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Before there was the grand Somerset Street archway or the bustling din of dim sum at the Yangtze, there was Albert Street, the home of Ottawa’s original Chinatown.
The tiny one-block stretch between Bank and O’Connor Streets packed in five Chinese restaurants, two Chinese grocers and four men-only “social clubs,” where drinking and gambling was the pastime du jour. But after rent hikes in the 1970s, many of those Chinese store owners packed up and headed elsewhere, the main group moving to Somerset.
William “Bill” Joe, then a young, savvy Chinese restaurateur who owned his property, was the only one who stayed.
Joe had taken over management of the two-storey Cathay Restaurant in 1950, when he was barely into his 20s. It was Ottawa’s second Chinese restaurant ever, and offered a mix of “Canadian” eats (hot chicken sandwiches and steak) and “Chinese” cuisine (chow mein and sweet and sour pork), led (as Denise Chong reports in Lives of the Family) by an expert chef Joe recruited from Montreal.
The second floor of the Cathay Restaurant.
At its peak, the Cathay was a posh outfit with black-tie waiters serving 15 to 18 tables with 10-course dinners. It had regular customers, from public servants to the occasional visit from Pierre Trudeau and John Diefenbaker. Joe left the restaurant business in 1985 to get more involved in commercial real estate. The restaurant closed its doors in 2010, after an astounding 64 years in the business.
“One of my partners at the time said to me one day, ‘Do you know 85 to 90 per cent of the new restaurants that have opened have come from our place of business?'” said a chuckling Joe. “He used to keep tabs. He’d say, ‘Oh, so and so opening, he used to work for us.’ ”
In the pantheon of celebrated Ottawans, Joe has received a high level of recognition for his philanthropy, civic involvement and business acumen. And yet, many have not heard of his numerous accomplishments.
He has, by turns, been a shepherd for thousands of Chinese immigrants trying to gain footing in unfamiliar Ottawa, a leading voice in the city’s restaurant industry and an expert fundraiser who has rallied the financial support of hundreds to build landmarks such as the Chinatown arch. Above all, Joe has also been a tireless advocate for the rights and interests of Chinese Canadians, working with a broad range of municipal and business associations.
Joe, now 88, is son of one of five pioneering Chinese families who made Ottawa-Gatineau home in the early 20th century.
His father, Shung Joe, had already moved to Ottawa in 1913 and set up a laundry shop by the time his mother, Kai-Voon, arrived in Canada by boat from Canton in 1923. She squeezed in as one of the last to pay a head tax just as the racist Chinese Exclusion Act was enacted that year, which all but cut off Chinese immigration to Canada.
Joe was born on April 13, 1929, the youngest in a brood of four boys and three girls.
When he reached his late teens, he hopped into the restaurant business, having already invested a small amount of money into the Cathay while in high school. A few years later, he became manager, then owner.
Family photos of Bill Joe; he is on the left.
He left, 35 years later, with his hands in several service and philanthropic causes. To name a few: Joe co-founded the Ottawa Chinese Community Service Centre; the Ottawa Restaurant Association and charity group Kiwanis Club of Rideau; was involved in Project 4000; sat on two city committees and the planning board; and was director of the Board of Trade (now the Chamber of Commerce).
Joe also raised hundreds of thousands for a Chinese seniors residence on Florence Street and a special floor for Chinese seniors in the Glebe Centre, and donated a large sum to the construction of the Chinatown arch.
In a nod to his achievements in the food and dining industry, the Ontario Restaurant Association hands out the Bill Joe Restaurateur of the Year Award every year.
“Joe was just refreshing,” said Phil Waserman, owner of the Courtyard Restaurant and co-chair of the ByWard Market Business Improvement Area. Waserman worked with Joe beginning in the 1960s, first in property management, then together at the Ottawa Restaurant Association. “He was smart and he knew what he was talking about … He was very well-respected in the industry as a leader.”
Bill Joe,restaurateur, Chinese advocate and guiding light for thousands of immigrants
Evidence of that leadership can be found across the city.
People tend to look up when admiring the stately 11-metre Chinatown Arch on Somerset, a $1.5-million dream of the Chinese community unveiled in 2010. But look down to the stone base, and you’ll see “Bill Joe & June Joe” printed in the top tier of donors.
Grace Xin, executive director of the Somerset Street Business Improvement Area and leader of the arch project, said Joe leveraged his influence in the community when it looked like the project would never get off the ground. Joe helped with fundraising and gave $25,000 – the arch’s first big individual donation.
“There were several failed attempts, and people didn’t want to be involved with anything that had no future,” Xin said. “So I don’t care how much (money) he gave in a way. He helped dramatically by boosting the confidence (in) the project. That was the biggest intangible support he gave and I’m grateful forever.”
Joe was also integral in the creation of the Ottawa Chinese Community Service Centre.
