In 1923, the Canadian government officially passed the Chinese Immigration Act to prevent Chinese immigrants from immigrating to Canada. This year is 2023. On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Immigration Act, youths from the Youth Leadership Project of ECSSEN Career School and some other clubs in Calgary have joined forces to organize activities to commemorate the Chinese Immigration Act and the contributions of the Chinese.
This project is a series of activities:
- Invite guests to tell the history of the Chinese Immigration Act
- Ask the descendants of Canadian Pacific Railway workers to present about the history of their ancestors and the contributions of the Chinese to Canada and Calgary.
- Invite guests to talk about the history of Calgary’s Chinatown
- Visit the Chinese Culture Museum at the Calgary Chinese Cultural Centre
- Finally, the project ended with a youth speech contest to remember the Chinese Immigration Act and commemorate the contributions of the Chinese.
This program features teens leading teens. The purpose is to let young people listen to historical stories and remember history to prevent the recurrence of anti-Chinese trends!
This project received support and funding from the City of Calgary.
Our article, Calgary Youths Working Together, was read and followed by more that 3,000 readers within a few days after the the article was published.
Because this is a project led mainly by teenagers, we gathered several young leaders at the beginning of the project and formed a project team.
Students were asked to develop the project around the following four points:
- Honouring contributions
- Intergenerational talks
- Cultural education
- Revealing hidden histories
They hold online meetings every Friday night, arrange for everyone to do their own research, and then share their research and feelings with the participants at the next online meeting.
On June 18, 2023, the project team invited David Wright, a professor of history at the University of Calgary, to explain the details of the Chinese Immigration Act.
At the same time, Ronald Lee, a descendant of a worker who originally built the Canadian Pacific Railway, was invited to introduce the lives of his ancestors.
This is the site photos of the seminars. The lower left corner is a group photo of adult volunteers, and the lower right corner is a group photo of youth volunteers.
This is the sight of the seminars. The lower left corner is a group photo of adult volunteers, and the lower right corner is a group photo of youth volunteers.
This is a photo of the seminar.
July 1st is Canada Day, but it is also recorded as Humiliation Day by the Canadian government. July 1st of this year marks the day when the Canadian government officially passed the Chinese Immigration Act 100 years ago.
Our project is designed to cooperate with the Canadian government's purpose of remembering history, promoting the contribution of Chinese people to Canada, preventing the recurrence of racial discrimination and anti-Chinese thoughts, and at the same time training young people's leadership skills.
On July 1st, our volunteer team divided into two groups and participated in an event held in Chinatown and one in Fort Calgary to commemorate the Chinese Immigration Act and commemorate the contributions of the Chinese.
This is a history-making event held in Chinatown on July 1st. MP Gerg McLean, MLAs Ric McIver, Julia Hayter and Lizette Tejada, and City Councilor Terry Wong attended the event.
We are gratified and proud to have wreaths laid by the City of Calgary, Calgary Chinatown, MP Gerg McLean, and Ric Mclver, MLA for Calgary-Hays riding and Provincial Minister of Municipal Affairs!
These flowers do not come lightly. Through the unremitting efforts of us Chinese over the years, the government has realized and recognized the contributions of Chinese in history!
This is an on-site record of our volunteers’ participation in an event held in Fort Calgary on July 1st to remember history and promote the contributions of the Chinese to Canada.
The students carefully checked the promotional materials and practiced Chinese calligraphy.
Between July and August, the project team organized more than 100 people in several groups to visit the Calgary Cultural Centre and its museum
Everyone is very familiar with the cultural center, but few people know that there is a museum below. Some people have been in Calgary for decades and have never seen the historical items displayed in the cultural centre.
It’s so gratifying to see children interested in Chinese culture! A parent said that the Chinese cultural activities on that day were very interesting and the children loved them very much. Some visitors also said that the introduction to Chinese history made them cry!
At the end of this project to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Immigration Act and commemorate the contribution of the Chinese to Canada, we organized a speech contest on July 29 with the Chinese Immigration Act and history and contributions of the Chinese as the theme.
