CHINESE IN EAST YORK

CHINESE: A Brief History

Zhong Hua Men Archway

The two stone lions, each weighing 3 tons, sitting at the base of the Archway are a gift from the People’s Republic of China. The project cost roughly near the intersection of Gerrard Street East and Broadview Avenue (Riverdale), there stands the Zhong Hua Men gate, aka Toronto Chinese Archway. The gate serves as an entrance-way to the Chinese community in this neighbourhood.
The Archway’s official construction began in late 2008 and opened to the public, with a ceremony by then-Mayor David Miller, on September 12, 2009. The creation of the Archway came about in large part due to the efforts of Valerie Mah, as a member of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of East Toronto, together with Councillor Paula Fletcher.

$900,000.00, of which the City of Toronto contributed $415,000.
Ten years in the making, the Archway was the brainchild of Dale Cheung, President of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce (East Toronto) and Bernard Loh, the group’s Vice-President, as well as a small group of past and present members. The group dreamed up the project, back in the day, while having Dim Sum with the area’s former City Councillor,
Jack Layton.
In keeping with the traditional Chinese Paifeng style of commemorating the great achievements of ones ancestors, the Zhong Hua Men Archway is engraved with messages of goodwill and wisdom.

Info courtesy; https://tocityscapes.com/the-toronto-chinese-archway/

JEAN LUMB
July 30, 1919 - July 17, 2002

Jean Lumb

East York Historical Society Pat Barnett and
Arlene Chan daughter of the
great, legendary Jean Lumb
March 29, 2026 at the Revue Cinema located at
400 Roncesvalles Avenue

Jean Bessie Lumb, CM, née Wong (1919–2002)
was the first Chinese Canadian woman and the first restaurateur to receive the Order of Canada for her community work. Most notably, she was recognized for her pivotal role in changing Canada’s immigration laws that separated Chinese families and for her contribution in saving Toronto's First Chinatown and Chinatowns in other cities.
Photo below: Plaque in the Diversity Garden located in the former First Chinatown of Toronto describing the achievements of Jean B. Lumb.

Early lifeLumb, one of twelve children, was born in Nanaimo, British Columbia to Fun Gee Wong and Hone Hung Mah, both of Canton, China. Her father emigrated to Canada to work as a farm labourer. Lumb left school at the age of 12 to work and support her family. In 1935, she moved to Toronto and later opened her own grocery store as a 17-year-old.
AdulthoodJean Lumb married Doyle Jenning Lumb in 1939 in Toronto, who had come to Canada from China, and they had 6 children.[2] Although Lumb was born in Canada she lost her Canadian status after her marriage and regained it in 1947. Her husband was born in China and remained stateless until 1947 and died in 1989.[3]
The mother of six children and grandmother of nine
grandchildren, Jean Lumb was the co-owner (with husband Doyle Lumb) and director of the Kwong Chow Restaurant in Toronto for 23 years.

The restaurant was highly successful and popular with both Chinese and Westerners, with many politicians a clientele due to its proximity to Toronto's city hall.[4]
Lumb was very active in community work throughout her life. She was instrumental in organizing the campaign to save Toronto's First Chinatown from complete demolition and galvanized the community against further expropriation later of remaining portions on Dundas Street.[4] She was also a major force, and the sole woman, in the 1957 delegation from the Chinese community lobbying the government of John Diefenbaker to repeal the explicit racial discrimination from the immigration laws of the time containing race-based criteria for admission to Canada.

Jean Lumb Ontario Heritage Plaque (Chinese)
Image Credit: Alan L Brown – October, 2015 https://jeanlumbfoundation.ca/?p=6416

The Ontario Heritage Trust plaque featuring Jean Lumb was unveiled in April 2016. The plaque is located on the southeast corner of Elizabeth Street and Foster Place. Here’s what it says:
Jean Lumb was born Jean (Toy Jin) Wong in British Columbia, and came to Toronto in 1935. She was soon operating a profitable fruit store and, by 1959, she co-owned the well-reputed Kwong Chow restaurant with her husband, Doyle Lumb. Energetic and outgoing, she established strong links with prominent politicians and, in the 1950s, lobbied successfully for the removal of discriminatory immigration regulations in Canada.

Wide-ranging community work earned her numerous honours, including appointments to Women’s College Hospital Board of Governors and the Ontario Advisory Council on Multiculturalism. President of the Women’s Association of the Chinese Dramatic Society for 25 years, she is best remembered as the dynamic spirit behind the remarkable “Save Chinatown” campaigns. In 1976, Lumb became the first Chinese-Canadian woman and the first restaurateur appointed to the Order of Canada. Jean Lumb served as a voice for her community for over 40 years and left a legacy of social activism and cultural pride for future generations.

