A B.C. politician found a personal connection to Chinese Canadian history on a recent visit to Burnaby Village Museum.
George Chow, a Vancouver MLA and minister of state for trade, toured the heritage village Thursday along with Burnaby’s mayor, some councillors and local MLAs and other local dignitaries.
He came to see the museum’s Across the Pacific exhibit, which explores the history of Chinese Canadian immigrants in Burnaby, as part of the consultation phase leading to the creation of a Chinese Canadian history museum.
Chow watched a short video featuring an actor playing a Chinese Canadian immigrant. The young man recounts the story his father, who pretended to be a close relative of someone already living in Canada to circumvent discriminatory immigration policies. The actor also speaks of the difficulty of being separated from his father who immigrated years before him.
Chow said his own family history is very similar. His father immigrated to Canada from Hong Kong in 1955, officially as the son of a man – whom Chow referred to as his “paper grandfather” – who came to the country in 1911.
Chow didn’t follow with his siblings and mother for another 10 years.
The NDP MLA said the video made him reflect on the decade he spent, from age three to 14, without a father – and the years his father spent without his family in Canada.
“That also explains a lot of the detachment of the older generation like my father, because they were here by themselves, very lonely. It's really some psychological history to be explored,” Chow said.
Chow also visited Burnaby Village Museum’s Indigenous Welcoming House, where Squamish facilitator Meagan Innes spoke of the importance of confronting the ugly truths of Canadian history before being able to move forward collectively.
“I think it's important to know each other's history, respect each other's history and how we can actually go forward to make this our home – truly our home,” Chow said.