This is the scene of that day.
A total of more than 20 children and teenagers participated in the speech contest that day.
The project team established a strong referee team:
- Chief Judge: Huiming Chen
Senior Toastmaster, member of Twin Towers Toastmasters. Served as Toastmasters President, Membership Director and Education Director, C21 Regional Toastmasters Director,
Served as the chief referee of the club's speech competition and the competition chairman of the regional competition.
- Judge 1: Li LU
Master's degree in geophysics, member of the International Toastmasters Club, and currently serves as president of the ToThePoint Club
- Judge 2: Sally Zhao
CEO of the The Immigrant Education Society (TIES), PhD in ESL (English as a Second Language) Testing and Assessment, Master of Language and Communication from Cardiff University UK, and Master of Education in Teaching English for Specific Purposes from the University of Exeter, UK
- Judge 3: Teacher Zhu Liping
PhD of Education. Nearly thirty years of teaching experience, teaching Chinese and English at Ernest Manning High School
- Judge 4: Grace Wang
A member of the Twin Towers Toastmasters Club for nine years, she served as Toastmasters Club President, F20 Regional Director, Area A Regional Director, won the Toastmasters Outstanding Regional Award, participated in many Toastmasters speech contests and competition judges, and was the winner of the Toastmasters Member Triple Crown Award.
- Judge 5: Mary Hu Hu Changhong
Canadian Certified Public Accountant, member of the International Toastmasters Speech Club, and currently serves as the treasurer of the ToThePoint Club
Above are photos of the judges and a group photo of the judging team at the competition site.
Although the notice provided by the organizing committee to prepare was very short, given the time constraints, children of all ages made great preparations.
In addition to the first, second and third place selected for each competition group, in order to encourage the students, all the participants received certificates of participation.
After serious evaluation by the judges, the final competition results shows as follows:
Children's group:
- First place: Weixuan Jing
- Second place: Victoria Ji, Tianxiao Yang
- Third Place: Albert Zhou, Furqan Hussain , JoAnne Zhu, Jade Zhang (tied)
Youth group:
- First place: Edward Chen
- Second place: Nicole Sun, Raymond Dong
- Third place: Jay He, Ray He, Hardy Du
The picture above is a group photo of the award-winning students.
In order to encourage the active participation of students, the organizing committee received support from sponsors, institutions and individuals, and gave encouragement awards to all participating students.
These are some of the participating students.
Event video
City Councilor Terry Wong took time out of his tight schedule to come and support us! He thanked various societies for working together to successfully organize this series of activities (including this speech contest) for young people to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Immigration Act, and presented awards to various partner organizations.
As the chief planner and general conductor of this event, Cynthia Shi was nominated for the Exemplary Leadership Award by the event organizing committee.
This is a group photo of representatives from some of the supporting organizations present on the day of the speech contest.
Thank you, Happy 50+, 520 Massage Clinic, and an anonymous donor for your donation!
Parents reported that this activity allows students to learn knowledge that they cannot learn in daily studies, and at the same time allows teenagers to exercise their leadership skills.
- Honoring contributions
- Intergenerational talks
- Cultural education
- Revealing hidden histories
is a requirement of our project. We did it. The students did it. We are proud of the growth of our students!
Thank you to all the individuals, organizations and the City of Calgary who collaborated.
Due to time constraints, this project lasted for two months. From the decision to the day of the speech contest, there were only 9 days in total. The promotional article about the speech contest was read by more than 4,800 people in just a few days after it was published. The event organizing committee thanks all parties for their support and created a miracle in such a short period of time!
Thank you to all the volunteers and parents of the students. Without your support, our project would not be successful!
It is our common obligation to explore the potential of the younger generation, cultivate their abilities, and pave a way for their career development.
We ask for the community’s support in our work to make our dreams, the students' dreams, and their parents' dreams come true. Let us join hands to open up the blue sky for them to fly!
ECSSEN Career School
2023 Calgary Youth Commemoration of 100th Anniversary of Chinese Immigration Act Project Committee
August 30, 2023