Chinese Ching Ming Festival May 2, 2026

What: Chinese Labour Corps Ching Ming Festival

Where: William Head Cemetery

When: 2 pm, Saturday, May 2, 2026

Register at: AzimuthBooks@shaw.ca before April 18th. Space is limited.

During World War I, the British recruited Chinese workers to serve in non-combatant
roles at the Western Front. They became the Chinese Labour Corps (CLC).
CLC workers were shipped across the Pacific to William Head (outside of Victoria),
then transported across C
anada to the Atlantic and onwards to Europe. At the time,
William Head was the site of a quarantine station.
Some CLC workers died in transit going to, or returning from Europe, and are buried in
William Head Cemetery, now on the grounds of William Head Institution, a
correctional facility.
Ching Ming is a traditional Chinese celebration where ancestors’ graves are tidied, and
offerings of gratitude and reverence are made. CLC workers buried at William Head
have no family to perform these gestures for identities were eroded and relationships
lost.
 Ching Ming becomes an opportunity to acknowledge CLC ethnicity – the attribute that
resulted in them being recruited in the first place and subsequently treated as coolies.
The festival is a means by which ALL Canadians can come together to recognize
inequities of the past and celebrate our resilience as a people.