we had just re-started the Save Kogawa House campaign, "Saving the house is a calling.  It's something that has to be done.

Today, we have a literary and historic landmark for not only the City of Vancouver, but for all Canadians.  And we still have work to do.  We must restore the house to its 1942 qualities when Joy and her brother Tim lived in the house, before they were sent away to the internment camps and beet farms.  We must build a writer's-in-residence program for this house.

'Instead of dying, it's been given a second chance'

Celebrated author Joy Kogawa returns to the house her family lost during their wartime internment and revels in its future

From Friday's Globe and Mail

VANCOUVER — As a girl, Joy Nakayama would write from her family's miserable shack in the Alberta sugar beet fields to the new occupants of the comfortable Vancouver home seized from her family during the wartime internment of Japanese Canadians.

She begged the owners for a chance to get the house back. They never replied.

More than 60 years later, in a charming circle of history, Ms. Nakayama, better known as the celebrated writer Joy Kogawa, stood once more in her childhood home this week, eager to guide a visitor through its emotional past.

From her former bedroom window, she gazed again at the famous backyard cherry tree that forms the heart of her memories and so much of her writing.

"It's the tree, more than anything else, that grips me," Ms. Kogawa said. "It's as if it has a message written upon it, that everything we've gone through in life is known. ... When it dies, I feel I will die."

Split in the middle, oozing sap, with many of its limbs missing, the gnarled, ailing tree is nonetheless draped in a glorious display of springtime blossoms, as much a miracle of survival as the house itself.

The modest bungalow in the city's now fashionable Marpole district was just days from destruction when a last-minute, anonymous donation of $500,000 allowed The Land Conservancy to buy it, with hopes of establishing a writers' residence and a tribute to Ms. Kogawa and her award-winning novel Obasan, about the tragedy of internment.

The donor's identity is to be disclosed at a ceremony this afternoon. But The Globe and Mail has learned that the improbably large sum came from Conservative Senator Nancy Ruth, sister of former Ontario lieutenant-governor Henry Jackman.

"Why? Because I have a tremendous fondness for Joy Kogawa," Ms. Ruth explained, adding with a modest chuckle: "And also because of the tax incentives of the Harper government. No capital gains on stock earnings given to charity."

Internment was a shameful act, she said. "I can remember reading Obasan and weeping at the pain."

Yet, Ms. Ruth said, Ms. Kogawa retains a deep sense of faith in humanity, that reconciliation and hope are still possible, even in the face of things that are terrible.

Writers residing in the house in the future will have to deal with that, Ms. Ruth said. "How can you sit at a desk and look out at that cherry tree and not think from whence all that came?"

As for Ms. Kogawa, the six-year-old who once dangled upside down from the tree's low branches is now grey-haired and 72, albeit with undiminished energy and flashing eyes.

She can scarcely comprehend the astounding chain of events that has brought her childhood refuge back after so many years, particularly on a street where many residences were torn down long ago in favour of larger, more expensive dwellings.

"I had given up. I'd gone to the realtors. I pleaded and begged not to let it go. I offered to write books for them, to name characters after their children. It all fell on deaf ears."

Now, she marvelled, "such a strange thing has happened here. It's all a bit surreal, dream-like. I don't know even how to describe it. It's like some movie script, this sense of wonder and delight."

During her tour of the house, Ms. Kogawa indicated how much has changed over the years. New walls, doors and windows replaced, closets ripped out.

"My mother's piano was right there," she said, gesturing toward an empty corner of the living room. "The gramophone was over there, and that's where the goldfish

bowl stood."

She headed into the basement. Suddenly, there were gasps of surprise.

"There they are! The windows and the doors!" She pointed to a pair of fine French doors and old window frames, carefully stacked along a wall. "And there's some of the cedar planks that my father put in. Wouldn't it be great if things could be brought back to the way they were?"

Ms. Kogawa brought back a few family possessions that survived internment. Her brother's toy cars, her mother's Japanese tea set, tattered picture books. "These are the pictures I grew up with." And an old apple crate. "That was saved, because it was useful when we had to move," she said, without bitterness.

It was a good day.

"The story of this house has come to a wonderful place, like a new beginning," she said, groping to find just the right words.

"It had one birth. It lived its life, and then, instead of dying, it's been given a second chance. That's a wonderful, wonderful thing to have.

"It's going to live again. It will breathe. It will bring life to people. It will bring reconciliation. Those are the things this house has been called to do."

