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This is a photograph of Mah James, a soldier of Chinese-descent in World War 2 who fought on the side of Canada, taken in 1942 by Yucho Chow. Photos like these are important parts of humanising the statistical costs of war, looking beyond the numbers…

This is another photograph taken by Yucho Chow, centering around an unidentified Black sailor from the US Navy in 1944. Here there is again the attempt to humanize minority soldiers, individualizing them by capturing their faces to present to a world…

Leslie Cheung is one of the first pioneers in the musical genres of Mandopop and Cantopop, reflected in his performance at a Vancouver Fundraising event for flood victims in China in 1990. While Mandopop and Cantopop are popular forms of music across…

Oscar Peterson is renowned not only domestically in Canada, but also more regionally, and even internationally as an influential African-Canadian artist and Jazz musician. One of his most popular songs, “Hymn To Freedom” published in 1963, was borne…

Oliver Jones is another important African-Canadian pianist and Jazz musician, especially with regards to his influence on Little Burgundy, a neighborhood in Montreal, Quebec, which became a hub for African diaspora cultural expression. An influential…

Joseph Koo is a Chinese Canadian composer and is widely touted as being the father of Cantopop, having pioneered and paved the way throughout the late 20th century for musicians in this genre. The starting point of Cantopop can thus be traced to his…

A picture of Nettie Ware when she received her honourary doctorate from the University of Lethbridge in 1982. Nettie dedicated her whole life to contributing to the community, and as a result, she received a doctorate that she deserved. She received…

Many Black families were pushed from their homes because of discrimination, limited schooling, and unstable jobs, creating a need to move somewhere with real economic security. Montreal became that destination because the railroad industry offered…

As Black families arrived in Montreal seeking stability they had been denied elsewhere, the city’s developing community networks became an additional pull factor. Evelyn Braxton’s memories of the Ladies’ Auxiliary hosting cultural gatherings,…

The pull toward opportunity grew even stronger through the work described by Velma Iris Coward King, whose efforts within the Ladies’ Auxiliary, (organizing plays, coordinating fundraisers, and raising money for scholarships), made Montreal…