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A few months back we had the pleasure of hosting students from the Coordinated Arts Program Law and Society stream for a tour of the Chung Collection and an introduction to researching with primary sources. As we were discussing the civil rights of Chinese Canadians (and how the right to vote was taken away from Chinese Canadians in 1872) it struck me- these students being mostly 18 or 19 years old now were not old enough to vote in any past provincial and federal elections. The right to vote suddenly became even more important to emphasize (and as their professor told them, “political apathy is not allowed in this class!”).

UBC students are taking their right to vote to heart and the proof is in a Youtube video of a “vote mob” held on campus. Vote mobs are being held on campuses across the country after comedian Rick Mercer encouraged Canada’s youth to shock the political parties by actually showing up and casting their ballots.

Chinese Canadians finally won back the right to vote in this country in 1947. Learn more in the Chung Collection by searching under the subject heading Chinese–Civil rights or using keywords such as “vote” or “voting”.

A new initiative from John Price (University of Victoria) and Henry Yu (University of British Columbia) is bringing together scholars of Asian Canadian studies online. Asian Canadian Studies “is a global network of academic and community researchers that promotes university-community partnerships to advance Asian-Canadian studies as a distinct field of study, research and cultural production for social justice.”  Anyone can register and this allows you to post events, publications, and organizations to the network, and also hold discussions in the forums. This will be a great way for students, faculty and community researchers alike to connect over their research topics and also keep up to date in the fields within Asian Canadian Studies.

Click here to read an article in the Spring 2011 Montecristo Magazine in which Dr. Chung talks about the importance of having a hobby:

“Everyone should develop an extra interest outside of their profession. This helps not only to reduce stress but [there is also] the joy of finding something you have been looking for, for years.”

He also speaks in the article to the experience of restoring model ships, of which there are two on display: the Empress of Asia here at UBC, and the Empress of Japan at the Vancouver Maritime Museum.

Montecristo is a Vancouver-based lifestyle and culture magazine.