How Canada's history was shaped by the unofficial "Mayor of Chinatown"

He was born Wong Mun Poo on July 7, 1899, in China. As a child, he came to Cumberland, British Columbia, with his parents.

“When I was just a small little boy, my family ran a store in Cumberland, and at Chinese New Year, we closed the store for two weeks, and we decorated it with candles and scrolls and banners, and we served our friends drinks and sweetmeats inside. I was just a small, little boy, and I served the drinks and the sweetmeats, and they gave me money, and I remember I made over $100 in one day. Oh yes, those were the good days,” he said of his early life.

It was the hope of his parents that Wong would return to China to build a career. Those plans were derailed when Sun Yat-sen came to Cumberland. Sun was a revolutionary who came to the area on a fundraising trip, and this would have a lasting impression on Wong, who would decide to study law in Canada.

Once he had completed high school, he became one of only five Chinese students to enroll at the University of British Columbia.

After he graduated, he became a court interpreter, hired by the Attorney General of British Columbia. He was unable to practice law, despite graduating, because of his inability to be on the electoral list as a Chinese-Canadian due to laws against Chinese-Canadians voting.

Instead, Wong became employed as a court interpreter due to his skill in both English and Mandarin.

He established the Kwong Lee Tai Company. This company was a Chinese legal broker that employed interpreters to handle cases involving Chinese Canadians in the city.

In 1937, Wong was named the publicity agent for the Chinese Benevolent Association in Vancouver. His role was to bring publicity to the aid-to-China program during the war between Japan and China.

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In 1944, Wong created a petition that contained seven points requesting that Chinese Canadians be given the right to vote in British Columbia elections. This petition was sent to both the provincial and federal governments.

Wong said, “Our hopes have never been so high. We don’t expect to use the privilege until 1949.”

He was pretty accurate with that statement.

It was not until 1947 that Chinese Canadians could vote in federal elections and in 1949 in British Columbia.

Wong then became an advocate for removing the remaining restrictions on Chinese immigration into Canada. He also sought to stop the separation of families due to the restrictions and to seek redress for the Chinese Head Tax that lasted from 1885 to 1923.

Every year from 1949 to 1959, Wong travelled to Ottawa to lobby politicians over immigration and the head tax, gaining him press throughout the country. He often appeared in the media to talk about the lobbying, and Chinese-Canadian media covered his trips extensively.

In 1956, Immigration Minister Jack Pickersgill stated that he would give consideration to allowing the spouses of Chinese Canadians to come to Canada. Pickersgill had been presented with a brief from Wong, who would say that he was very happy with the talks.

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Later that year, immigration rules were relaxed to allow aged parents of Chinese Canadians to come to the country.

Thanks to his efforts and lobbying, Canadian immigration laws were eventually liberalized, and hundreds of Chinese families were able to reunite since Chinese Canadians could sponsor their spouses, unmarried offspring and parents.

In 1959, the RCMP and the Canadian Immigration Department began an investigation into an alleged racketeering operation by Chinese Canadians to illegally bring Chinese immigrants to Canada. In the operation, the RCMP raided residences, businesses and organizations of Chinese Canadian community leaders. They would seize over 30,000 passports, visas and other documents.

Wong considered these raids to be systemic human rights violations. He stated, “The situation resembles a country under martial law. If the government does not restrict such actions, the basic rights and freedoms of people are endangered.”

In July 1961, Wong’s files were taken in an RCMP raid of his home, the hotel room of his secretary Wong Gam Chun, and the offices of the Chinese Benevolent Association. Wong stated that the files taken include the names and some details about nearly every Chinese person in Canada.

Wong and several Chinese community associations conducted media campaigns denouncing the actions. In the end, very few people were convicted under the RCMP operation.

By the 1960s, Wong spent his time advocating against Chinatown developments that he worried would separate the community from the rest of Vancouver.

In 1963, he resigned from a committee created by Mayor William Rathie due to his opposition to the Strathcona Rehabilitation Project development. He called the development the equivalent of the Berlin Wall as it separated the business and residential areas of Chinatown. The development plan was to raze 30 acres for a high-rise building on land that was expropriated from Chinese property owners.

Mayor Rathie stated that the Chinese Benevolent Association could submit its own plans for the development. The organization did, which was favourably received by the community.

In the end, Vancouver City Council approved the developer’s plans the next week.

In 1967, Wong was named the Vancouver Brotherhood Citizen of the Year for his efforts to fight discrimination in the city.

On July 31, 1971, Wong passed away.

His funeral was one of the most attended in the history of Chinatown.

In 2008, he was named a Person of National Historic Significance, and in 2011, he was named one of the Top 10 Vancouverites in the city’s history.