Award-winning author and historian Lily Siewsan Chow was one of 135 appointments to the Order of Canada announced yesterday by Her Excellency the Right Honourable Mary Simon, Governor General of Canada.
Ms. Chow, who wrote Blood and Sweat Over the Railway Tracks: Chinese Labourers Constructing the Canadian Pacific Railway (1880-1885), was appointed “for preserving and promoting the history of early Chinese immigrants to Canada and their contributions to the country’s social and economic development.”
Her father-in-law, Chung Chow, paid the Head Tax of $500 to enter Canada in 1913. As a former labourer for the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, he inspired Ms. Chow’s passion for British Columbia history with his heart-wrenching stories of Chinese Canadian workers.
The Order of Canada is one of the country’s highest civilian honours.
