Lee, Louise
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, Louise Lee describes her life in China and her immigration to Canada, focusing on her family life and work life.
Born in 1923, Louise remembered her life in China as very lucky: Not only did she and her family survived World War Two in China, but she was also given the opportunity to receive a formal education, which she identifies as rare for girls at that time. After the war, she was introduced to her Chinese Canadian husband by a relative of hers. Together, they decided to move to Canada after the birth of their three children. Prior to her immigration to Canada in 1954, she spent nine months in Hong Kong so she could get the proper documents to immigrate to Canada.
Louise remarks that, unlike many immigrants, she and her husband chose to settle in London, Ontario, which had a low Chinese population. She attended night school for English to help her find a job, but found that the demands of being a wife and mother kept her from retaining much English. Eventually, she found work in her husband’s restaurant. She worked until she had to stop for health reasons, and was unable to find a less demanding job elsewhere.
Her limited English was a barrier for her professionally and socially. However, despite the lack of close friendships, she felt that people were always very friendly and warm. Her sons had little trouble integrating with mainstream society and made friends easily. Compared to China, she felt that Canada had fewer professional opportunities, but life was more peaceful. Despite her financial hardship, she enjoyed her life in Canada overall.
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