Don Boyd
Don began his teaching career in Likely, B.C., teaching Grades 5 to 10, and after two years moved to Qualicum School District where he taught for a further thirty-two years at middle and secondary school levels. He was appointed Vice-Principal at the secondary level in 1983 and later became Principal in 1993 at Qualicum Beach Middle School. In 2009 Don was appointed Principal of Ballenas Secondary in Parksville. Don became a member of the BCPVPA in 2013 as a Director of Support Services, a role that provided him the opportunity to work with Principals and Vice-Principals throughout the province. Don was also a highly respected representative on the newly formed Teacher Regulation Branch, served time on the Teacher Pension Plan Advisory Council, worked with Student Voice and provided his support and guidance in relation to LTD claims and Retirement Planning until his retirement in August 2021.
Upon retirement Don has been able to pursue his love of family and spending more time with his son and daughter and their four children. A real joy in his life is playing games with his grandchildren. With the freedom that retirement brings Don has been travelling to many different destinations including Cuba, Cayman Islands, St. Maarten, Hawaii (Maui, Kauai and Kona) Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Mexico and basically anywhere that has beautiful beaches and hot weather. He is part of a group of friends that have been travelling together for over 20 years and now in retirement they have the flexibility to travel at times other than Christmas, Easter and Summer. In retirement Don moved back to his hometown of Parksville and has been exploring the wonders of Vancouver Island and reconnecting with long-time friends.
Don has joined a not-for-profit society, Community Change Alliance – Empowering Children for Change, and is actively supporting the effort of this group to improve the welfare and lives of children in Africa. He has found that volunteering his time has proven to be both beneficial and worthwhile as he works towards connecting children in BC with children in Africa. Homepage – Community Change
One of Don’s passions is fishing and in retirement he purchased a 19-foot Bayliner, with the hopes of catching his limit of salmon, prawns and crabs. He is still working on developing his fishing skills. He also spends time playing cards, tending to his garden and sharing stories with friends over a good cup of coffee. Don is looking forward to his next set of planned adventures as they travel back to Maui, then head east to Newfoundland for the Canada Summer Games and then northward to Alaska on an Alaskan Cruise.
Don is described by his friends as being loyal, fun-loving (at times mischievous), dedicated and caring. He is always willing to help someone out whether it is to give someone a ride or to pitch in helping someone move. He says since he bought his truck, he finds that he is in high demand. LOL! Don’s most valued treasures are his family and friends. Don doesn’t get rattled too easily however one thing that does provide a little bit of irritation is time. Namely, when a time is set for a meeting, it needs to start and end on time out of respect for the people who are there ready to work. He takes this to heart and is always early to meetings and ready to go. He says you wouldn’t be late for your flight, would you?
Don loves his morning coffee and the drives that he takes each day. He is a bit of a dreamer and has stated many times that he dreamt that he won the Lottery. We wish him luck with that dream! As for his future in retirement, Don says that he wants to continue to explore new places with family and friends and to continue to travel the world and to catch his daily limit fishing. As for what he hopes to achieve, Don says that a goal that he has set for himself is to continue to work towards maintaining a healthy lifestyle in the coming years.Contributed by Jessica Antosz, our Membership Coordinator
Discovering Your Heritage and So Much More
“Oh that! That’s Just my ID!” I hadn’t given much more thought to that statement when I came across my mother’s C.I. 45 identification certificate from when she was three and a half years old. It was from 1924, and when I found it, I believe it was 2004. I was helping my mother a lot as she aged, and as she brushed the paper aside, I tucked it away for safekeeping.
When I was in elementary and high school, we learned nothing about the Chinese in Canada, except perhaps that they were here and helped to build the Canadian Pacific Railway. My parents never talked about the racism of the past that they experienced. They wanted to focus on our family being good Chinese Canadians.
It wasn’t until years after my mother’s passing that I saw another certificate, as Catherine Clement, the curator of “The Paper Trail” asked on Facebook if anyone else had them and would they be willing to share? I brought my mother’s out and sent it to Catherine to be included in the exhibit that was later at the Canadian Chinese Museum for a year.
The 100th anniversary of the passing of the Chinese Exclusion Act, which the Chinese community considered the “Chinese Humiliation Act” was 2023. And with the efforts of Clement and others, the veil hiding the past was removed.
Growing up in Vancouver, I knew that there were so many elderly Chinese men that I saw weekly when I went down to my father’s business in Chinatown. Little did I know that they were the Batchelor Uncles who were caught in Canada, separated for life from their wives and families due to the Act.
I knew little of my paternal grandfather, other than he was a successful merchant, who had two wives. One was my father’s mother – the original mother, and the second, the only one I knew as both grandparents had passed away before I was born. The second mother was a maid who was brought over to assist with the growing family, and my grandfather took a liking to her and began to have children with her too. In all there would be more than twenty-four Soon children.
In retirement, I volunteered transcribing Vancouver City Council minutes through a project called Transcribimus, begun by former Mayor of Vancouver Sam Sullivan. A benefit of doing the work was access to newspapers.com and ancestry.com.
Through research, I discovered links between my family’s history and Canada’s history. Soon Kee had testified before Mackenzie King after the 1907 Anti-Asian riots in Vancouver. Later, when Mackenzie King became Prime Minister, he brought the Chinese Exclusion Act into Law.
One of the outcomes of the law was that any person of Chinese descent in Canada at that time had to be identified at their own cost. They had to provide photographs and go before the authorities and be identified. Even infants. Much information was recorded: when the person came to Canada, the ships they arrived on and the date, whether the Head tax was paid, the amount of tax, and any identifying marks on the head and hands.
With the release of the records I discovered: what my grandparents, parents, and aunts and uncles looked like as younger people. I further discovered that the Canadian government kept track of the Chinese people. My mother’s file (remember she was three and a half years old) had a handwritten note on the top: “Mrs. Henry Soon.”
On other files I found other examples. A child of nine – written on his longer form – had a son, born in 1950, along with the name of his wife. I found her file! She was three years old when she was identified, …and on her form it was written that she had married that nine-year-old and also included her son’s name.
One of my uncles had served in a Secret Operations Unit during the Second World War… I had his record, too. And it was partly due to that secret mission that Chinese Canadians successfully petitioned Ottawa to repeal the Chinese Exclusion Act and grant Canadian Citizenship to all Chinese born in Canada. Before this, they had been identified as “aliens.” Not worthy of Canadian Citizenship.
As a retired person, could I do something more as an educator? I created a workshop for Grade 5 and Grade 10 students, as the Curriculum in BC has changed. At those grades students now learn about the Head Tax, the Chinese Exclusion Act, The Internment of Japanese, the Komagata Maru incident, and so on. I speak about how each person has a story, share my family’s story, and how it is intertwined with Canada’s story.
Since beginning sharing the workshop, I have visited schools in Surrey, Vancouver, Coquitlam, and New Westminster.
After giving each workshop, I am energized each time. I remember my interviews as a young teacher eager to find a job – I wanted to make a difference. In retirement, I am continuing to do so.
Submitted by Gerald Soon, former Principal in Delta and Surrey, former President of BCRPVPA and proud grandfather of seven
