Pat was born in Langley, BC. In 1880 her great-grandfather migrated to Pacific Canada from southern China and later her grandparents migrated here as well. Their stories are briefly mentioned in Pat’s migration story which can be found on the PCHC website here.

Pat has volunteered as a school race relations chairperson; facilitated at multicultural leadership camp; contributed to and edited multicultural publications; and delivered workshops on Canadian multicultural books..

She has presented Human Rights Day Student Symposia; organized Human Library events in educational settings and has participated in educational trips including the 2019 Students on Ice Arctic Expedition, where youth (over 50% of the students from Indigenous communities) were connected to nature, knowledge, people and resources to become future leaders.

Pat actively encourages all people in Pacific Canada to share their migration stories through PCHC, especially IBPOC, LGBTQ2S+, women, people with disabilities whose stories are underrepresented or unseen.

Leticia Sánchez is an M.Ed. from Anahuac University, Mexico City, and a Certified Overseas Teacher of English from Cambridge University via the British Council and the Universidad Ibero-Americana in Mexico. She is certified in Community Capacity Building from Simon Fraser University, 2022. Leticia’s areas of expertise in education are instruction, leadership, curriculum development, counselling, and administration. For over 20 years, she coordinated the Language Departments at the Ibero-American and Cenca Institutes in the State of Mexico. From 2008 to 2018, she worked as a Visitor Services Manager, Director of Retail, and Head of Cultural Experience and Art Exhibitions at the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden.

Leticia has collaborated with private galleries, educational institutions, and consulates to showcase individual artists and develop events supporting cultural heritage, competence, diversity, and inclusion. Her strong interest in the impact of art and heritage on the well-being and development of communities has led her to continue as an independent Gallery Administrator, Curator, and Art Programmer producer for community and heritage projects. Under that umbrella, her community projects bring public awareness to Vancouver's diverse Pan-Asian art, culture, and communities. “Embracing Multicultural Languages,” “Following the Silk Routes and Beyond in Vancouver'', 2016-2018, “Interconnected Spotlight of Asian-Canadian Artists,” Yummiest Asian Food, and VAHMS Connections; 2019 to present are some of her recent projects.

Joann Anokwuru (She, Her) is a special/inclusive educator, advocate, and author. She holds a B.Ed. and M.Ed. in Special education from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria; an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Pedagogy, Leadership, and Administration from the University of British Columbia; an Advanced Diploma in Inclusive Education, Queens University, Belfast; and a PhD in Curriculum Studies, UBC. Joann is a Certified Educational Assessor with Real Training UK and a member of the British Society of Psychologists BPS, UK. With over 28 years of teaching experience as a special educator, Joann wants to see school systems where people with disabilities are given access to learning, sharing and being. Joann is the coordinator and teacher for Gateway to Adulthood, a Learning district program, Vancouver School Board. GTA is a program for young adults with disabilities, preparing them for community transition and college. Joann received the 2022 CIBWE award and recognition of the Top Black 100 Women to look out for in Canada. Joann sits on the board of many organizations such as OneWorldUv New York, Swenam College, Canada, and Kerridale Preparatory School, Nigeria.
Joann’s PhD research focused on utilizing ecological narrative to bring forth the voices of young adults with disabilities, their families, special educators, and policymakers advocating for the Nigerian educational system to be more inclusive.

Andrea D cruz, of Indian origin, was born and raised in Dubai, U.A.E. She completed her undergrad in Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting at the University of Wollongong in Dubai. She later moved to Vancouver, BC in 2018 and is currently studying to become a CPA. While Dubai will always be where the heart is, Andrea is warming up to call Vancouver home.

Andrea has been working for the last 5 years in the accounting department for Lynch Bus Lines, a school bus company serving the lower mainland.

Andrea loves to travel and see new places. One of the things on her bucket list is doing a road trip from Vancouver to Toronto one day. She also loves spending time with her niece and nephew and enjoys life as an aunt!

