Goossen, Tam
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, NDP member Tam Goossen gives an account of her life Canada. Tam was born in 1947 in Hong Kong. She began full time work at the age of 18 as a secretary. Life in Hong Kong did not suit her; she was unable to relate to the culture she grew up in. Tam enjoyed obscure films and had what was considered to be ‘radical’ political views. As a result, she felt rejected and intellectually alienated by some of her peers. She found intellectual stimulation in a small group of friends, whom she realizes had a significant impact on her political views later in life.
Tam came to Toronto, Ontario in 1969. She obtained a visa and worked for several years before taking a few courses in the University of Toronto. She found her focus in Japanese studies and went to Kyoto as an exchange student. She returned to complete her master’s degree in Japanese.
Her interest in politics began when she became a parent. She believed that parents should have the right to contribute to their children’s education. In addition to becoming involved with education system, she also joined the New Democratic Party (NDP) in 1979. She was interested in democracy as a practice and felt that the NDP best reflected her political stance. Her goal is to engage individuals in the democratic process though community services and institutions that provide outreach programs. She believes that everyone has the right to a voice and hopes to create a more inclusive society.
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