Asian Canadian Cultural Organization

The original idea of an Asian Canadian organization with a focus on student activism at University of British Columbia was a concept conceived back in October 2006. What originally was a bid for student and youth involvement in the city’s Anniversaries of Change 2007 events inspired awareness for a need of an organization to promote Pan-Asian consciousness on campus. Thus, the Asian Canadian Cultural Organization (ACCO) was born.

Since its constitution in September 2007, ACCO has been actively promoting greater awareness on issues pertinent to Asian Canadians on UBC campus and in the community. ACCO’s mandate includes supporting Asian Canadian cultural performers and artists in the community, providing a safe space for discussion, and commemorating the richness of Canada’s neglected Asian history through academics and social outreach. Within its first year, along with movie screenings of Better Luck Tomorrow and Eve and the Fire Horse, ACCO has organized two major successful events: Outpost: Asian Canadians Reframed Exhibit and UnConference. The next generation of Asian Canadian leaders are born.

The Chinese Canadian Historical Society of British Columbia (CCHSBC)

The Chinese Canadian Historical Society of British Columbia was created in 2004 after many years of planning by Ed Wickberg, professor emeritus of history at UBC. Its vision? As a non-profit, participatory provincial organization dedicated to broadening our shared understanding of history of the Chinese in British Columbia through research, documentation, preservation and education, the CCHS aspires to:

1. To provide resources and support to members in their research in family, business and community histories of the Chinese in British Columbia.
2. To encourage participation from all British Columbians and Canadians in documentation, preservation, research and public education on Chinese Canadian history in British Columbia.
3. To be acknowledged and respected as a resource centre on the history of the Chinese in British Columbia.
4. To collaborate with institutions and organizations to promote and share the history of the Chinese in British Columbia

One of the many projects that the CCHS has conducted is: Chinese Canadians and First Nations: 150 Years of Shared Experiences focuses on an important and unrecognized component of BC’s history: the relationships between Chinese Canadians and First Nations people of the province. Most projects looking at the Chinese in early British Columbia have focussed on our history in relationship to the gold rush, the building of the railroad, in the fishing and agricultural industries and the development of Chinatowns in Victoria and Vancouver; however the Chinese community was also in contact with First Nations peoples, sharing experiences of exclusion, racism, perseverance and love. Chinese and the First Nations people have in fact had an interesting and complex history together in British Columbia, however, this history has gone largely unknown and unrecorded.

The History of the Asian Canadian Writer's Workshop (ACWW)

Welcome to our new website! The Asian Canadian Writer’s Workshop originated in the late 1960’s during the time of the Vietnam War, the African-American movement and other Third World minority movements. In Vancouver, the Cultural Revolution in China influenced local politics and unleashed the first of a series of Asian immigrant waves beginning with those who fled the 1967 riots of Hong Kong. During those times, a group of UBC students, inspired by a radicalized visisting Asian American professor began the process of re-examining their history and identity. They formed the Asian Canadian Coalition, hosted a conference and created historical exhibitions on campus. The ACC’s Chinese component was called Gah Hing, the Japanese component was the Wakayama Group.

During the 1970s, some of the Wakayama group started the Powell Street Revue and produced “Images for the First 100 Years,” a slide show which later became a documentary film. The Chinese Canadian Writer’s Workshop formed to publish the Gum San Po (1974) as a way to educate the community and provide its creative outlet for its1 writers. Gum San Po lasted only two issues but saw the debut of Sean Gunn’s satirical piece, “Lofaantown,” a tour guide’s view of the ‘occidental’ Vancouver in response to numerous tireseome tourist articles about visiting (inscrutable and exotic) Chinatown.

Some members went on to establish Pender Guy, an English language Chinese Canadian radio program on Co-op Radio (1976-1981). The program provided coverage of up-to-date events and issues in the community as well as locally produced music, historical documentaries and creative skills. During this period, much of the leadership was provided by Garrick Chu who unfortunately passed away in late 1979.