2023 CCHSBC Celebratory dinner honouring
mr. hayne wai
Join us at CCHSBC's Annual Celebratory Dinner honouring founding CCHSBC board member and past-president Mr. Hayne Wai. This evening will showcase Hayne's contribution to the Chinese Canadian community, and include great food, raffle prizes, and more!
Additionally, we will be recognising our winners of the the Edgar Wickberg Book Prize, the Edgar Wickberg Undergraduate & Graduate Studies Prizes, the Larry Wong Prize for Chinese Canadian Community and Public History Prize, as well as the Drs. Wallace B. & Madeline H. Chung Prize for Chinese Canadian Community Archiving. This is an evening full of excellent stories and talent that you won't want to miss! Date: Saturday, April 1, 2023 Time: 6:00 PM Start Location: Floata Seafood Restaurant, Vancouver Chinatown Early Bird Ticket Prices:
Regular Ticket Prices:
If you're having difficulties with our online store, or you'd like to purchase full tables, please email info@cchsbc.ca. Early Bird Sale ends March 15, 2023! |
Originally from Hong Kong, Hayne arrived in Vancouver at the age of five with three words of English. He grew up on the West Side where very few Chinese Canadian families lived. After high school, Hayne entered UBC to study Political Science.
During his fourth year at the university, he attended a noon-hour speaker from Chinatown and learned about the Head Tax on early Chinese migrants, the Chinese Exclusion act, denial of citizenship and state-sanctioned racism against the early community. He was shaken and greatlly disappointed that the university courses on Canadian politics omitted this history of racism. Post-secondary courses on Canada in those years did not include discrimination and racism such as the Indian Acts and residential schools, Japanese Canadian internment, early Black pioneers of BC, the Komagata Maru, and Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution. Hayne reflected on how Canada was presented with a “white lens” with a somewhat Disneyesque nation building framework. It was during his final year at UBC that started the genesis of Hayne's community awareness - Joe (Hayne's older brother) took Hayne to a community celebration dinner celebrating the defeat of the Chinatown Freeway, Round 1. Joe, along with others had fought against a freeway scheme that would have cut through Chinatown. Hayne's life-long journey into Chinese Canadian history started in his grad school years at Queen's University. Hayne has held a number of positions over the years that have allowed him to become involved in many community issues. This has included working in Ottawa for a Vancouver cabinet minister, with community organisations in Strathcona, Raymur, and Chinatown n the 1970s, for the Vancouver Centennial Commissions preparing for the 100th anniversary of the City in 1986, and volunteering with other Chinese Canadian community members to build a large exhibition at the Chinese Cultural Centre - Saltwater City, 100 Years of the Chinese in Vancouver. Additionally, Hayne joined the Canadian Human Rights Commission in 1985 as Section 15, the Equality component of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, came into force. He also worked for the provincial Ministry of Multiculturalism to promote inclusive policies, culturally responsive services and anti-racism with government ministries, agencies and community organizations in B.C. Throughout these years Hayne served on federal, provincial, and local advisory committees on anti-racism, diversity, human rights and multiculturalism. After leaving government, Hayne was a sessional instructor in the Faculty of Education at the University of B.C., teaching courses on social issues in education, and also teaching in the School of Social Work. It was an opportunity to share his government and community experiences with future teachers. |
In 2004, Hayne became a founding member of the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC and later served as President. With CCHSBC, in 2006, Hayne wrote about his maternal grandparents coming to Canada and an uncle who served in WWII along with other Chinese Canadians, although they did not have citizenship nor voting rights, and published his stories in two of CCHSBC's publications. In 2008 Hayne joined the board of the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Chinese Classical Chinese Garden in Chinatown as he wanted to learn more about Chinese culture and history in addition to his knowledge of Chinese Canadian history.
Hayne is a recipient of the Government of Canada, Commemorative Medal, 125th Anniversary of Canada (1994), and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012). Hayne is encouraged by a new generation of young advocates dedicated to Chinatown's heritage, community service, and for an inclusive Canada. They remind him of his own journey in community involvement going back many years. He feels it is important that Chinese Canadian history be shared and promoted for future generations and that the heritage of First Nations peoples and all migrants be learned and respected.
Biography Contributors: Hayne Wai, Nafisa Golwala (PCHC), Joyce Tang (CCHSBC)