View Article  Joy Kogawa reads "Naomi's Tree" at Vancouver Kidsbooks.
It was a good event for the launch of Naomi's Tree. So good that all the books that had been delivered in advance to Kidsbooks sold out. We were holding two extra copies, so I passed them on to two people who didn't have any. They were both very thankful..... It's a beautiful story that spans across an ocean, beginning in the "Land of Morning" - Japan, and travels over the Pacific Ocean to the "Land Across the Sea" - Canada. The story also spans many generations. And along the way it also briefly tells about the internment of Japanese Canadians during WW2.   more »
View Article  Tonight: Joy Kogawa reads her new book "Naomi's Tree"
Place: Vancouver Kidsbooks - 3083 West Broadway, Vancouver ... Please Note: Tickets are fully redeemable toward Joy Kogawa's books on the night of the event ...   more »
View Article  Joy Kogawa will read her new book "Naomi's Tree" at Vancouver Kidsbooks
I LOVED the book Naomi's Road. It was written as a children's version of her award winning novel Obasan. It tells the story about the World War 2 internment of Japanese Canadians from a child's perspective..... Joy Kogawa is coming to Kidbooks!! Come celebrate Joy's new book, Naomi's Tree, illustrated by Ruth Ohi. This beautiful picture book, based on the characters in her classic children's novel, Naomi's Tree looks at the internment of Canadians of Japanese descent during the Second World War.   more »
View Article  Sharon Butala packs Kogawa House for reading, and a workshop on memoir writing
Author Sharon Butala mesmerized the packed audience at historic Joy Kogawa House on Friday night.  The Order of Canada author talked how she helped established a writer in residence program at Wallace Stegner's childhood home in Eastend, Saskatchewan. 

Butala is giving a weekend writing workshop about memoir writing at Kogawa House, marking the start of turning the historic literary landmark into a true writers-in-residence program for the City of Vancouver and the Canadian literary and writing community.

Butala read from her Governor General award nominated memoir book,
The Perfection of the Morning: An Apprenticeship in Nature, and her new book
Lilac Moon: Dreaming of the Real West

She also talked about the CBC Fifth Estate documentary she inspired and was a part of:
CBC: The fifth estate - Death of A Beauty Queen - which investigated the unsolved 1963 murder of Butala's former high school friend.

She answered a few questions, some about her writing, and some about how she helped create a writers-in-residence program in Eastend SK.  Then afterwards, she signed copies of her books and chatted with the audience members.

For this past month, Butala has been living as a guest at Joy Kogawa's Vancouver appartment, while Kogawa lives in her primary residence in Toronto.  On Feb 3rd, Butala attended the Vancouver opera production "Voices of the Pacific Rim" with members of the Joy Kogawa House Society, and was introduced to some of the singers who had performed  the Naomi's Road opera, based on the children's novel by Joy Kogawa.

Sharon Butala and Historic Joy Kogawa House seem like a perfect fit.  This house where the 6 year old Joy Kogawa grew up in, and remembered through years of internment during WW2, and for years afterwards became realized in a memoir of sorts, the award winning novel Obasan.  Butala and her husband Peter, are also nationally recognized conservationists
In 1996, they donated their 13,100-acre (5,300 ha) ranch near Eastend to the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) to establish The Old Man on His Back Prairie and Heritage Preserve (OMB).  It was in 2006, that Joy Kogawa House was purchased by The Land Conservancy of BC, to become Vancouver's first literary and historical landmark.

As a member of the Joy Kogawa House Society, I know that we are deeply appreciative of Sharon's work to help us develop a writer's-in-residence program for Historic Joy Kogawa house.  We thank Sharon for her wonderful spirit and commitment to our project.

View Article  Author Sharon Butala reads at Joy Kogawa House Friday Feb 22, and hosts writing workshop
Sharon Butala is helping the Historic Joy Kogawa House Society with our goal to establish a writers in residence programs at the former childhood home of author Joy Kogawa. 

Tonight, Sharon Butala gives a 7:30pm reading at 1450 West 64th Ave.
On Saturday and Sunday, she conducts a writing workshop workshop about memoir writing.

This is the house that the then 6 year old Joy and her family left behind their wonderful home in 1942, when they were sent to internment camps because they were Japanese-Canadian.

A writing workshop and public reading with Sharon Butala

Writing the Memoir

Location: Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 West 64th Avenue, Vancouver

Date: Reading on Friday, February 22, 7:30 to 9 p.m.; writing workshop on Saturday, February 23, and Sunday, February 24, 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Cost: To be determined. Space is limited. To secure a seat, please register by emailing ametten at telus dot net.

