35. HELEN LEW

My mother did not ever learn to speak English or even favour a Canadian lifestyle, yet I was encouraged as a child to become as Canadian as I could.

I am certain my parents linked adopting Canadian ways with school achievement and career success. Consequently, I embraced the Canadian socialization that school, books, and television offered.

At the time, it felt so natural. Outside of my Chinatown home, I was Canadian: after all, I had been Canadian born.

However, if I had been as attentive to my Chinatown life and/or hadn’t been born in Niagara Falls, I wonder if I might have become a more confident bi-cultural woman like Helen Lew.

I have only chatted with Helen once. In June 2017, Robert Wong had arranged for a small group of people who knew my parents to meet, share what they recalled about my family (Post #15) and the times. Helen participated in that meeting.




HELEN (KWAI NGAN TAM) LEW came with her mother from Hong Kong in 1968. Helen’s sister, Fung Ngan Chong, married to Loy Chong (Post #20), was already living in Niagara Falls at the time.

Helen entered high school at Niagara Falls Collegiate Vocational Institute (NFCVI). In addition, she attended English as a Second Language (ESL) classes. Later, Helen enrolled at Stamford Collegiate to learn short hand.

When Helen first came to Niagara Falls, she worked at the Rose Garden Restaurant (Post #23) and was involved with processing bean sprouts on Erie Avenue (Post #25).

Later on Helen got a job at the Jade Garden Restaurant (Post #23) where she met future husband JAMES LEW who worked as a waiter and chef.

James Lew was born in October 1936 and passed away in May 2006. He is interred at Fairview Cemetery.

Whether due to circumstances, interest or attitude, Helen is a strong model of bridging traditional Chinese ways, with their evolving trends, and Western ways in Niagara Falls. She not only has first-hand knowledge of the some of the foundational Chinese businesses in Niagara Falls to give her an appreciation of the working roots and history of the Chinese, she has participated in their social world too.

Sometimes, Helen joined the older Chinese women and played dominoes - gwat pai or gop sip. She grew Chinese vegetables in her own garden and cooked with them.

At the same time, Helen served the broader Chinese community volunteering her time for events such as the annual Niagara Falls Ching Ming Festival and Chinese New Year celebrations.


On the morning I met with Helen in McDonalds, she was dressed in contemporary athletic wear. She had just finished participating in a fitness class: yoga, pilates, or a cardio workout. I don’t recall which; however, it was definitely not the t’ai chi or qigong I had observed being practiced during early morning hours in parks and squares in Hong Kong and parts of China.

Helen speaks Chinese but spoke in English so I could understand.


Where Helen has learned many western-style aspects of Canadian living and successfully melded them with her Chinese heritage, I am entrenched in western ways and struggling to find my Chinese side. 

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