Lo, Mimi
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, Mimi Lo describes her upbringing in Hong Kong and her life in Canada, focusing on her career.
Born in 1945, Mimi recalls an unconventional upbringing in her native Hong Kong. She was in many ways “westernized” before she came to Canada. Sent to an English school as a child, she had the opportunity to interact in a multicultural environment even before coming to Canada.
Her decision to come to Canada was based on her need for independence. Chinese culture, she felt, placed too much emphasis on the social expectations of others. Against her parent’s wishes, she came to Canada to obtain a graduate degree social work at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. She recalls feeling immense relief upon her arrival in 1972. Although she could only afford a small apartment, she no longer felt the constant pressure to conform to a specific standard set by her parents and Chinese society in general.
Mimi’s educational and professional background gave her confidence about her ability to settle in Canada, and her fluency in English helped her have a successful social and academic life. She married shortly after her graduation but delayed having children so she could advance in her social work career.
She describes examples of racial and sexual discrimination in the workplace. Although she feels Canada offers more opportunities for women to become socially and economically independent, she does not deny the importance of her Chinese upbringing. Both cultures have something to offer and she hopes to instill some of her Chinese heritage in her children.
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