Several Grade 5/6 students at Desert Sands Community School are working on a project that shines a spotlight on the history of the Chinese community in Ashcroft, and one man in particular.
With the assistance of Deanna Porter, branch head at the Ashcroft Library, the students — under the guidance of vice-principal David Dumont — are preparing an exhibit that looks at the life of Wee Tan Louie, who was born in Canada to Chinese immigrants and grew up in the Shuswap, where he worked at Douglas Lake Ranch.
When World War I started, Wee Tan wanted to enlist in the Canadian Army, but was denied in his home province. Undeterred, he travelled to Alberta in the dead of winter and was able to enlist there. He went on to become a runner on the front lines: one of the most dangerous jobs for a soldier in the trenches of World War I. After the war, Wee Tan moved to Ashcroft, where he built a successful trucking business.
Using library archives and other primary sources, and with the assistance of Porter and Dumont, the students will be assembling storyboards that chronicle the history of Chinese people in British Columbia and in Ashcroft, as well as depicting Wee Tan Louie’s life.
Work on the storyboards started at the Ashcroft Library on May 22. Dumont says that the students taking part in the project all volunteered to be part of it, and began working on the idea last September.
“We let it percolate for the year, and Deanna wanted to do some research as well," he says. "We’re doing it at the library, because that’s a good partnership.”
The decision to focus on Wee Tan Louie — a member of Ashcroft’s Chinese community — came about as part of research into local World War I veterans, and Dumont says it ties in to other teaching about storytelling and narrative inquiry that students experience in relation to First Nations.
“It’s also timely to be looking at a member of the Chinese community because Lytton lost its Chinese Museum and we lost a lot of that history. It’s been in the back of my mind, and it was the right time to pull this story out.”
The students’ work will be on display at the Desert Sands learning exhibition on June 12, and Dumont hopes that visitors will leave comments that can be added to the project. After that it will be on display at the Ashcroft Library, before finding a permanent home at the Ashcroft Museum.
