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Saturday, March 29, 2008

100 Chinese-Canadians who are making a difference in British Columbia - Part 2

Blossoming of influence (continued)
100 Chinese-Canadians who are making a difference in British Columbia

Wency Leung, Michael Scott and Yvonne Zacharias
Vancouver Sun
Saturday, October 21, 2006


Kin Wah Leung
Sector: Business
Origin: China
Years in Canada: 25

Kin Wah started Kin's Farm Market along with his brother, Kin Hun, and his wife, Queenie Leung, with next to nothing. They began with one produce stand on Granville Island in 1983. With the support of customers and hard work, they soon became the busiest produce stand on Granville Island. Their first store opened in 1987 at Blundell and No. 2 Road in Richmond. Now Kin's has expanded to 21 locations in Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.

Lorita Leung
Sector: Arts
Origin: China
Years in Canada: 36

Trained in Chinese traditional dance and ballet, Lorita Leung travelled throughout China and Korea during the early 1960s as a member of the elite Lanchow Army Song and Dance Troupe. She established her reputation for choreographing traditional dance during a seven-year stay in Hong Kong. Within a few months of arriving in Vancouver, in 1970, Leung founded the Lorita Leung Chinese Dance Company that continues to this day. Leung has maintained close ties to China, and for decades was one of the few Western-based choreographers permitted unrestricted study in that country. She is a frequent guest of honour at Chinese dance festivals. Her influence in Vancouver extends to the thousands of young Chinese-Canadian dancers who have studied and performed Chinese folk, classical and minority dances, as well as Chinese ballet and contemporary Chinese contemporary dance under her guidance.

Ronald Ying Nin Leung
Sector: Media
Origin: Hong Kong
Years in Canada: 23

Ronald Ying Nin Leung is an experienced journalist and a well-known current affairs commentator in the Chinese community. Since 1995, he has been the program host and producer of Hotline, a phone-in program on current affairs at CJVB AM1470 Fairchild Radio. Through the program, he facilitates discussion of social issues and helps his Chinese-speaking audience understand their rights and responsibilities as Canadian citizens. He ran unsuccessfully as a city council candidate in the 2005 Vancouver city election.

George Lian
Sector: Business
Origin: China
Years in Canada: 14

When business delegations from China visit the Lower Mainland, George Lian is often one of the first people they encounter. Lian is president of the Canada-China Business Association, an organization with an estimated 700 members that helps Canadian businesses connect with Chinese counterparts. Lian has invited numerous Chinese delegations to B.C., and organizes seminars and meetings with Canadian business leaders and government officials while they're here.

Dr. Victor Ling
Sector: Medicine
Origin: China
Years in Canada: 54

Dr. Victor Ling, a cancer scientist for more than 30 years, is vice-president of discovery at the BC Cancer Agency and an assistant dean at UBC. He is known internationally for his discovery of P-glycoprotein, a mechanism in patients that resists anti-cancer drugs.

His innovative research has been recognized by honorary degrees from four universities, as well as many awards, including the General Motors Kettering prize for cancer research (U.S.), the Josef Steiner Cancer Research Award (Switzerland), the Gairdner Foundation International Award and the Order of B.C.

On finding a cure for cancer, Ling once said, "Cancer is a huge problem. We can bury our heads in the sand and say it is too complicated. But I think any problem that seems to be non-solvable tests a society. And I think if we can be logical and passionate about it, we can go much further here than anybody thinks."

Bernice Liu
Sector: Arts
Origin: Canada

The 21-year-old native of Prince Rupert studied at UBC until she won the Miss Chinese Vancouver title in 2000 and Miss Chinese International in 2001. Bernice Liu was then offered a contract with Hong Kong Television Broadcasts Ltd. and has been extremely popular ever since. As a versatile artist who is proficient in acting, singing and dancing, Bernice has appeared in the leading role in a number of TV drama series.

Alban Lo
Sector: Business
Origin: Hong Kong
Years in Canada: 18

Alban Lo is one of the few trade finance specialists in Canada. As head of Scotiabank's trade finance team in B.C., Lo manages a portfolio of $2 billion US a year and helps Canadian companies develop their export business, sharing his knowledge about major Asian markets. Lo is also an adviser on Chinese community affairs to Premier Gordon Campbell.

