Jean B. Lumb


Jean Bessie Lumb,, was the first Chinese Canadian woman and the first restaurateur to receive the Order of Canada for her community work. Most notably, she was recognized for her pivotal role in changing Canada’s immigration laws that separated Chinese families and for her contribution in saving Toronto's First Chinatown and Chinatowns in other cities.

Early life

Lumb, one of twelve children, was born in Nanaimo, British Columbia to Fun Gee Wong and Hone Hung Mah, both of Canton, China. Her father emigrated to Canada to work as a farm labourer. Lumb left school at the age of 12 to work and support her family. In 1935, she moved to Toronto and later opened her own grocery store as a 17-year-old.

Adulthood

Jean Lumb married Doyle Jenning Lumb in 1939 in Toronto, who had come to Canada from China, and they had 6 children. Although Lumb was born in Canada she lost her Canadian status after her marriage and regained it in 1947. Her husband was born in China and remained stateless until 1947 and died in 1989.
The mother of six children and grandmother of nine grandchildren, Jean Lumb was the co-owner and director of the Kwong Chow Restaurant in Toronto for 23 years. The restaurant was highly successful and popular with both Chinese and Westerners, with many politicians a clientele due to its proximity to Toronto's city hall.
Lumb was very active in community work throughout her life. She was instrumental in organizing the campaign to save Toronto's First Chinatown from complete demolition and galvanized the community against further expropriation later of remaining portions on Dundas Street. She was also a major force, and the sole woman, in the 1957 delegation from the Chinese community lobbying the government of John Diefenbaker to repeal the explicit racial discrimination from the immigration laws of the time containing race-based criteria for admission to Canada.
She achieved many firsts in Toronto. This included being the:
She also served as director and honorary advisor of the Yee Hong Chinese Nursing Home for Greater Toronto and the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto, respectively.

Positions

  • 1957: Immigration Appeal Act
  • 1950 - 1972: Women's Association of the Chinese Dramatic Society, president and director
  • 1959 - 1981: Kwong Chow Chop Suey House, Toronto, co-owner and director
  • 1959 - 1970: Chinese Community Dancers of Ontario, director and producer
  • 1963 - 1998: Lem Si Ho Tong Family Association Women's Group, president and director
  • 1966 - 1982: Rotary-Laughlen Centre
  • 1970 - 1982: Women's College Hospital
  • 1970: "Save Chinatown" Campaign, chairperson
  • 1973 - 1982: Ontario Advisory Council on Multiculturalism
  • 1985 - 1999: Mount Sinai Hospital, director
  • 1985 - 1998: University Settlement House, patron
  • 1986 - 1990: Canadian Music Competition for Ontario, patron
  • 1987 - 1990: Summer Centres for Seniors, director
  • 1992: Twinning of Chung King and Toronto, advisory board member
  • 1994: Ontario Women's Directorate, honorary member
  • 1994 - 2001: Citizenship Judge
  • 1994 Yee Hong Chinese Nursing Home for Greater Toronto, founding director
  • 1994 Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto, honorary advisor

    Family

Lumb's brothers Robert and Tommy Wong also moved to Toronto, where they founded Central Airways School, that taught flying at Toronto Island Airport. Their flying school closed down in the early 1980s. Robert lived in east end Toronto and Tommy in west-end Toronto. Lumb's daughter, Arlene Chan, is a prolific author and a historian of Toronto's Chinatowns and the Chinese Canadian community.

Awards and honours

Filmography

  • Jean Lumb, Loving spoonfuls, Episode 2, Indivisual Productions Inc., 2001.
  • Quo Vadis, Mrs. Lumb?, National Film Board of Canada, 1965.
  • Spirit of the dragon, written, directed and produced by Gil Gauvreau, Convergence Productions, 2002.
  • Under the willow tree: pioneer Chinese women in Canada, National Film Board of Canada, 1997.

    Exhibition

"But women did come: a photographic exhibition on Chinese Canadian women", Chinese Canadian National Council, 1993.