Jean Lumb achieved many firsts in Toronto. This included being the:

First Chinese woman on the board of governors of the Women’s College Hospital.
First Chinese woman on the board of University Settlement House
First Chinese restaurateur and first woman to receive the Fran Deck Award for outstanding achievement in Toronto’s restaurant industry.
First Chinese-Canadian woman to sit on the board of Rotary-Laughlen Centre.

She also served as director and honorary advisor of the Yee Hong Chinese Nursing Home for Greater Toronto and the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto, respectively.

Positions

1957: Immigration Appeal Act (Only woman invited to Ottawa to represent Chinese families separated by immigration laws)
1950 - 1972: Women's Association of the Chinese Dramatic Society, president and director
1959 - 1981: Kwong Chow Chop Suey House, Toronto, co-owner and director
1959 - 1970: Chinese Community Dancers of Ontario, director and producer (Command Performance for and presentation to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, Ottawa, 1967
1959 - 1967: Toronto Chinese Public School, trustee and director
1962 - 1968: University Settlement House (First Chinese-Canadian woman to sit on the board of directors)
1963 - 1998: Lem Si Ho Tong Family Association Women's Group, president and director
1966 - 1982: Rotary-Laughlen Centre (First Chinese-Canadian woman to sit on the board)
1970 - 1982: Women's College Hospital (First Chinese-Canadian woman to sit on the board of Governors)
1970: "Save Chinatown" Campaign, chairperson
1973 - 1982: Ontario Advisory Council on Multiculturalism
1985 - 1999: Mount Sinai Hospital, director
1985 - 1998: University Settlement House, patron
1986 - 1990: Canadian Music Competition for Ontario, patron
1987 - 1990: Summer Centres for Seniors, director
1992: Twinning of Chung King and Toronto, advisory board member
1994: Ontario Women's Directorate, honorary member
1994 - 2001: Citizenship Judge
1994 Yee Hong Chinese Nursing Home for Greater Toronto, founding director
1994 Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto, honorary advisor

FamilyLumb's brothers Robert (1917-1987) and Tommy Wong also moved to Toronto, where they founded Central Airways School (formerly Wong's Air School), that taught flying at Toronto Island Air

Jean Lumb Public School 20 Brunel Court. Toronto, ON M5V 0R5
The school shares a large, modern building with Bishop Macdonell Catholic Elementary School, the Canoe Landing Community and Recreation Centre, and a child care centre.
It serves students from Kindergarten to Grade 8
https://mcfcrandall.blog/tag/fort-york-blvd/

Foon Hay Lum 林焕喜

Foon Hay Lum
(30 July 1908 – 24 April 2020) aged 111 years

Foon Hay Lum's life spanned 111 years. The long-time Parkdale resident lived through war, revolution and deprivation in China.
She came to Canada at age 50 after three decades of separation from her husband, who immigrated before Canada's 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act shut the door. She holds her husband's head-tax certificate.
Learn more about her life and that of Jean Lumb, another remarkable grandmother, through their granddaughters’ quest to learn about them in the doc "Exclusion: Beyond the Silence."
Helen Lee, Foon Hay Lum's granddaughter, and Arlene Chan, Jean Lumb's daughter, join us after the film for a discussion this Sunday March 29, 2026 at the @revuecinema.

CHINESE NEW YEAR 2026

CHINA PUBLIC HOLIDAYS
2026 CALENDAR

Jan. 1 New Year's Day
Feb. 17 Spring Festival
Feb. 16 –23 Chinese New Year, China's biggest festival
Apr. 5 Qingming Festival
Apr. 4–6 Tomb Sweeping Day
May 1 Labor Day May 1–5 A 'golden week' for tourism
Jun. 19 Dragon Boat Festival Jun. 19–21 People eat sticky rice dumplings and attend dragon boat races.
Sep. 25 Mid-Autumn Festival Sep. 25–27 Mooncake Festival
Oct. 1 National Day Oct. 1–7 Another 'golden week' for tourism

CHINESE HEAD TAX

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_head_tax

The Chinese Head Tax was a fixed fee exclusively charged to Chinese persons entering Canada. The Head Tax was first levied after the Canadian parliament passed the Chinese Immigration Act of 1885, and it was designed solely to restrict Chinese immigration after the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), through the use of escalating fees. This policy was a state-sanctioned agreement meant to privilege and favour European settlers, while exploiting people of color and making it economically unfeasible for Chinese people to immigrate to Canada.

The Electoral Franchise Act (1885) which disenfranchised Chinese immigrants, further cemented their racial and political inferiority. Alongside the Head Tax, various other pieces of discriminatory legislation were later imposed on Chinese people, limiting their economic opportunities, denying them equal rights, and eventually resulting in the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923, which outright prevented all Chinese immigration except for that of business people, clergy, educators, students, and some others.