Linda Ann Loo
Sector: Government
Origin: Canada

Justice Linda Ann Loo obtained her law degree from UBC in 1974 before practising law as in-house counsel at BC Hydro for 12 years. In 1986 she became an associate with the law firm Singleton Urquhart, later becoming managing partner. As a civil litigator she argued, and won, a case before the Supreme Court of Canada. Loo became a justice of the B.C. Supreme Court in 1996, the first female Chinese-Canadian to serve on that bench.

Brandt Louie
Sector: Business
Origin: Canada

Brandt Louie is chancellor of Simon Fraser University and head of the H.Y. Louie empire, one of the largest private companies in the province. H.Y. Louie is the parent company of London Drugs, where Louie also holds the title of chairman and CEO. He is also vice-chairman and director of forestry giant Canfor Corp.

Raymond Louie
Sector: Government
Origin: Canada

Raymond Louie grew up in east Vancouver working in his family's bakery. The father of three young children, Louie was first elected to Vancouver city council in 2002. He has been involved in the Chinatown revitalization process, sits on the boards of the Greater Vancouver regional district, TransLink and the Municipal Finance Authority, and is a member of the mayor's working group on immigration.

Alan Lowe
Sector: Government
Origin: Canada

The three-term mayor of Victoria, Alan Lowe was the first person of Asian descent to hold that post, despite Victoria's long history of Chinese immigration. He is one of only a handful of mayors of Victoria who were born and raised in the city. Lowe began his third term, in December 2005, with a plan that includes a massive redevelopment of the north end of Victoria's downtown core. His goal, he says, is to make Victoria the "most-livable city in Canada." Lowe's intention to build a safe injection site has been highly controversial.

David Y. H. Lui
Sector: Arts
Origin: Canada

Once dubbed the Boy Impresario, David Y.H. Lui has been a leading figure in B.C. arts for 40 years. He founded Ballet British Columbia and the cultural program of the Dragon Boat Festival. He served a term on the Canada Council, and is widely considered the dean of the fine and performing arts on the West Coast.

Dr. Harvey Lui
Sector: Medicine
Origin: Canada

This year, Dr. Harvey Lui established at UBC the first academic university department in Canada dedicated to studying skin and dermatology. Before that, the program had been a sub-unit of another department. His academic career has focused on developing innovative diagnostic and therapeutic uses for light and lasers in medicine.

Edmond Luke
Sector: Business
Origin: Taiwan
Years in Canada: 27

Edmond Luke is partner at Fasken Martineau, the largest law firm in B.C. Luke specializes in real estate development, and leads the firm's Asia Pacific practice, with clients in Korea, Japan, China and India. He is also co-chairman of the B.C. government's Multicultural Advisory Council, aimed at promoting multiculturalism and fighting racism.

Raymond Mah
Sector: Arts
Origin: Canada

Raymond Mah was the kid doodling in the corner while the rest of the gang played street hockey in east Vancouver. After graduating from the Vancouver School of Art, he worked at CBC for seven years as art director. After leaving the broadcasting corporation, he designed the CBC's 50th anniversary commemorative stamp for Canada Post and then 10 years later, designed another Canada Post stamp for the Year of the Tiger. He formed RayMahDesign and then LeapCreativeGroup, working with clients to design award-winning brand identities and communications.

Roy Mah
Sector: Media
Origin: Canada

Even though he was born in Canada, Roy Mah was ineligible for citizenship -- because of his Chinese ancestry -- until 1949. That didn't stop him from volunteering for wartime service. He commanded the first troop of Chinese-Canadians to fight overseas. Beginning in 1953, he edited and published the English-language Chinatown News for 42 years. Prime minister Pierre Trudeau asked him to join the Canadian press corps on the first-ever state visit to China, in 1974.