The OCCSC opened in 1975, when Joe and a few like-minded friends sensed a dearth of social services for the growing number of Chinese immigrants making Ottawa home. They began with little more than a humble Gilmour Street desk, clocking in rotating shifts helping fill out newcomer applications, translating and booking doctor’s appointments.
Later, services expanded to take in those from all walks of life, and the centre has helped thousands of new immigrants. It celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2015.
“(Joe) is very well-known for someone who really cares about the community and has the knowledge, capacity and the personality,” said Sharon Kan, executive director of the OCCSC.
Photos: Capital Builder Bill Joe: restaurateur, Chinese advocate, helper of immigrants
“He doesn’t just go for the sake of getting his name out or whatever. He always talks about the real work, the real issues. He’s always there to make important decisions, and if the organization doesn’t have much funding, he’s there to take all the risk.”
Things have slowed down for Joe these days, although he still keeps tabs on the Chinese community. Mainly, he takes pleasure in spending time with his wife, June, his five children and 13 grandchildren.
“It’s amazing. You hear everyone say this, but as you get older, time runs faster,” said Joe. “I’m very fortunate. I’ve always had very good staff, so that’s a lot of luck for me, too.”
A Bill Joe Timeline:
1913: Shung Joe arrives in Ottawa, and opens a laundry business
1923: Shung’s wife, Kai-Voon, arrives in Canada
April 13, 1929: William “Bill” Joe is born, the youngest of seven
1950: Joe takes over management of the Cathay Restaurant
Mid-1950s: Joe becomes director of the Board of Trade (now the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce)
1956: After a three-year courtship, Joe marries his girlfriend, June
1970s: Joe takes over ownership of the Cathay
1962: Joe becomes president of the Kiwanis Club of Rideau
1964: Joe becomes president of the Chinese Community Association of Ottawa
1964: Joe and a friend open a second restaurant on Carling Avenue called Sampan Restaurant, which they operate for 15 years
1975: Joe and a few friends begin the Ottawa Chinese Community Service Centre
1985: Joe sells ownership of the Cathay to two of his managers
2010: The Chinatown arch opens. Joe donated to the building of the gate, and also helped advise its planners
查看原文...
The tiny one-block stretch between Bank and O’Connor Streets packed in five Chinese restaurants, two Chinese grocers and four men-only “social clubs,” where drinking and gambling was the pastime du jour. But after rent hikes in the 1970s, many of those Chinese store owners packed up and headed elsewhere, the main group moving to Somerset.
William “Bill” Joe, then a young, savvy Chinese restaurateur who owned his property, was the only one who stayed.
Joe had taken over management of the two-storey Cathay Restaurant in 1950, when he was barely into his 20s. It was Ottawa’s second Chinese restaurant ever, and offered a mix of “Canadian” eats (hot chicken sandwiches and steak) and “Chinese” cuisine (chow mein and sweet and sour pork), led (as Denise Chong reports in Lives of the Family) by an expert chef Joe recruited from Montreal.
The second floor of the Cathay Restaurant.
At its peak, the Cathay was a posh outfit with black-tie waiters serving 15 to 18 tables with 10-course dinners. It had regular customers, from public servants to the occasional visit from Pierre Trudeau and John Diefenbaker. Joe left the restaurant business in 1985 to get more involved in commercial real estate. The restaurant closed its doors in 2010, after an astounding 64 years in the business.
“One of my partners at the time said to me one day, ‘Do you know 85 to 90 per cent of the new restaurants that have opened have come from our place of business?'” said a chuckling Joe. “He used to keep tabs. He’d say, ‘Oh, so and so opening, he used to work for us.’ ”
In the pantheon of celebrated Ottawans, Joe has received a high level of recognition for his philanthropy, civic involvement and business acumen. And yet, many have not heard of his numerous accomplishments.
He has, by turns, been a shepherd for thousands of Chinese immigrants trying to gain footing in unfamiliar Ottawa, a leading voice in the city’s restaurant industry and an expert fundraiser who has rallied the financial support of hundreds to build landmarks such as the Chinatown arch. Above all, Joe has also been a tireless advocate for the rights and interests of Chinese Canadians, working with a broad range of municipal and business associations.
Joe, now 88, is son of one of five pioneering Chinese families who made Ottawa-Gatineau home in the early 20th century.
His father, Shung Joe, had already moved to Ottawa in 1913 and set up a laundry shop by the time his mother, Kai-Voon, arrived in Canada by boat from Canton in 1923. She squeezed in as one of the last to pay a head tax just as the racist Chinese Exclusion Act was enacted that year, which all but cut off Chinese immigration to Canada.
Joe was born on April 13, 1929, the youngest in a brood of four boys and three girls.
When he reached his late teens, he hopped into the restaurant business, having already invested a small amount of money into the Cathay while in high school. A few years later, he became manager, then owner.
Family photos of Bill Joe; he is on the left.
