Quon, Emma
Emma Quon (née Lee) was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec. Her father immigrated to Canada in 1898 and her mother in 1913. Emma had a busy social life in Montreal, taking part in many church and extra-curricular activities. She married Harry Quon in the late 1930s, and the young couple ran an inn in Port McNicoll, Ontario. After returning to Montreal, Emma became very active in community work as a founding member of the Canadian Chinese Cultural Society of Montreal, a member of the Credit Women’s Breakfast Club, and as part of a group committed to the re-location of the Chinese Hospital. In 1996, Emma moved to Alberta to be close to her daughter.
In 1918, the Spanish flu pandemic overtook Montreal, Quebec. Hospitals and asylums were filled beyond capacity. The language barrier posed particular challenges to the Chinese community’s access to care. Together with the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception (M.I.C.), the leaders of the Chinese community rented two buildings for the creation of an asylum, called the Chinese Hospital. This photograph shows the hospital’s founding members, including Emma Quon's father, Lee Wah Yuen (far left second row) and her brother Anthony Lee (far right, second row). Lee Wah Yuen inspired Emma to pursue her own community work.
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