Andy Way Yin Joe is Canada’s second Chinese Canadian lawyer who fought against injustice and racism, especially towards the Chinese Canadians, and helped to save cultural traditions and the community.
In the late 1970s Joe helped Chinese merchants from being subject to proposed health regulations aimed at ending from a 5,000 year-old tradition of making and selling barbecue meats. In the 1960’s, he helped organize the community to fight city plans to build a freeway through Chinatown and when the city wanted to put a fire hall next to Strathcona School, he organized a protest to move the fire hall to a less disruptive area. In 1978, he took the Chinese Benevolent Association to court in a push to democratize the organization, arguing that the group should hold elections. He tirelessly fought for Chinese Canadians who needed a lawyer on their side to represent them in the courts, in politics and against city officials, often doing so without payment. When the exclusion act was repealed, he helped families reunite, becoming their lawyer to deal with new immigration laws.
He played pivotal and leading roles in many organizations focused on preserving the history and culture of Chinese Canadians including the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of B.C., Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, Chinatown Historical Area Planning Committee as well as being a founding member of the Chinese Cultural Centre, helping it secure funding and developmental approval from all levels of government.
Joe served during Second World War in the Royal Canadian Air Force until he was discharged in 1946 — all before Chinese Canadians were given the right to vote.
As early as the 1960’s Joe, along with his colleague Wally Lee, were preparing the ground to establish diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China when they opened the China Arts and Crafts store which imported goods from China. Around the same time he established the Canada-China Friendship Association and both men helped the first representatives from the People’s Republic of China open an embassy in Ottawa and a Consulate in Vancouver.
He is a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal and 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal.