Dr. Hiram Mok
Sector: Medicine
Origin: Hong Kong
Years in Canada: 13

Dr. Hiram Mok has been an active staff member at UBC/VGH since 1998, when he was appointed to the position of clinical associate professor in the University of B.C.'s department of psychiatry. He works at the UBC Mood Disorders Centre and in VGH cross-cultural psychiatry. He is also associate director of residency training for UBC psychiatry and VGH site director for undergraduate education. He is fluent in English, Cantonese and Mandarin. He is actively involved in clinical work, teaching, research and has served on the board of directors for the Canadian Mental Health Association and the Mood Disorders Association of B.C.

Don Montgomery
Sector: Community
Origin: Canada

Under Don Montgomery's direction, Asian Heritage Month -- or explorAsian -- has grown to include more than 100 events annually. This past year, the pan-Pacific festival drew 20,000 visitors to its many venues. Montgomery also publishes Ricepaper, a quarterly magazine about Asian-Canadian artists.

Han Shang Ping
Sector: Media
Origin: Taiwan
Years in Canada: 1

Han Shang Ping joined the Vancouver operation of the World Journal less than a year ago as the Chinese-language newspaper's editor-in-chief. Han hails from the World Journal's parent company, the United Daily News group in Taiwan. Launched in Vancouver in 1994, World Journal has a daily readership of about 30,000.

Perry Quan
Sector: Business
Origin: Canada

Perry Quan is the founding president of the Wireless Innovation Network of British Columbia (WINBC), an organization representing more than 230 companies in B.C.'s thriving wireless industry. Quan remains a director of WINBC and a strong promoter of the industry. He is president and founder of wireless communications software maker Contec Innovations Inc.

John Shen
Sector: Business
Origin: China
Years in Canada: 18

John Shen's company, Palcan Fuel Cells Ltd., is one of the early players in B.C.'s developing fuel cell industry. Palcan, founded in 1998, remains a small operation, but has big ambitions to provide clean power to China. Palcan developed what was touted as the world's first marketable fuel-cell powered bicycle in 2001.

Mary-Woo Sims
Sector: Community
Origin: Hong Kong
Years in Canada: 36

A lifetime advocate for equality and human rights, Mary-Woo Sims is the former chief commissioner of the B.C. Human Rights Commission. Through her consulting practice, she now advises industry and government on human rights, equality and diversity management and on organizational change.

Weihong Song
Sector: Medicine
Origin: China
Years in Canada: 5

Weihong Song was only 19 years old when he completed his first medical degree, making him one of the world's youngest physicians. Now a professor of psychiatry at UBC, Song directs a research lab whose chief focus is understanding the role of mutant genes in causing Alzheimer's disease. He came to Vancouver from Boston, where he was a faculty member at Harvard Medical School.

Sid Tan
Sector: Community
Origin: China
Years in Canada: 43

Born in a mud and straw hut in Gong On Lai, Guangdong, China, Tan arrived in Canada at age 14 as a "paper son" under falsified papers that showed him to be the son of his grandparents. He has devoted his time to a myriad of movements, most notably his 20-year struggle to redress the $500 head tax imposed by the Canadian government on Chinese people coming to Canada and exclusionary legislation against Chinese. He is a seniors organizer for the Downtown Eastside Residents Association and a community television volunteer. He has a daughter who is a professional poker player in Las Vegas and a son who is a lawyer in Singapore.

Bing Thom
Sector: Business
Origin: Hong Kong
Years in Canada: 57

Bing Thom's spare, restrained designs help define West Coast contemporary architecture. His projects range from the immense, such as Central City in Surrey and the Aberdeen Centre in Richmond, to the neighbourly, including the Chan Centre at UBC and luminous private residences. His firm also works in the U.S. and China.

Sandra Wilking
Sector: Government
Origin: South Africa, then Hong Kong
Years in Canada: 38

Sandra Wilking, who studied sociology in university, has spent her life serving the community around her. She is a former Vancouver city councillor. She was a director of the Laurier Institution and served for many years on the board at S.U.C.C.E.S.S. In 2003, Wilking was appointed a citizenship judge in Vancouver.

