Introductory/biographical information about participant:

 

Lauren: Tell me a little bit about yourself

 

Mr. Tan: Currently, I’m just a business owner… a barbecue restaurant. [I’ve been] here in Canada for.. Over 23 years.

 

Lauren: It’s great that you’re so involved in the community, you said you’re in the wellness committee at [Juniper House]?

 

Mr. Tan: Yeah… usually we stay with the seniors. So, we help them, you know, enjoy the community and the activities, especially Tai Chi… We will host some activities… and local doctors and researchers help them to…enjoy and have a, you know, healthy and safe life… My job is to organize some of the outdoor activities… [we’ll take a] charter bus to the… hot spring, we go to the lakes, we go somewhere else, especially for summertime, South Saskatchewan is very beautiful. 

 

Connection to and discussion about Saskatoon’s Chinese community and Riversdale: 

 

Lauren: What is your, if any, connection to the neighbourhood of Riversdale?

 

Mr. Tan: So, I stayed at my house, 2011, that’s located in Riversdale. [I’m] still there. Now it’s over… 15 years. Yeah, I stay in this specific community… just beside, down the south, beside the river. So it’s very quiet and a very friendly community… It’s still part of Riversdale, but it’s a little bit far from downtown. So, and the original Chinatown… it’s about 20 minutes of walking and 5 minutes of driving. 

 

Lauren: Could you tell me a little bit about your experience in Riversdale and your relationship to the neighbourhood? 

 

Mr. Tan: Yes, I have a very strong connection with the Chinese community…

 

The very old Chinese community, it’s come from the… Canadian Pacific Railroad settlement. So the first settlement of Chinese, they are located in Moose Jaw. So the first Chinese settlement, they came to Saskatchewan… they helped to build, you know, the Canadian Pacific Railroad. And then… the… children, grandchildren [went] all around Saskatchewan, and they have their own community. So… we call it…the old Chinese community.

 

And after that, we have some new Chinese come from the mainland… and from the mainland, they have their own community, they have their own church, they have their own Chinese school. And they gather together, but they have… less connection with the Chinese community. 
 

Lauren: Were there still a significant amount of Chinese-owned businesses in the neighbourhood at the time that you moved [to Riversdale]?

 

Mr. Tan: Before, there’s a lot of restaurants… grocery stores. Neck and the health care neck massage… acupuncture. Now, most of them [have] move[d] out. 

 

Lauren: And how would you say the character of the neighbourhood has changed over time in that regard?

 

Mr. Tan: It is very old…it’s around 60 to 70 years old, [the] community. So, and it’s very tough to make some changes, especially the, you know, houses, the buildings, so it always depends [on] the city planning and the zoning. 

 

Mr. Tan: The Chinese community… most of the Chinese community came from Moose Jaw right? So, when the railroad [was] done… they move[d], they spread [across] the whole province, and most of them move[d] to Saskatoon, because Saskatoon is a bigger city right?.. 

 

Well, I want to see our, you know, ancestors, they did a great job. They did their own business, and then the rest of the family… they educate their children…children get more educated, and they…move for the government or different business… But now, we don’t have much business in [Riversdale],... most of [the] Chinese restaurants shut down. The tradition, the way the first grocery store shut down. So we don’t have much business… Very few Chinese restaurants left here… So the railway station, the Chinese community, we don’t have much people left here. 

 

So if you are really interested, you know, in the Chinese culture in Saskatchewan, I would recommend you to look at… the history of the Chinese community and underground museum in Moose Jaw… that’s our Chinese roots.

 

On cultural preservation in Saskatchewan: 

 

Lauren: What are some ways that the history of Chinese folks in Canada and the contributions that they’ve made you know, in Saskatoon and Canada more broadly… What are some ways that… we can make sure that this memory does not get lost and… continues [to be known] through future generations?

 

Mr. Tan: I think the first one, we cannot forget the history, but we cannot hate. So what we do, we just tell our children, remember the history of what they did. But you have to be, you know, when you get strong, you have to be more patient [with] yourself…and more [importantly] the Chinese community [has] to be united. 

 

Lauren: How do you think that sort of cultural memory of, you know, Saskatoon’s historic Chinatown can be preserved similarly and shared with the community… the youth in Saskatoon and future generations, so that this… place-based history is not lost. 

 

Mr. Tan: I think the more important [thing] is… we need a strong leadership…

 

I think it’s more important, the other thing, I think that we need the strong support from Ottawa and from Regina, from, you know, the provincial government [and] the municipal government…

 

Lauren: Is there anything that you’re trying to make sure doesn’t get lost? 

 

Mr. Tan: Yeah, I think… the [more] important [thing] right now, we need to set a Chinese museum, cultur[al] museum in Saskatchewan. Because [when] old people… die, the memories are washed out, washed away right? So we need our next generation, young generation, [to] remember that, what happened 200 years ago and what we did and what we are looking for. So we need, you know, a museum… I think it’s very important [that] people remember the history, remember what we’re doing, and [that] we don’t forget our history.