Many writers have demonstrated that even the most glamorous lives--of celebrities, war heroes, or politicians--can make for dull reading. Yet the most ordinary lives can make thrilling reading. How does the storyteller capture the essence of the story and develop a reader's interest? What are memoirs really about, and why write them? Through discussion, question and answer, exercises, and examining successful memoirs, this workshop will endeavour to answer such questions, as well as to show how memoirs might be structured, and how a writer decides what to put in and what to leave out. Memoirs are therapy for both writer and reader, but they are also good stories: at their best, they are art.

Sharon Butala is an award-winning author of both fiction and non-fiction. Her memoir, The Perfection of the Morning, was a Canadian bestseller and a finalist for the Governor General's Award. Ms Butala has been called one of Canada's true visionaries. In 2002 she was honoured as an Officer of the Order of Canada. Her newest work, The Girl in Saskatoon: A Meditation on Memory and Murder (HarperCollins Canada), will be in bookstores in March.

Watch this website over the next few days for more information

View Article  Ruth Ozeki and Shaena Lambert read at historic Joy Kogawa House - Wonderful community chemistry for Vancouver's new literary landmark
Magic happens sometimes in unexpected places, and with unexpected people. Joy Kogawa, author of Obasan and Naomi's Road, shared with the audience that she has been continually amazed at the way the universe has unfolded to not only save her childhood home from demolition last year - but also to continue build a foundation for the planned literary landmark and writers-in-residence program for historic Joy Kogawa House.... Tonight's event was perfect with both authors Shaena Lambert and Ruth Ozeki reading their most recent works that deal with the consequences of the WW2 Hiroshima bombing. How fitting that the stars aligned to have Ruth come to Vancouver from between her busy commutes between Cortes Island and New York City to settle in Kogawa House on the day before Remembrance Day.    more »
View Article  Nov 10th, Joy Kogawa House event: War and Remembrance featuring authors Ruth Ozeki and Shaena Lambert
Nov 10th, Joy Kogawa House event: 
War and Remembrance
featuring authors Ruth Ozeki and Shaena Lambert




Joy and brother Tim at Kogawa House pre-1942...
Joy and brother Tim with neighbood friends - the Steeves boys.
Joy at the house when it was threatened with demolition... 
Joy and Richmond school children during the Save Kogawa House campaign.
Joy with old childhood friend Mr. Steevs, at last year's September Open House event.

This is going to be an incredible event.  The Joy Kogawa House Society has now been incorporated as a society.


Ruth Ozeki  was the 2007 author for the One Book One Vancouver program at the Vancouver Public Library, launching in May.  Shaena Lambert is also an incredibly gifted and moving writer.

We are beginning our next phase of fundraising to preserve and restore the house to it's 1942 character, when Joy lived at the house, before the family was sent to WW2 internment camps at Slocan, and before the house was confiscated by the Canadian government.

And... Joy Kogawa has suprised her friends and family in Metro Vancouver by popping into town last week to help celebrate her daughter's birthday....   She will attend our Nov 10th special reading event.  Yipppeee!!!!
Joy and her daughter Dee Dee enjoy a laugh and a smile with oranges at a family dinner in April - photo Todd Wong



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View Article  A Place of Compassion: Joy Kogawa's Dream Vancouver statement
Joy Kogawa, author of Obasan, has written A Place of Compassion for her submission to the Dream Vancouver conference and website, organized by Think City. While Joy will not be attending the conference, I will be as one of the directors of the Joy Kogawa House Society. Dream Vancouver is an all-day conference which will take participants from their dreams about Vancouver to a possible agenda for change. The conference will be facilitated by Bliss Browne, internationally-renowned speaker and president of Imagine Chicago. Former City of Vancouver Co-Director of Current Planning Larry Beasley is key note speaker. Ms. Browne will then facilitate a discussion-based session which will take participants through a series of questions designed to bring them to a collective vision of what the city could be.    more »
View Article  Joy Kogawa House Society is now legal.... next step - restore the house
It has now been just been over two years since we launched the drive to save historic Joy Kogawa House from demolition. It was mid-September when a demolition permit inquiry was made, but by the end of the week, we had notified news media, and made announcements at the Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop Community Dinner, Vancouver Arts Awards and Word On The Street book and magazine fair....Last month, Joy's brother, Rev. Timothy Nakayama, came to visit the house he had left at age 10 in 1942. Timothy shared his recollections of the house and yard, as we try to determine ways to restore the house to its 1942 character when their family was forced to leave the house, and board a train taking them to internment camps near Slocan BC. We will hold the next public open house event on November 10th. Special guest speakers will be authors Ruth Ozeki and Shaena Lambert. The theme is War and Remembrance.   more »
View Article  Generations: The Chan Legacy on CBC Newsworld. July 29th - 4pm and midnight
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
View Article  Kilts and family history abound during two episodes of the 6-part Generations series on CBC Newsworld
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.
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