Nancy Fong was born and educated in Vancouver, BC. She graduated from UBC with BCom & LLB combined and practised law at a solicitors’ firm in Vancouver & Richmond. In 2004, she transitioned to become a certified financial planner, earning a CFP designation by 2005 and joined a prominent financial planning and insurance services firm in Richmond, BC and becoming a partner in 2013. She is the secretary for the Estate Planning Council of Vancouver for 2022-2023 and a life member of Lions, past president, past secretary and past treasurer & volunteered as Lions member in Vancouver Pacific Lion for over 27 years.

She is also the Vice-President of the Vancouver Pacific Housing Society managing Golden Age Court low-income housing in Chinatown, and a past member and past Chairperson of the BC Children’s Hospital Foundation Chinese-Canadian Planned Gift Committee. She has appeared on radio and TV for various charities regarding estate planning and charitable gift planning.

Dr. Carol Liao is a second generation Taiwanese Canadian with a deep love for the Pacific Northwest. Her parents immigrated to Canada in the 1970s, and she and her siblings grew up in Chilliwack, Surrey, and Vancouver. She received her BA (Honours) from Queen’s University and her LLB from UBC, and then was a corporate lawyer for several years at Shearman & Sterling LLP (New York) before returning to Canada to obtain her LLM and PhD/SJD at UBC and the University of Toronto. Dr. Liao is an Associate Professor at the Peter A. Allard School of Law, and the UBC Sauder Distinguished Fellow of the Dhillon Centre for Business Ethics at the UBC Sauder School of Business. She is also Principal co-Investigator of the Canada Climate Law Initiative. Her research focuses on corporate law and sustainability, climate governance, gender and racial justice. She lives with her partner and three children in Kitsilano.

Tāriq Malik is a Vancouver-based, Pakistan-born, serial volunteer/social worker/teacher/listener/mentor, BIPOC author. He has worked across poetry, fiction, and art for the past four decades to distill immersive and compelling narratives that are always original. He writes intensely in response to the world in flux around him and from his place in its shadows.

Even though his published works Rainsongs of Kotli (TSAR Publications, short stories, 2004), Chanting Denied Shores (Bayeux Arts, novel, 2010), and now Exit Wounds (Caitlin Press, Poetry, 2022), challenge entanglements in the barbed wires of boundaries, he seems to have finally found home in downtown Vancouver, and has no plans to move elsewhere.

He has continually challenged racism in the workplace and society, and the reflection of cultural stereotypes of immigrant communities; and has sought outlets to frame the narratives of the marginalized through the lens of their own stories and lived experiences, and in decolonizing education.

Stan de Mello is a lecturer, field faculty, Affiliate Faculty-Canadian Studies and a member of the Community Centered Integrated Practice concentration. He has been on faculty at the Native Education Centre, Vancouver, University of British Columbia and the University of the Fraser Valley. Stan has a sustained interest in First Nations community development and has worked extensively with urban and rural communities in Canada and the United States. He has also been involved in developing field education sites and institutional relationships in Kenya, UK, Vietnam, Cambodia, India and Canada. Stan has an enduring interest in the multicultural history of Canada, especially the Culinary history and evolving Gastro & Vini Tourism scene in Vancouver and BC.

Vivian is a retired school principal and like her parents, has long been active within the Japanese Canadian community. She has been on the Board of Directors for the BC Principals’ and Vice Principals’ Association, and is a past president of the BC Retired Principals’ and Vice Principals’ Association. As an educator she has facilitated and worked with many administrators’ groups and school districts in areas of professional development. She was a member of a group that developed the first Leadership Standards for BC Principals and Vice Principals, and has presented at international educators’ conferences at Oxford University and Turku, Finland. In 2015 she was honoured as one of UBC’s Outstanding Alumni. Within the Japanese Canadian community she is committed to learning and educating others about Japanese Canadian history and its legacies. For the past eight years she was Chair of the advisory Japanese Canadian Community Council to the Landscapes of Injustice research project. She is one of the advisors to the Education component of the Japanese Canadian Legacies project in honouring the community’s past and looking to the future.