He left, 35 years later, with his hands in several service and philanthropic causes. To name a few: Joe co-founded the Ottawa Chinese Community Service Centre; the Ottawa Restaurant Association and charity group Kiwanis Club of Rideau; was involved in Project 4000; sat on two city committees and the planning board; and was director of the Board of Trade (now the Chamber of Commerce).
Joe also raised hundreds of thousands for a Chinese seniors residence on Florence Street and a special floor for Chinese seniors in the Glebe Centre, and donated a large sum to the construction of the Chinatown arch.
In a nod to his achievements in the food and dining industry, the Ontario Restaurant Association hands out the Bill Joe Restaurateur of the Year Award every year.
“Joe was just refreshing,” said Phil Waserman, owner of the Courtyard Restaurant and co-chair of the ByWard Market Business Improvement Area. Waserman worked with Joe beginning in the 1960s, first in property management, then together at the Ottawa Restaurant Association. “He was smart and he knew what he was talking about … He was very well-respected in the industry as a leader.”
Bill Joe,restaurateur, Chinese advocate and guiding light for thousands of immigrants
Evidence of that leadership can be found across the city.
People tend to look up when admiring the stately 11-metre Chinatown Arch on Somerset, a $1.5-million dream of the Chinese community unveiled in 2010. But look down to the stone base, and you’ll see “Bill Joe & June Joe” printed in the top tier of donors.
Grace Xin, executive director of the Somerset Street Business Improvement Area and leader of the arch project, said Joe leveraged his influence in the community when it looked like the project would never get off the ground. Joe helped with fundraising and gave $25,000 – the arch’s first big individual donation.
“There were several failed attempts, and people didn’t want to be involved with anything that had no future,” Xin said. “So I don’t care how much (money) he gave in a way. He helped dramatically by boosting the confidence (in) the project. That was the biggest intangible support he gave and I’m grateful forever.”
Joe was also integral in the creation of the Ottawa Chinese Community Service Centre.
The OCCSC opened in 1975, when Joe and a few like-minded friends sensed a dearth of social services for the growing number of Chinese immigrants making Ottawa home. They began with little more than a humble Gilmour Street desk, clocking in rotating shifts helping fill out newcomer applications, translating and booking doctor’s appointments.
Later, services expanded to take in those from all walks of life, and the centre has helped thousands of new immigrants. It celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2015.
“(Joe) is very well-known for someone who really cares about the community and has the knowledge, capacity and the personality,” said Sharon Kan, executive director of the OCCSC.
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Photos: Capital Builder Bill Joe: restaurateur, Chinese advocate, helper of immigrants
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Photos: Capital Builder Bill Joe: restaurateur, Chinese advocate, helper of immigrants
Bill Joe, a philanthropist and businessman who has, among many other things, been a shepherd for thousands of Chinese immigrants trying to gain footing in unfamiliar Ottawa territory, a leading voice in the city's restaurant industry and an expert fundraiser who has rallied the financial support of hundreds in service of landmarks like the Chinatown arch. Wayne Cuddington/Postmedia
Bill Joe, Chinese entrepreneur . Wayne Cuddington/Postmedia
Family photos of Bill Joe .
Family photos of Bill Joe
Family photos of Bill Joe
The Cathay Restaurant closed in 2010.
Kitchen workers at the Cathay Restaurant.
The Cathay Restaurant closed Dec. 23, 2010. Kelly Egan/Postmedia
“He doesn’t just go for the sake of getting his name out or whatever. He always talks about the real work, the real issues. He’s always there to make important decisions, and if the organization doesn’t have much funding, he’s there to take all the risk.”
Things have slowed down for Joe these days, although he still keeps tabs on the Chinese community. Mainly, he takes pleasure in spending time with his wife, June, his five children and 13 grandchildren.
“It’s amazing. You hear everyone say this, but as you get older, time runs faster,” said Joe. “I’m very fortunate. I’ve always had very good staff, so that’s a lot of luck for me, too.”
A Bill Joe Timeline:
1913: Shung Joe arrives in Ottawa, and opens a laundry business
1923: Shung’s wife, Kai-Voon, arrives in Canada
April 13, 1929: William “Bill” Joe is born, the youngest of seven
1950: Joe takes over management of the Cathay Restaurant
Mid-1950s: Joe becomes director of the Board of Trade (now the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce)
1956: After a three-year courtship, Joe marries his girlfriend, June
1970s: Joe takes over ownership of the Cathay
1962: Joe becomes president of the Kiwanis Club of Rideau
1964: Joe becomes president of the Chinese Community Association of Ottawa
1964: Joe and a friend open a second restaurant on Carling Avenue called Sampan Restaurant, which they operate for 15 years
1975: Joe and a few friends begin the Ottawa Chinese Community Service Centre
1985: Joe sells ownership of the Cathay to two of his managers
2010: The Chinatown arch opens. Joe donated to the building of the gate, and also helped advise its planners
查看原文...