Baldwin Wong
Sector: Community
Origin: Hong Kong
Years in Canada: 32

Baldwin Wong considers himself a bridge between the municipal government and the communities it governs. As the City of Vancouver's multicultural social planner, Wong keeps the mayor's office and various departments abreast of the issues concerning the city's community groups and new immigrants. His ideas help make the city's services more accessible to everyone.

David Wong
Sector: Business
Origin: Canada

David Wong is a principal of Vancouver's Robert Ciccozzi Architecture Inc. In the early 1990s, Wong co-founded SLH International Architects in Singapore, which, until it split up, was one of the largest architectural firms in Southeast Asia. A self-described "troublemaker," Wong is active in politics, with a foot in federal and provincial parties of different stripes. He is also the original arts editor for the Asian-Canadian arts magazine Ricepaper.

Eugene Wong
Sector: Sports
Origin: Canada

Wearing his trademark bucket hat, 16-year-old Eugene Wong seems to take top honours in every golf tournament he enters. The Grade 10 Handsworth secondary student from North Vancouver is the reigning B.C. junior golf champion. In his most recent tournament, he came first in the CN Future Links Pacific Championship last April. His golf club and proficient swing have taken him to Japan, Ireland, San Diego, China and Utah.

Grace Wong
Sector: Education
Origin: Canada

As assistant dean and director of international programs at UBC's Sauder School of Business, Grace Wong runs overseas programs to benefit the school through degree study for its 2,300 students, and faculty and executive development. Under her leadership, the school has forged strong alliances throughout China, and in Korea, Mexico and other countries.

Hong-Yee Wong
Sector: Business
Origin: Singapore
Years in Canada: 20

Hong-Yee Wong, whose PhD in computer science led him first into a lucrative scientific career in advanced visualization, is now engaged in developing the web presence for the Beijing Olympics. In a separate enterprise, he is also the CEO of Iugo Mobile Entertainment, a Vancouver firm that develops games for cellphone use.

Milton Wong
Sector: Business
Origin: Canada

Hailed as a nation-builder, Milton Wong is internationally respected for his ethics, his tireless devotion to volunteerism and cultural diversity, and his humane approach to business. Wong is the chairman of HSBC Asset Management Canada, responsible for assets of $5 billion. Since 1999 he has also been the chancellor of SFU. In 1989, he co-founded the Laurier Institution, to study the social and economic implications of multiculturalism in Canada. "One day you wake up and somebody says, 'You're a leader, do something about it,'" he has observed. "And you say: 'Me, a leader!, I'm not a leader!' And they say, 'Yes, you are!' And that goes on for a few years, and finally you realize society wants you to be a leader, so you better behave like a leader."

Patrick Wong
Sector: Community
Origin: Hong Kong
Years in Canada: 32

Patrick Wong's community-mindedness earned him the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002, an honour that acknowledged his work as a Fraser River harbour commissioner, chairman of the port authority, vice-chairman of the Vancouver Board of Trade and a central figure in several Chinese-Canadian business associations. An accountant by profession, he represented Vancouver- Kensington in the provincial legislature from 2001 to 2005, serving as a minister of state for immigration and multiculturalism.

Paul Wong
Sector: Arts
Origin: Canada

Paul Wong is a video artist whose body of work has earned him national pre-eminence. He has been the subject of a solo exhibition at the National Gallery in Ottawa, and in 2005 won the Governor-General's Award. His work, frequently controversial, deals with the issues of race, sexuality and death.

Yuen Pau Woo
Sector: Education
Origin: Singapore
Years in Canada: 18

As president and co-CEO of the independent think tank Asia Pacific Foundation, Yuen Pau Woo is a leading expert on Asia Pacific economic affairs. It's no wonder that, when Woo speaks on how B.C. can best capture market opportunities and engage the East, industry and government decision-makers listen.

Charlie Wu
Sector: Community
Origin: Taiwan
Years in Canada: 10

Since Charlie Wu took on the role of executive coordinator in 2001, the Taiwanese Cultural Festival has become a significant cultural event in Canada. This year's festival drew about 70,000 people for the three-day event. "Ultimately, we would like to see Taiwanese culture becoming an important piece of the cultural fabric for Canada," Wu said.