As a third generation Japanese Canadian she says she’s more fluent in Norwegian and French than in Japanese. Her interests are history, music, reading, outdoor activities including skiing, and her family in Canada and Norway.

Lenny Surjati is an international executive, with over twenty-five years’ experience in sales, spanning a decade each in two distinct business sectors: international hotels and conferencing, and Information Technology. Born in Indonesia, she was educated in Australia before pursuing her professional life in Singapore and later Canada.

She spent the first decade of her career in the IT sector in Singapore, where she led domestic and South East Asia regional sales teams for such leading corporations as Singtel, StarHub, and IBM. This included developing business plans for marketing a full range of hardware, software and services for both enterprise and consumer clients.

After marrying a Canadian ambassador, she emigrated to Canada in 2017 and took a role as a Sales Director in the Marriott Hotels Group in Ottawa. Following a move to Vancouver in 2022, she was recruited as a Director of Sales in the Atlific Hotel Group, and is now based at an IHG hotel in Vancouver.

Mrs. Surjati holds a Bachelor’s degree in business and computing from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, and a Masters in International Business (IBM Scholar) from the University of Technology, Sydney, Australia. She speaks English, Bahasa Indonesia and basic Mandarin.

Gwendolyn (“Wendy”) Yip served as President of the Board of Directors for PCHC-MoM Society from January 2020 through October 2022, and remains active as President Emerita. She serves as First Lady at the University of Michigan, and she was University Ambassador for the University of British Columbia (2016-22). In that role, she promoted an intercultural learning environment, and good “town and gown” relationships between UBC and outside groups, particularly local schools. At UBC, Wendy supported such efforts as the Asian Canadian & Asian Migration Studies program, UBC Opera, Museum of Anthropology, Belkin Art Gallery, UBC’s faith communities, Transcending Boundaries, BC Brain Wellness, and mentored graduate students. Wendy has served as an active Honorary President for the UBC Faculty Women’s Club (2016-23), on the Advisory Board of the Chinatown Storytelling Centre, and the Board of the Knowledge Network Corporation (2022). Wendy previously served as the First Lady of the University of Cincinnati, and served on the Board of the Seven Hills Neighborhood House.

Wendy trained as an immunologist at McGill University and as a lawyer at Boston University. She practiced law for a decade in the US, primarily at patent law firms. Wendy was also an Anheuser-Busch Legal Fellow at NAPALC, which later became the Asian American Justice Center, in Washington, DC. She taught patent law as a visiting fellow at the London School for Economics 2001-02. She is married to Santa Ono, now the 15th President of the University of Michigan, and is the proud mother of two independent, resilient, and compassionate daughters.

Photo credit: Paul H Joseph

Dr. Henry Yu was born in Vancouver, and received his BA in Honours History from UBC and an MA and PhD in History from Princeton University. His parents migrated from China, joining a grandfather and great-grandfather who spent almost their entire lives in British Columbia. Descended through his mother’s family from migrants who left Zhongshan county in southern China and settled around the Pacific, Henry has a particular interest in the relations between trans-Pacific migrants and indigenous peoples. An Associate Professor of History, Dr. Yu’s research and teaching at UBC involves collaborations between the university and the communities whom it serves, including projects such as Chinese Canadian Stories: Uncommon Histories from a Common Past (2010-2012) and the Fraser Corridor Heritage Landscapes Project (2014-2016). For his community leadership, including Co-Chairing the Anniversaries of Change Steering Committee (2007-2008); Co-Chairing the City of Vancouver’s Dialogues between First Nations, Urban Aboriginal, and Immigrant Communities Project (2010-2012), and Co-Chairing the Province of British Columbia’s Legacy Initiatives Advisory Council (2015-2018), Dr. Yu received recognition through the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012) and the BC Multicultural Individual Award (2015).

