Wiki to Tell Stories of First Chinese-Canadians

For Immediate Release – May 28, 2008

(Vancouver B.C.) – Building on the success of the Chinese-Canadian Genealogy website, Vancouver Public Library and Library and Archives Canada have come together to provide a dynamic forum in which to collect and tell the stories of individuals who were born in Canada before 1901 to parents of Chinese origin. 

The Chinese-Canadian History Wiki (http://ccgwiki.vpl.ca/) will create a unique record of the late 19th and early 20th century Chinese community in Canada. The wiki will reflect the long history of this community which dates back at least to the late 1850s when the first Chinese migrants arrived in British Columbia by way of California, attracted by the discovery of gold on the Fraser River.

This is the first public wiki project developed by the Vancouver Public Library and is a pilot project for Library and Archives Canada, which is funding this new initiative.

A wiki is a collection of web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites and to power community websites. For example, the collaborative encyclopedia Wikipedia is one of the best-known wikis.

The wiki builds on a previous Vancouver Public Library project, funded partly by Library and Archives Canada, which created the Chinese-Canadian Genealogy website (www.vpl.ca/ccg).

“Given the wonderful success of the Chinese-Canadian Genealogy website, Vancouver Public Library is very pleased to again collaborate with the community and with Library and Archives Canada to provide yet another tool to gather stories and information about the earliest Chinese Canadians,” said Vancouver’s City Librarian Paul Whitney.

“This represents an important chapter in Vancouver’s, British Columbia’s and Canada’s history and based on the response to the Chinese-Canadian Genealogy website we know the activity on this wiki will vigorous,” he added.

The federal government produced a list of all Canadian-born Chinese people following passage of the 1923 Chinese Immigration Act. This Chinese Immigration List forms the basis of the Chinese-Canadian history wiki pilot project, which includes individual pages for each of the first 461 individuals included on the Chinese Immigration List - all of whom were born in Canada prior to 1901.

“Library and Archives Canada is proud to continue its strong partnership with the Vancouver Public Library and all our library partners in order to make significant Government of Canada records available to cultural communities using innovative technologies,” stated Ian E. Wilson, Librarian and Archivist of Canada.” We recognize the long and important history of Chinese Canadians in this country and feel that this project helps support the discovery of their historical roots.”

In many cases, little is known about the individuals documented on the Chinese Immigration List. Even basic details are scarce. The wiki, therefore, provides research resources to help contributors research the stories of these early Chinese-Canadians using electronic and print sources. As information is gleaned from these sources, contributors can add it to individual wiki entries, building stories over time.

Vancouver Public Library is working with the Chinese-Canadian Historical Society of BC to engage the local Chinese community in the ongoing growth of the wiki and public training workshops on how to use the wiki will be offered. Outreach initiatives aimed at involving local secondary school students are also being considered.

Founded in 1869, the Vancouver Public Library is one of Canada's largest library systems, dedicated to meeting the lifelong learning, reading, recreation, and information needs of the people of Vancouver. Each year, the Library’s 22 branches serve over 370,000 patrons, offer over 2.5 million items and countless online resources to the public, and answer more than one million reference questions. In 2006, a record 10 million items were circulated.

For more information, please contact:     

Marya Gadison
Coordinator of Marketing & Communications
Vancouver Public Library
604-331-3681

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