Vincent Cheng Yang
Sector: Education
Origin: China
Years in Canada: 16

As director of the China program at the International Centre for Criminal Law Reform, Vincent Cheng Yang is helping the world's most populous nation improve the quality of its justice system. The International Centre is a joint project of UBC, Simon Fraser, and the International Society for the Reform of Criminal Law. It promotes democratic principles, the rule of law and respect for human rights in criminal law, both locally and internationally.

William (Bill) Yee
Sector: Government
Origin: China
Years in Canada: 47

William (Bill) Yee trained as a lawyer in B.C. and practised here until 1999, the year he became a Queen's Counsel. That same year, Yee was appointed to the Provincial Court, where he still serves. Yee was a two-term city councillor in Vancouver, and worked closely with the Chinese Benevolent Association and S.U.C.C.E.S.S.

Benjamin Yeung
Sector: Business
Origin: Hong Kong
Years in Canada: 30

Modest in person and somewhat shy of the limelight, Benjamin Yeung is one of Western Canada's most powerful developers. His firm, Peterson Investment Group's current projects include the Shangri-La hotel and luxury residential tower, the Fairmont Pacific Rim tower and the Woodward's redevelopment -- projects worth a combined $800 million. People are often surprised to learn that development is Yeung's second career; he began his professional life in Canada as a dentist.

Raymond Yeung
Sector: Media
Origin: Hong Kong
Years in Canada: 14

The editor-in-chief of Ming Pao (B.C. edition) Raymond Yeung is a journalist with 30 years of experience. He is a newsman who believes in peace and human rights. He is dedicated to managing a diverse, fast-paced newsroom and producing a well-balanced newspaper.

Catherine Yuen
Sector: Business
Origin: Hong Kong
Years in Canada: 18

Before immigrating to Canada in 1988, Catherine Yuen was the Hong Kong government's senior executive officer, involved in the civil service bureau, and the departments of planning, urban services and home affairs for the then-British-run territory.

In Canada, Yuen switched gears into real estate, and managed and trained real estate professionals for seven years. Some of her students are top achievers in Vancouver's real estate industry today.

When the Hong Kong government opened a trade office in Vancouver in 1999, it looked to Yuen to join its staff.

"They wanted to find a person who knows both sides, who knows Hong Kong and Canada," she said.

Yuen is now the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office's principal consultant for Western Canada, which makes her the point of contact for facilitating bilateral trade and cultural exchanges, as well as building inter-governmental relations, between Hong Kong and Canada.

Aside from work, Yuen serves on the board of the Hong Kong-Canada Business Association and as director of the Hong Kong University Alumni Association of B.C.

Eleanor Yuen
Sector: Education
Origin: Hong Kong
Years in Canada: 19

Eleanor Yuen is an expert in library management. She has research expertise in Chinese-Canadian and Hong Kong issues. She has also developed a website entitled Historical Chinese Language Materials in British Columbia (hclmbc.org). She has been involved in community volunteer work in a variety of ways, including serving as founding director and past president of the Vancouver Hong Kong Forum Society and on the advisory board of Strathcona employment assistance services.

Bennie Yung
Sector: Community
Origin: Hong Kong
Years in Canada: 31

Bennie Yung owns a management company and an import/export firm, but says he spends more time doing community service than running his businesses. Yung is a board member of Vancouver Coastal Health and Greater Vancouver Crime Stoppers. He also serves on the premier's Chinese community advisory committee. For his contributions, Yung was awarded the Queen's Golden Jubilee award for community service in 2003.

Sheng-tian Zheng
Sector: Arts
Origin: China
Years in Canada: 16

Sheng-Tian Zheng trained as a painter, but has made his most enduring marks as a curator and editor. After many years directing the Art Beatus Gallery in both Hong Kong and Vancouver, Zheng left to found Yishu, a respected international journal of Chinese arts. His work as curator is also international in scope. In 2004, he organized the Shanghai Biennale, and now works extensively in Canada, China and Europe.

Profiles written by Wency Leung, Michael Scott and Yvonne Zacharias

© The Vancouver Sun 2006