Lillian Dyck | Stubborn Advocacy: Growing up Chinese-Indigenous

09/23/24 • 27 min

Dr. Lillian Eva Quan Dyck’s life has been one of many firsts. The first Indigenous female senator, first Canadian-born senator of Chinese descent, and first Indigenous woman in Canada to earn a PhD in science. Lillian has blazed trails in the sciences and Senate for her work in reforming the Criminal Code to consider harsher penalties for crimes against Indigenous women, the restoration of Indian Status for Indigenous women who had married non-Indigenous men, and her career as a neuropsychiatrist.

On this Truth and Reconciliation Day special episode, Lillian Dyck discusses why she was told to hide her Indigenous heritage and lean into her Chinese identity growing up, her subsequent advocacy and incredible achievements in the Senate for women and Indigenous peoples, and the inspirations behind Shelley Niro’s recent film based on Lillian’s life, Café Daughter.

To learn more about the Chinese Canadian Museum and book tickets, visit https://www.chinesecanadianmuseum.ca/

To learn more about the Chinese Canadian Museum and book tickets, visit https://www.chinesecanadianmuseum.ca/

Previous Episode

Lori Fung | Olympic History: The First Chinese Canadian Gold Medalist

The Los Angeles Summer Olympics in 1984 marked the first time an Olympic gold medal was awarded to a Chinese Canadian athlete. Lori Fung’s gold in the newly debuted sport of rhythmic gymnastics not only made history as the first Chinese Canadian and Japanese Canadian gold medalist, but also as the first ever rhythmic gymnastics gold medalist. On this episode, Lori talks growing up in East Vancouver and Canadian representation in sports, her Olympic experience, and her big screen debut as an aerial ballerina in the 2004 Catwoman movie.

To learn more about the Chinese Canadian Museum and book tickets, visit https://www.chinesecanadianmuseum.ca/

Next Episode

Janet Bradley Worthington | Family Separation: The Story of Mah Tin Yick and the Oriental Home and School

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923 is the only immigration law in Canadian history to have prevented a particular group from entering the country on the basis of race, specifically barring people of Chinese descent from legally entering Canada from 1923 until 1947 with very few exceptions. Preventing entry denied many prospective Chinese people opportunities for new experiences and economic gain in Canada. However, it also meant that the Chinese already in Canada were prevented from having their families join them in their new lives across the Pacific.

Mah Tin Yick was one of many Chinese whose life was profoundly impacted by this draconian law. Arriving in Victoria from China in 1885, just before the head tax was implemented, Mah Yick settled in Salmon Arm, British Columbia and ran a hand laundry business with his family. However, tragedy struck when his partner passed away just after the Exclusion Act came into effect, leaving him struggling to care for his two young daughters on his own.

On this episode of the School Room podcast, host Dr. Melissa Karmen Lee is joined by Janet Bradley Worthington, Mah Yick’s granddaughter. Tune in to hear about how Mah Yick was personally impacted by the family separation the Exclusion Act brought on, the role the Oriental Home and School played in Janet’s family history, and what it took for Janet to uncover these stories through searching Chinese Canadian archival records.

To learn more about the Chinese Canadian Museum and book tickets, visit https://www.chinesecanadianmuseum.ca/