Name Jean Lumb | Died 2002, Toronto, Canada | |
![]() | ||
Honouring Jean B. Lumb
Jean Bessie Lumb, CM (1919–2002) was the first Chinese Canadian woman and the first restaurateur to receive the Order of Canada for her community work. Most notably, she was recognized for her pivotal role in changing Canada’s immigration laws that separated Chinese families and for her contribution in saving Chinatowns in Toronto and other cities.
Contents
- Honouring Jean B Lumb
- Community Work
- Awards and honours
- Filmography
- Photographic Exhibition
- Personal and family
- References
Lumb, one of twelve children, was born in Nanaimo, B.C. to Fun Gee Wong and Hone Hung Mah, both of Canton, China. Her father emigrated to Canada to work as a farm labourer. Lumb left school at the age of 12 to work and support her family. In 1935, she moved to Toronto and later opened her own grocery store as a 17-year-old. In 1939, she married Doyle Jenning Lumb, her husband of 50 years. The mother of six children and grandmother of nine grandchildren, Jean Lumb was the co-owner (with husband Doyle Lumb) and Director of the Kwong Chow Restaurant in Toronto for 23 years. Her husband was born in China and remained stateless until 1947 and died in 1989.
Jean Lumb was very active in community work throughout her life. She achieved many firsts in Toronto. First Chinese woman on the board of governors of the Women’s College Hospital. First Chinese woman on the board of University Settlement House. First Chinese restaurateur and first woman to receive the Fran Deck Award for outstanding achievement in Toronto’s restaurant industry. First Chinese-Canadian woman to sit on the Board of Rotary-Laughlen Centre. She served as Director and Honorary Advisor of the Yee Hong Chinese Nursing Home for Greater Toronto and the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto, respectively.
Community Work
Awards and honours
Filmography
Jean Lumb, Loving spoonfuls, Episode 2, Indivisual Productions Inc., 2001.
Quo Vadis, Mrs. Lumb?, National Film Board of Canada, 1965.
Spirit of the dragon, written, directed and produced by Gil Gauvreau, Convergence Productions, 2002. Winner of the National Film Board of Canada's Outstanding Documentary Award at the Reel World Festival 2003
Under the willow tree: pioneer Chinese women in Canada, National Film Board of Canada, 1997.
Photographic Exhibition
“But women did come: a photographic exhibition on Chinese Canadian women”, Chinese Canadian National Council, 1993.
Personal and family
Lumb married Doyle Jenning Lumb in 1939 in Toronto, who had come to Canada from China, and they had 6 children. Although Jean Lumb was born in Canada she lost her Canadian status after her marriage and regained it in 1947. Her husband died in 1989 and Lumb herself in 2002.
Lumb's brothers Robert (1917-1987) and Tommy Wong also moved to Toronto, where they founded Central Airways School (formerly Wong's Air School), that taught flying at Toronto Island Airport and Central Airways School on the Toronto Island Airport. Their flying school closed down in the early 1980s. Robert lived in east end Toronto and Tommy in west-end Toronto.