Foreword
This Commemorative 100th Anniversary Yearbook is a gift to you (the reader) from the Centennial Committee of the Lee Association of Calgary. The Lee Association of Calgary is one of the oldest voluntary organizations in the City of Calgary. This Anniversary Book is part of the celebration of the centennial anniversary of the Association, founded circa 1910 as a voluntary organization and incorporated in 1929 as a Society pursuant to the Laws of the Province of Alberta.
A hardcopy edition of this Yearbook might be published at some future time. For now, we are participating in a trend towards digital books. This year, 2010, bookseller Amazon reported that its digital products have, for the first time in history, outsold its hardcopy products. Concurrently, this year witnessed more new-and-improved digital book-reading devices being offered for sale.
This Yearbook may be updated from time-to-time. In particular, more articles about Family Histories would be interesting. Notes as to updates will be posted in the What's New Page so that readers who previously visited can go directly to what's new since their last visit.
As I started looking through this Yearbook, a few questions came to mind.
What were the names of the politicians who promoted the hate laws directed at people in Canada of Chinese ancestry (including members of the Lee Association of Calgary) for which current Prime Minister Harper has apologized? Surely the individuals responsible should not be allowed to hide from public accountability.
Who opposed those hate laws and got them repealed? Surely those individuals should be given a favorable place in history and in our collective memories.
As I looked further along in the Yearbook, more questions came to mind.
What was the original purpose of the Lee Association of Calgary?
What is the current purpose of the Association?
If you were a leader of the Association, what would be your vision for the Association going forward from 2010?
I have been told that the Lee Association of Calgary's land was donated circa 1910 (or possibly circa 1920) by four individuals. Tragically, their (now adult) children seem to have now been pushed to the sidelines and marginalized in the affairs of the Association. Is this right or wrong? Good or bad?
The land owned by the Lee Association of Calgary without the building was assessed in 2010 by the City of Calgary Municipal Government at around $1.28 Million. The entire building (of which the Lee Association is one of three joint venture participants) on the land was assessed at over $10 Million. What should the Association do with its financial resources?
So, dear reader, read on... I hope this Anniversary Yearbook proves valuable in igniting further consideration of matters along the lines of the questions that came to my mind as I looked through it.
Acknowledgement
I wish to congratulate the Editor-in-Chief, Ronald C. Lee, for bringing this book from the invisible world of ideas to the visible world of the written word.
I wish to thank Laurie Lee for supporting the idea of this Anniversary Book, for encouraging its completion, and for serving as Chairman of the Centennial Committee until his health prevented him from continuing as Chairman.
I wish to thank Rudy Lee for proofreading the Anniversary Book.
This Internet Edition of the Yearbook was created at the sole personal cost of members of the Centennial Committee. The Lee Association of Calgary may or may not share in the views expressed by the authors of the articles herein and it shall not be liable in any way whatsoever for this Internet Edition of the Yearbook.
Raymond T. Lee
Chairman, Centennial Committee of the Lee Association of Calgary
[not the “Ray Lee” featured in Chapter 6]
August 2010
This Commemorative 100th Anniversary Yearbook is a gift to you (the reader) from the Centennial Committee of the Lee Association of Calgary. The Lee Association of Calgary is one of the oldest voluntary organizations in the City of Calgary. This Anniversary Book is part of the celebration of the centennial anniversary of the Association, founded circa 1910 as a voluntary organization and incorporated in 1929 as a Society pursuant to the Laws of the Province of Alberta.
A hardcopy edition of this Yearbook might be published at some future time. For now, we are participating in a trend towards digital books. This year, 2010, bookseller Amazon reported that its digital products have, for the first time in history, outsold its hardcopy products. Concurrently, this year witnessed more new-and-improved digital book-reading devices being offered for sale.
This Yearbook may be updated from time-to-time. In particular, more articles about Family Histories would be interesting. Notes as to updates will be posted in the What's New Page so that readers who previously visited can go directly to what's new since their last visit.
As I started looking through this Yearbook, a few questions came to mind.
What were the names of the politicians who promoted the hate laws directed at people in Canada of Chinese ancestry (including members of the Lee Association of Calgary) for which current Prime Minister Harper has apologized? Surely the individuals responsible should not be allowed to hide from public accountability.
Who opposed those hate laws and got them repealed? Surely those individuals should be given a favorable place in history and in our collective memories.
As I looked further along in the Yearbook, more questions came to mind.
What was the original purpose of the Lee Association of Calgary?
What is the current purpose of the Association?
If you were a leader of the Association, what would be your vision for the Association going forward from 2010?
I have been told that the Lee Association of Calgary's land was donated circa 1910 (or possibly circa 1920) by four individuals. Tragically, their (now adult) children seem to have now been pushed to the sidelines and marginalized in the affairs of the Association. Is this right or wrong? Good or bad?
The land owned by the Lee Association of Calgary without the building was assessed in 2010 by the City of Calgary Municipal Government at around $1.28 Million. The entire building (of which the Lee Association is one of three joint venture participants) on the land was assessed at over $10 Million. What should the Association do with its financial resources?
So, dear reader, read on... I hope this Anniversary Yearbook proves valuable in igniting further consideration of matters along the lines of the questions that came to my mind as I looked through it.
Acknowledgement
I wish to congratulate the Editor-in-Chief, Ronald C. Lee, for bringing this book from the invisible world of ideas to the visible world of the written word.
I wish to thank Laurie Lee for supporting the idea of this Anniversary Book, for encouraging its completion, and for serving as Chairman of the Centennial Committee until his health prevented him from continuing as Chairman.
I wish to thank Rudy Lee for proofreading the Anniversary Book.
This Internet Edition of the Yearbook was created at the sole personal cost of members of the Centennial Committee. The Lee Association of Calgary may or may not share in the views expressed by the authors of the articles herein and it shall not be liable in any way whatsoever for this Internet Edition of the Yearbook.
Raymond T. Lee
Chairman, Centennial Committee of the Lee Association of Calgary
[not the “Ray Lee” featured in Chapter 6]
August 2010