(Image courtesy of UBC ACAM under CC-BY SA-4.0 license)

Dr. Tineke Hellwig was born in Surabaya, Indonesia to a Dutch father and Indonesian mother. Shortly after her birth she moved to Utrecht, the Netherlands, where she grew up immersed in Dutch culture and speaking Dutch. Tineke developed an interest in Indonesian culture after visiting her maternal relatives in Indonesia. She studied Indonesian language and literature at Leiden University in the Netherlands, where she earned her PhD in modern Indonesian literature. She continued her professional career at UBC, where she taught Indonesian and Southeast Asian literature, culture, and history, until her early retirement in 2012. She is now an Associate Professor Emerita in Asian Studies. Tineke brought her Southeast Asian knowledge, experience, and networks to PCHC-MoM.

Harbhajan Singh Gill is President of the Komagata Maru Heritage Foundation, a nonprofit organization created to educate the public on the injustices faced by British Indian subjects when attempting to immigrate to Canada in 1914. Harbhajan hopes that the foundation will create awareness and commemoration amongst Canadian and South-Asian communities for the struggles faced by South-Asian subjects. In addition to his work with the Komagata Maru Heritage Foundation, Harbhajan is a film-maker who has produced films in Punjabi, Hindi and English. He also works with different groups and organizations in order to foster intercultural understanding.

Currently the Komagata Maru Heritage Foundation and students from Punjabi University in Patiala, India are on a tour across India giving a performance of the play based on the Komagata Maru. Harbhajan has retired from Canada Post after serving thirty-five years as Plant Manager and Transportation Manager in Vancouver, and is active in community work including raising funds for food banks, Christmas Hampers and Relay for Life.

Winnie L. Cheung was born to refugee parents in cosmopolitan Hong Kong, where she was surrounded by people converging from China and all over the world. She is fascinated by the forces behind people’s migration, and is curious to know how individuals’ identities are shaped by the knowledge of their families’ history. Professionally, Winnie has worked as an educator in universities in Hong Kong and Vancouver, promoting international relations and intercultural understanding for over three decades. In the community, she has been tirelessly building bridges between first-generation immigrants and local-born Canadians of diverse backgrounds. Her contributions to international understanding, racial harmony and multiculturalism have been recognized by Rotary International, the University of British Columbia, the City of Vancouver and the Provincial Government of British Columbia.

Dr. Raymond Lee was born to the son of a Chinese immigrant, and went on to the University of Utah to earn a Bachelor of Science in Economics, and an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Athabasca and from the University of Calgary. He is a former Citizenship Judge appointed by the Honourable Minister Monte Solberg, and is the first person of Chinese descent in Alberta to have received this honour.

Having served and supported the Chinese Canadian community for more than 50 years, Raymond received a Lifetime Distinguished Achievement Award from Mont Royal University. He is a Co-Founder of PCHC-MoM, believing in promoting the Canadian way of life for all people regardless of heritage.

Dr. Vivienne Poy is an author, historian, fashion designer, entrepreneur and community volunteer. She was the first Canadian of Asian heritage to be appointed to the Senate of Canada (1998-2012), where she focused on gender issues, multiculturalism, immigration and human rights. Dr. Poy is also Honorary Patron to many cultural organizations and causes across Canada, including explorASIAN, Simon Fraser University David Lam Center’s Chinese Canadian History Project, and PCHC-MoM.

Born in Victoria, Dr. Wallace Chung attended Victoria College, the University of British Columbia and McGill University where he graduated in Medicine in 1953. After a forty-year medical career specializing in vascular surgery, Dr. Chung retired in 1991 from UBC where he was a Professor of Surgery and Head of the Department of Surgery at UBC Hospital. During this time he also served on numerous boards, including the Canadian Multiculturalism Council, British Columbia Heritage Trust, and Vancouver Chinese Cultural Centre.

Inspired by a poster of the Canadian Pacific RMS Empress of Asia in his father’s tailor shop when he was six, Dr. Chung collected an extraordinary 25,000-plus items on early British Columbian history, immigration and settlement, particularly of Chinese people in North America. In 1999, Dr. Chung and his wife, Dr. Madeline Chung, donated this collection to UBC Library “so as many people as possible can have the opportunity to understand and appreciate the struggles and joys of those who have come before them.” The Chung Collection is deemed a national treasure and is open to the public. Dr. Chung was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2005 and the Order of British Columbia in 2006 for his multifaceted contributions.

