HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR 2026!
Zhong Hua Men Archway
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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, 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/
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JEAN LUMB
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Jean Lumb
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East York Historical Society Pat Barnett and Ms. Chan Jean Lumb's daughter March 29, 2026
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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.
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.
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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. |
She 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.
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
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. |
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