An overlooked part of Canadian history

Director Dora Nipp and historian Arlene Chan, daughter of one of the interviewees, will attend!

For our screening of  the 1997 documentary Under the Willow Tree: Pioneer Chinese Women in Canada on Sunday July 23, we welcomed  two speakers, the film’s director, Dora Nipp, who is also a lawyer and heads the Multicultural History Society of Ontario, and historian Arlene Chan, whose mother Jean Lumb is interviewed in the film.

We were also joined by surprise guest Jack Walker, whose father was the first banker to lend to the Chinese community in Toronto. Arlene, whose parents ran one of four big Chinese restaurants in Chinatown, remembers Jack’s father well.

Thanks Dora, for capturing the interviews and stories in this NFB films from seven women, who have since passed away; and thanks Dora, Arlene and Jack for your illuminating comments about life in Canada’s Chinese community as it unfolded against a backdrop of anti-Chinese legislation and attitudes.

Here’s how the NFB describes the film: “It is an amazing tale of courageous women who left behind their families, knowing they would never see them again and of girls who were shipped off to the New World to marry men they had never met. These are the women who fought against the many forms of racism they faced in Canada while, at the same time, challenging sexism within their own communities. By passing on language, culture, and values to their children, these women defined what it means to be Chinese Canadian.” (The first Chinese woman is recorded to have entered the British colony in 1860, just seven years before Confederaton.) The National Film Board has a treasure trove of documentaries, such as Under the Willow Tree, which preserve the stories of earlier generations and reveal the challenges they faced.

It’s fitting that we should revisit the stories of these Chinese women in July, 2023, which marked the 100th anniversary of Canada’s Chinese Exclusion Act. From 1923 to the repeal of the act in 1947, just 15 Chinese were admitted to Canada, according to the Canadian Museum of Immigration. In 1931, there were only 3,648 women among a total Chinese population of 46,519.

Tickets were available in advance on Eventbrite with a pay-what-you-can donation ($10 suggested): Click here. Proceeds support Back Lane Studios programs!

About our Speakers:

Dora Nipp:

Dora Nipp, who wrote and directed this documentary, is the CEO of the Multicultural History Society of Ontario. During her tenure, she has expanded the organization’s acquisitions and its volunteer initiatives exponentially. In the past few years, 300-plus volunteers have engaged with more than 500 oral history testimonies, producing, editing and annotating interview transcripts, and researching and writing biographical notes on narrators. In total, the Society has more than 9,000 hours of oral testimonies and 84,000 photographs – gathered from members of 60 ethnic groups now living in Canada.

Arlene Chan:

Arlene is an author and award-winning Chinatown historian who brings the history, culture, and traditions of the Chinese in Toronto and Canada to life in her speaking engagements and books. Her essays have appeared in numerous publications, including the Toronto Star, Spacing Magazine, and The Canadian Encyclopedia. She devotes her time to researching, writing, and blending in her first-hand experiences and family stories as a speaker and Chinatown tour guide. Arlene is the president of the Jean Lumb Foundation, named in honour of her mother.