Pon, Ava
Over 130 interviews with Chinese Canadian women were conducted for the book Jin Guo: Voices of Chinese Canadian Women. Produced in 1992 by the Women’s Book Committee of the Chinese Canadian National Council, Jin Guo was intended to fill the gap in historical accounts of Chinese Canadian women’s history. Researchers traveled across Canada to interview Chinese Canadian women of various ages and backgrounds. The book’s authors, Amy Go, Winnie Ng, Dora Nipp, Julia Tao, Terry Woo and May Yee, organized the book around themes and patterns that emerged across multiple interviews – feelings of isolation and culture shock upon arrival in Canada, memories of parent-child relationships, the importance of education, the working lives of women, discrimination, cultural identity, marriage and dating, family life, perspectives on aging and retirement, and examples community activism. The interviews conducted for this project are stored at the Multicultural History Society of Ontario’s archives. This collections database includes a large cross-section of interviews conducted for Jin Guo – in English, Cantonese and Mandarin.
In this interview, Ava Pon describes growing up in Hong Kong, and her work life and family life after she immigrated to Edmonton, Alberta in 1975.
Ava Pon was born to a family of eight, with six children and two parents. She remembers her family life as chaotic, enduring harsh discipline and violent fights between her parents. Her mother favoured her brothers over her and her sisters, often providing the boys with more food and praise. Ava attributed the unequal treatment to Chinese culture at that time.
Ava attended an all-girls English school in Hong Kong, and met her current husband at a nearby school. They dated until he left for Canada to further his education. During their separation, Ava worked as a secretary. In 1975, after several years apart, her husband proposed and she came to Canada to join him.
Within a year in Canada, Ava went from being a stenographer to the president secretary working for the manager of the company. Her husband worked part-time as a bartender while attending school.
Despite her hesitation to have children, she gave birth to a son after two miscarriages. Ava had difficulty finding suitable childcare.
Ava does not recall instances of discrimination in the workplace but credits that to her position at work. Overall she is very pleased with her life in Canada but misses her family in Hong Kong.
2 / 2 
