November, 2023 - Vancouver Historical Society

Larry Wong: A Celebration of Life

A great send-off yesterday: a Celebration of Life hosted by Catherine Clement for Larry Wong, the writer/historian/community organizer of Chinatown and the Chinese Canadian Historical Society. Larry (1938–2023) was eulogized by friends and colleagues, including Larry Grant from Musqueam, his nephew Warren, and UBC historian Henry Yu. Elwin Xie provided a short film including a CBC interview with Larry from a decade ago.

Letters from The Front

I have been in this trench.” Handwriten words by Peter Dueck on a magazine clipping that reads: “The gallant Canadians, sturdy sons of ‘Our Lady of the Snows,’ have won for themselves and their country an imperishable fame by their victories on the Western Front. A party of them may be seen passing up a communication tench in the neighbourhood of Lens.”

Through the wonders of the electronic world, we have tried to trace the unfolding story of two brothers, Peter and Jack Dueck who fought for Canada during the Great War. While we drew on personal information from attestation files and census records, we also examined the interplay between the two brothers’ individual stories and Canadian war-time policy.