FOR CHAMPIONING CHINATOWN

5. CAROL LEE CO-FOUNDER AND CHAIR, VANCOUVER CHINATOWN FOUNDATION PREVIOUSLY #19, 2023

THERE’S A WHOLE COMMUNITY of folks rallying to revitalize Chinatown—but if the neighbourhood has one champion, it’s Vancouver Chinatown Foundation’s own Carol Lee.

In the past year, her foundation’s Chinatown Storytelling Centre not only hosted new exhibitions that dive deep into the lived history of the area, it has also produced accessible, engaging events (like an evening devoted to celebrating Bruce Lee). Last fall’s Light Up Chinatown festival—an extravaganza of live performance, art, food trucks and more—welcomed 16,000 attendees to the neighbourhood.

Of course, operating a charity in one of the country’s most vulnerable neighbourhoods has its challenges: an isolated act of violence at Light Up Chinatown had the event making the news for all the wrong reasons. Despite the devastating incident, Lee and her team continued to rally the community in support of Chinatown. Good news followed: the Chinatown Foundation’s 2023 Autumn Gala raised $1.9 million (thanks, in part, to auction donations from local icons like Martha Sturdy) for 58 West Hastings, a housing project that’s slated to open this spring. Once launched, the property will have 231 affordable units, including 120 welfare-rate units. Lee and the Chinatown Foundation acknowledge the complex issues of the area without being paralyzed by them, and their collective action is bringing hope back to the ’hood. And her impact reaches beyond city limits: she received an Order of Canada this past December.