Lee, Albert
Albert Lee is a Halifax-based photographer and creater of the photo exhibit Growing Up Chinese in Halifax (Nova Scotia Museum, 1997). His father Shew (Chuck) Lee was the first Chinese boy to grow up in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In the late 1920s, 18 year-old Chuck was sent to China to marry his 14 year-old betrothed, Sui Fa Kung. During the Exclusion Period (1923-1947), Sui Fa Kung lived in China apart from her husband, raising their two children (one of whom passed away) and looking after the family’s farm through periods of famine and political turmoil. In 1949, after The Chinese Immigration Act, 1923 had been repealed, Chuck traveled by boxcar to Vancouver, British Columbia to meet his newly-arrived wife and 14 year-old daughter. Albert describes this as the happiest time of his father’s life because the family was finally together. The Lees had three more children in Halifax, including Albert. Albert recalls that their household was a hub of activity in the small, tight-knit Chinese community.
‘And so there's a whole generation of Chinese-born Canadians who are directly affected by the head tax, as a result, and the Exclusion Act.’
In this clip, Albert Lee discusses the effects of the Exclusion Period (1923-1947) on his family. His sister Nancy was 14 years old when she and her mother were able to immigrate to Canada. Albert was born in 1952, making the age gap between him and his elder sister 17 years. Moreover, he suggests that it was difficult for his mother to raise three young boys in her forties.
of 
