The JIA Foundation is a non-profit organization in Québec with a mandate to protect and promote the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of Montréal’s Chinatown.
JIA foundation aims to…
Activate
underutilized Chinatown spaces.
Guide
strategic policy, programs and initiatives to protect the history of Montreal’s Chinatown and foster equitable development and community ownership solutions.
Empower
the Asian diasporic and working-class community of Montreal’s Chinatown to develop expertise, capacity, and tools to map-out, secure and advocate for the neighbourhood’s future.
Engage
diverse groups, organizations and governments in ways that are inclusive, culturally relevant, art/storytelling-based and intergenerational.
JIA Foundation 2024 Annual Reports
CHINATOWN HOUSE
is a new space in Montreal’s Chinatown that offers lectures and socio-cultural events in collaboration with our partners and allies, giving everyone the opportunity to participate in social innovation to foster and strengthen ties within our Chinatown.
MADE IN CHINATOWN
Made in Chinatown is a photo storytelling project showcasing over 40 people along with their living and past stories,
captured through impactful portrait photography by Ruixin Tian and Chris Lau and thoughtful written testimonials. These people, of diverse backgrounds and realities, proudly affirm their sense of belonging to Chinatown and reimagine what Chinatown could be for future generations.
Come check out this free, outdoor and accessible art exhibit!
This project is made possible through funding from the Canadian Race Relations Foundation.
LAUNCH EVENT
Saturday September 28th 2024, 4:30PM – 6:00PM
Sun Yat-Sen Park, 1055 Clark. Facebook Event
CHINATOWN REIMAGINED FORUM II
MONTREAL, September 28-30, 2023
Chinatown Reimagined Montreal Forum Final Report
Today’s Chinatown movement intersects with broader social justice and environmental issues, moving the fight beyond saving the old to focusing more on saving a future that brings with it new possibilities. For us, this is a future framed by anti-colonial practices and anchored by fundamental Chinatown values that see Chinatown as a place of sanctuary and site of belonging for many marginalized groups.
The Forum, in many ways, was a snapshot of the movement that has been unfolding through community activism and mobilization in many of our Chinatowns. It was critical for us that the Forum be organized with strong values of community collaboration and a commitment to democratic participation. We wanted the Forum to be a welcoming and inclusive entry point for people to connect with Chinatown and the broader Chinatown Movement.
This report summarizes the activities and key learnings from the three-day event and hopes to capture the overwhelming community spirit we all felt by coming together around a space that holds such important memories and meaning for us all. The strength of Chinatowns is the People. This unique gathering of Chinatowns has built meaningful relationships with inclusive participation and nurtured genuine partnerships across North American Chinatowns that will continue far beyond the Forum’s three-day gathering.
We sincerely thank all the participants, collaborators, contributors, funders, and volunteers for making this event an unforgettable success and providing the JIA Foundation with much-needed knowledge in moving forward with our work in Montréal’s Chinatown.
Photo credit: Richmond Lam
What is JIA?
家
Where is home? What makes a home? How many homes can one have? Is home about the sense of belonging? Or is home about putting down roots? How can one put down new roots? What happens to the old roots you had? When does one start or stop feeling at home? Am I feeling at home now?
Jia is a word in Mandarin that has layers of meaning: family and home. Jia-ren means “members of family” and hui-jia means “to return home”. Like chez-soi, home is more than housing, jia is more than a home. Jia offers the sense of refuge, security and belonging, and jia is where the roots are and where we return to.
Why now?
Chinatown is a place that has offered generations of people a sense of home when they were excluded or marginalized by society at large. Chinatown is a place filled with stories of struggle and resistance that are ingrained in its buildings and development patterns. Chinatown is a place that symbolizes connection, resilience and a sense of community. Essentially, Chinatown is Jia. That is why a group of us are setting up the Jia Foundation to protect and grow Montreal’s Chinatown’s cultural heritage with a focus on storytelling and placemaking. We want to make sure the Chinatown that has witnessed our collective past, can help weave together our often untold and disjointed histories, and provide an opportunity to demonstrate what an inclusive, equitable and sustainable community can be.
Who We Are
The following members with diverse backgrounds form the JIA Team and are working to establish JIA Foundation as one of the leading cultural and community development organizations in Montreal’s Chinatown.
Murielle Chan-Chu
Program Development Consultant
Jessica Chen
Executive Director & Board Liaison
Karen Cho
Program Development Consultant
Elizabeth Dresdner
Researcher (Planning and Design)
Chris Lau
Project Manager
Melissa Lengies
Researcher (Heritage)
Monique Ling
Volunteer Coordinator
Parker Mah
Director, Programming & Operations
Théo Thanh Sang Pagé-Robert
Researcher (Planning and Design)
Yixin Cao and Nicolas Linh
Communications Coordinators (Social Media)
Michelle Tatebe-Laroque
Programming Coordinator
Sandy Yep
Program Development Consultant
Our Official OCPM statement
The Office de Consultation Publique de Montréal launched a consultation in spring 2022 to seek input from citizens, organizations and stakeholders on the proposed bylaw modifications for Montreal’s Chinatown. Here is Jia Foundation’s Official Statement:
