A Burnaby man who made headlines for his efforts to have the nation redress the wrongs of the Chinese head tax has passed away at the age of 90.
Gim Wong died July 29. His funeral will be held Friday, Aug. 9 at noon at Willingdon Church, 4812 Willingdon Ave. A public viewing will also be held on Thursday, Aug. 8 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Forest Lawn Funeral Home, 3789 Royal Oak Ave.
Wong was born Dec. 28, 1922 in Vancouver's Chinatown and joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1944 - one of the youngest Chinese-Canadian commissioned officers. He initially trained as an air gunner and later became a flight engineer.
Later he ran his own business, Gim's Auto Body.
In 2002, Wong became a visible face across the nation as a campaign to earn redress for the Chinese head tax gained momentum. The head tax - a fee levied on any Chinese person wanting to move to Canada - was paid by some 81,000 men, starting at $50 and gradually rising to its maximum of $500.
Wong told his story to the Burnaby NOW in 2002, remembering the poverty and hardship of his youth as his parents struggled to pay back the money they had borrowed to come to Canada - an enormous sum of money at a time when $500 was about two years' wages for an average white worker, and when Chinese workers were generally paid substantially less than that.
Wong also recalled only being able to vote after the Canadian government repealed the Exclusion Act that had prevented Chinese immigration from 1923 to 1947. But Wong refused to be bitter, noting that there was fear and hysteria in society at the time and stressing that he was only seeking redress for past mistakes in honour of his forebears.
"We witnessed their suffering, their despair, their homesickness," he said at the time.
In 2005, at the age of 82, Wong rode his motorcycle to Ottawa with a dozen other motorcyclists to address the prime minister about the head tax issue in what became known as Gim Wong's Ride for Redress.
His efforts earned him the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012.
Wong's obituary notes that is remembered by his wife of 53 years, Mui Jan, and children Cyndi, Donna, Jeffrey, Dina and Lisa. He is also survived by his sister Anne Loo and brothers Allan and William, and many nieces and nephews.
A full obituary for Wong can be found at www.forestlawn-burnaby.com. Messages of condolence and memories of Wong can be shared on the same site.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that donations can be made to the Tapestry Foundation (for Mount St. Joseph Hospital) at 604-877-8335 or www.tapestryfoundation.ca.
