The Chinese Canadian Museum is delighted to collaborate with the Chinese American Museum Los Angeles to host a virtual panel on Chinese Canadian history!
Four renowned speakers are invited to join the conversation on Tuesday, April 19th at 5pm PDT.
Moderated by UCI Associate Professor, Dorothy Fujita-Rony, PhD, the panel discussion will include Imogene L. Lim, PhD, of Vancouver Island University, acclaimed writer Paul Yee, and Henry Yu, PhD of the University of British Columbia. Join this virtual program to learn about the history of Chinese immigration to Canada as our panelists reflect on family and community history and explore ways in which collective memory can be preserved and shared.
This program is part of the “An Untold Past” series developed by the Chinese American Museum to tell the lesser-unknown history of Chinese diasporas in the US and around the world.
About the Panelists:
Imogene Lim
A descendant of Cumberland and Vancouver’s Chinatown and anthropologist by trade, Dr. Lim’s expertise on Chinese Canadian communities, especially on Vancouver Island, spans well over two decades and her work has included numerous collaborations with local museums. She is a founding member of the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC, and worked with the BC Legacy Initiatives Advisory Council on the Historic Sites and Celebration book projects. She co-developed the exhibit, 150 Years and Counting: Fighting for Justice on the Coast (2017), and served as a member of the exhibition advisory committee for the Museum of Vancouver’s (MOV) A Seat at the Table (2020). In 2021, she was awarded the Province of BC Medal for Good Citizenship.
Paul Yee
Paul Yee was born in a small prairie town in Saskatchewan and grew up in Vancouver’s Chinatown. He did volunteer projects there in the 1980s, and worked as an archivist while doing an M.A. in Canadian history. He is a published author of over twenty works. His non-fiction includes Saltwater City: An Illustrated History of the Chinese in Vancouver, his fiction includes children’s books (from picture books to Young Adult fiction) as well as stories for adults. His work has been adapted for stage and animated film. Since 1988, he has lived in Toronto.
Henry Yu
As a history professor, Dr. Yu’s research and teaching has been built around collaborations with local community organizations, civic institutions such as museums, and multiple levels of government. He is passionate about helping Canadians unlearn the cultural and historical legacies of colonialism and to be inspired by the often hidden and untold stories of those who struggled against racism and made Canadian society more inclusive and just. Between 2009-2012, he was the Co-Chair of the City of Vancouver’s project Dialogues between First Nations, Urban Aboriginal, and Immigrant Communities. In 2015, Dr. Yu was appointed as the Co-Chair for the Province of British Columbia’s Legacy Initiatives Advisory Council implementing legacy projects following the province’s apology in May 2014 for BC’s historic anti-Chinese legislation. He served on the Advisory Group for the City of Vancouver’s apology consultation process for Historical Discrimination Against People of Chinese Descent (HDC) from 2016-2017. Between 1994-2008, he taught Asian American history at UCLA. Dr. Yu is on the Founding Board of the Chinese Canadian Museum of BC and the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC.
