My name is Howe Yet Lee, which is the phonetic interpretation my Chinese name. I was born on Nov 2, 1932. I was born in the interior of this province at Armstrong BC. It was at that location where I grew up and had my elementary and high school. We were the only Chinese family but there is different history where, at one time, there were 500 Chinese in Armstrong. I grew up in a pretty good environment. There were some discrimination but not as bad as what my parents and family friends went through. Name calling was still common when I was growing up and there were a few, when going home, that wanted to pick a fight with you. That was some of the overlapping discrimination.
As I was in high school, one family friend retired and just came back from the war, serving with the Canadian army - Major Dave Blackburn - and I would say he had some influence in my direction and what I was trying to learn and trying to grow up at same time. When I graduated out of high school, I enrolled and joined at UBC and it was partly with that influence that I decided to carry on with a military career.
One of the challenging things in my life in Armstrong (and also now in Vancouver) was how, because of discrimination against our pioneers and my parents, to survive in this environment, We learned that whatever we do, we had to do better. I felt that it was one way of dealing with the challenges.
Things that highlight my military experience: It was a different environment in the sense that there was less restriction. In the military, you are not working as an individual; you are part of team and you do not experience that sort of discrimination. I was able to move up in their system over my career of 30 years although Istarted in the basic rank of Private. After enrolling in university, I continued and through the recommendation of my mentor, I took officer training which was located in the university. That’s how I became a commissioned officer and moved up from basic rank, ending my active career as senior military officer, and I retired with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. When I look back and compare, we had none of that category in the first war because there was fewer in number. In the second war, we had more but the military did not think Chinese would make good officers. Some of us slipped through and there are only 6 of us that reached the senior rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Today I am still actively involved in an advisory position. After the active work, I was called back to be an Honorary Lieutenant Colonel, serving in that capacity assigned to the 12th battalion in Richmond. My role is to be a senior, and a younger office can ask for my advice.
My community work is a reflection on my high school days. I was involved in student organizations, a member of the Student Council. I was involved in our church, the United Church and I did community work. That’s an early start and ever since I have continued with that kind of approach by volunteering and helping peers and people in the community and also by being involved in the army. It is a well-structured organization, ideal for leadership quality. If you show leadership, the army provides opportunities. And these are all leadership positions.
I didn’t get involved with Chinese Canadian veterans until about 15 years ago. The few people that I knew were looking at their decreasing membership. They were looking for someone who could help them. I consented and joined the Army and Navy Veterans in Canada, Pacific Unit 280. I was able to offer ideas and suggestions. But in a short time, I became an active member in a leadership role. Within a year, I became Vice-President and in the following year, I became President. Because I had been involved in some other military museums, I had some idea on how to set one up. I approached our veterans group and there was some hesitation and reluctance to be involved. I didn’t give up and in the beginning of 1998, I thought that if we don’t do something now, with our aging veterans and their contribution, we’re going to start losing their records and their documents and things like that. I asked who were those seriously interested in forming a military museum and pulled that group aside. There were 15 founding volunteers and we sat down and thought of how to get this off the ground. I gave them an outline and put a target of 1998 Remembrance Week.
We basically fast-tracked a lot of things. We met very frequently and planned on how to raise money. When I presented the budget and the plan, there was very little disagreement on setting up what we have here today. I presented a budget which was $47,000. Some made significant contributions. I approached the H Y Louie family and they were very supportive and gave us $50,000 to start this museum. It came to completion on November 7, 1998. Well, I think that the project went within my expectation but beyond other members’ expectations. It was only the start. Once we got this established, there is more involved in museum - there’s the storage site, the archives. We don’t have lots of space but we do have lots of things not on display. We try to do some rotation. We’ve made a name for ourselves within our Chinese community and we are well- respected nationally if not internationally. Our membership today is about 150. We have members in Singapore, California, Eastern States and all across Canada. It is not limited to Chinese Canadians. In our constitution, we are part of a community. We had foresight to see our diversity would grow.
I was given a number of awards but I can’t say it was solely my work because there were others involved. In the 10 years time and because of some of the projects we did in Chinatown and Victory Square, I was given awards named specifically for me like the Queen’s Jubilee Medal. A number of organizations submitted my name for that award. Because of the work with veterans affairs, I also got a Veterans Affairs Commendation. The Real Estate Board in Greater Vancouver gives out an award for community work and I was also recognized and given the Realtors Community Care Award. Those are three outstanding awards for my community or volunteer work.
It’s not going to be ending because I had a vision for the veterans for their contributions. It should have lasting effect because it is their legacy but it should be focused on education. The young people, not just the Chinese, should have an understanding of our history because we are the only ethnic group discriminated against on all three levels of government.
The vision for the people should continue because of some of the projects I have been introducing or working on since our museum. We’ve been trying to revitalize Chinatown. A few things: the historical bell, the site of original Vancouver Chinatown. We improved the lighting. We have the monument across the street which recognizes 2 groups of Chinese Canadians who really helped change history: the railway workers who helped complete confederation because it was a condition of confederation. Over 17,000 labourers were brought in to build the most difficult section. The second group is the veterans with their contribution that helped us get benefits and rights, specifically citizenship and the right to vote.
We would like to expand our involvement by setting up a Chinese Canadian Community Foundation that will raise money that can help in terms of education, research, scholarship, in particular for the young people to understand this background detail. We hope we can get a national foundation that will benefit not just Chinese Canadians
We should look at a historic museum based on our history and contributions right from our beginning about150 years ago and I’m sure we’re going to leave more of our history. We should get a Chinese Canadian Historic Museum for a national base. That’s part of our vision of how to look at our future. If this gets passed on, we hope the community will be involved nationally and other ethnic groups will support us. The seed, the idea has been planted.