Material Type

Recording

Date Range

1995

Physical Condition

Excellent

Acquisition Source

Sir Alexander Galt Museum

Scope and Content

1 VHS T-160. Approximately 2 Hours. Jorge Sosa, Wilfrid Reed, And Albert Leong Speak About Immigrating To Canada from Their Respective Homelands, In Conjunction With The Galt Museum Video production New Hopes And New Homes. 1. 13.5 minutes of various items e.g. pottery, clothing, pictures, paintings - that new Canadians brought from their homeland. 2. Jorge Sosa 7 minutes. - He immigrated from Guatemala to the United States and then to Canada in 1985. On 12 May 1988 he arrived in Lethbridge. He left Guatemala because of political problems in the country. He holds a black belt in Karake. He taught it in Guatemala and continues to teach it in Canada. 3. Wilfred Reed. 16 minutes. - His grandfather, Job Reed, immigrated to Canada from England in 1882. They lived in London, ON and a few other places before arriving in Lethbridge in 1886. Job Reed purchased 6 acres and started a market garden. He also built a stone duplex at 12?? 6th Ave South which is still standing today. Talks about the homesteads they purchased near Granum and Six Mile Coulee. In 1905 Job Reed was asked to lecture in England about the benefits of living in Canada. He had kept a diary of his experiences in Canada which was to be published in England, but Job passed way (1906) before it could go to print. Family photos and pictures of the stone duplex on 6th Ave were videoed. 4. Albert Leong. 27 minutes. - His father, Way Leong, immigrated from China to Vancouver in 1892. He worked in a drugstore for a while, then opened his own store in 1906. In 1926 the family moved to Lethbridge, where he purchased a drugstore in Chinatown. Albert describes the building - family lived in the basement, store was on the main floor, and the upstairs rooms were rented out. Albert has 22 siblings. His father had 4 wives. Albert's mother, Florence, was his 4th wife. They were married in 1921 in China. Florence was the only wife to live in Lethbridge because the other wives returned to China when the family moved. Leong discusses Chinatown. As a child he remembers there were about 150 Chinese people living in the area. He talks about the jobs Chinese people had and the gambling activities in Chinatown. He mentions that he is the last of the original residents on the block. He talks about the Chinese cemetery, and how after 7 years the body was dug up and sent to China for burial. The practice was discontinued after the 1940s because China would no longer accept the bodies. Items in his store, Bow On Tong, and some family photos are shown.

Access Restrictions

Public Access

Accession No.

19971070004

Collection

Archive

Less detail