The Honourable Janet Austin was sworn-in as the 30th Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia on April 24, 2018. Prior to this appointment, she spent 15 years as Chief Executive Officer of YWCA Metro Vancouver, one of the province’s largest and most diversified non-profits. There she oversaw operations delivering services to tens of thousands of people annually at more than 40 locations.

Raised in Alberta, Her Honour spent her early career in public sector roles in Calgary, working in regional planning and public consultation and communications for the provincial government. She eventually moved to British Columbia, where she began working with BC Housing and discovered her passion and aptitude for public office. Prior to joining the YWCA, Her Honour served as Executive Director of Big Sisters of BC Lower Mainland, and actively volunteered for many organizations in commitment to helping improve the lives of others, as well as serving on various boards ranging from Translink to the Women’s Health Research Institute.

Her Honour is Chancellor of the Order of British Columbia and was invested as a Member of the Order in 2016. As Lieutenant Governor, she has identified three key themes for her mandate: the promotion of diversity and inclusion, democracy and civic engagement, and Reconciliation.

Christine Brodie graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts from California State University, Long Beach with further university courses at UBC and SFU. She began her career as a classroom teacher and became a specialist in math and reading and supporting students with learning disabilities.

Mrs. Brodie has also worked as a Teacher Consultant for Richmond School District in Community Outreach and as District Consultant for Autism. In those roles, she worked with school based teams, collaborated with community agencies to support out of school youth and was involved in professional development for staff. Mrs. Brodie is currently a Director of S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Foundation.

Tama’s own migration story started from Japan as the first Keio-UBC exchange student on a WUSC (https://wusc.ca/) scholarship. In 1962 she obtained an M.A. in Social Anthropology and Southeast Asian Studies from Yale, and lived in many countries as a diplomat’s wife.

Tama believes in learning from others by listening, and creating a new world together. To her, creating a museum of migration to focus on the diverse peoples in Pacific Canada is part of Canada’s continuing process of nation building.

Patsy George is a social justice and human rights advocate. She has served in many roles, including advisor on community development in BC and director of Multiculturalism BC.

George is a recipient of many awards for her work, including the Order of British Columbia and the Order of Canada.

Elder Larry Grant was born to a Musqueam mother and a Chinese father and raised on traditional Musqueam territory. He grew up learning hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓, the ancestral language of the Musqueam people, from his mother. After retiring as a longshoreman, Elder Grant enrolled in the First Nations Languages Program at UBC to reconnect with the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language and learn how to welcome visitors and migrants to Musqueam territory, just as his ancestors welcomed the first visitors from across the Pacific.

Today, Elder Grant serves the Musqueam First Nation as the Language and Culture Consultant. He is an Adjunct Professor in the UBC First Nations and Endangered Languages Program, where he co-teaches hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language courses held at the Musqueam reserve, and is UBC’s Elder-in-Residence at the First Nations House of Learning. Through these roles and many others, Elder Grant plays a key role in sharing Musqueam culture, identity and narratives as the hosts for the first Pacific migrants to Canada.

Michael Hwang is an advocate for social justice and change. He was born in South Korea to parents who lived through the Japanese colonization and survived the Korean war. His family immigrated to Canada to find a better life for his sister who had mental and physical challenges. These backgrounds set the course for Michael to become a pioneer lawyer in the Korean Canadian community and provided legal education and services for 30 years. Michael served as an elected director and officer of a major party in BC, and was appointed by both major parties to serve on their task forces, one on immigration and the other on small business. However, realizing that political changes must be accompanied by social changes, Michael devoted more years on the boards of many local and international community, educational, and business organizations, and founded many community events and festivals that promote social justice and inter-cultural understanding. His efforts were recognized in 2003 as a recipient of the Queen’s Jubilee Medal and as the Businessperson of the Year by the Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce. Michael currently serves on the boards of New Vista Society, The Spirit of the Children Society and BC's Small Business Roundtable.