Tou, Thomas
Father Thomas Tou was the first Chinese Catholic priest working in Montreal, Quebec. Born near Beijing, China in 1921, he was ordained in China before spending eight years in Rome studying Canon Law. While in Rome, the Archbishop of Montreal invited him to come and work in Canada. Father Tou recalls that when he arrived in Montreal in 1957, Chinese women were still scarce among the population. Over his long career, Father Tou has helped many Chinese newcomers navigate family life in Canada, regardless of their affiliation with the church. For example, in the late 1950s, he received special permission to perform marriages for non-Catholic Chinese couples. This allowance helped couples comply with the immigration regulation that admitted fiancées into Canada, provided the marriage occurred within a short period of time. During the operation of the Chinese Adjustment Program (1962-1973), he also helped many Chinese Montrealers correct their immigration status. This program granted amnesty to Chinese immigrants who had entered Canada with false documents. Although Father Tou retired in 1998, he continued to serve the community at the Holy Spirit Montreal Chinese Catholic Mission at the time of the interview.
‘I remember for about three years, I didn’t speak one word in Mandarin. It was all Cantonese. And not only Cantonese, it was all Toisan dialect. So I prepared quite a few months in Rome, Cantonese, but I couldn’t use it over here because the people speak the dialect of Canton which we called Toisan.’
When Father Tou arrived in Montreal, Quebec, he could speak in Mandarin, English, French, Italian and Latin, but quickly had to learn Cantonese and its dialect Toisanese to communicate with the Chinese community he was hired to serve. Later in his career, he started a scholarship fund to encourage Chinese youth to pursue higher education.
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