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.