Albert Lee

Albert Lee

Email: albert.lee@smu.ca

Albert Lee is a Halifax-born Chinese Canadian photographer. His cameras have documented historical and major news events over several decades for major national and regional publications. He was among the first Western photojournalists, on assignment for the Toronto Star, invited to visit China by the Chinese government in 1985. Travelling 10,000 kilometres in three weeks, he visited rural areas, factories, and schools. He also met with Government officials, when China was opening to the world and starting market reforms.

A grant from the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1997 created “Growing Up Chinese in Halifax” at the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History for Canada’s Year of Asia Pacific. It told many stories and documented the struggles of several early Chinese families, using photos from family albums, and artifacts. The exhibit received widespread media coverage and brought new awareness to a broader community about Chinese immigration to Atlantic Canada. Albert has published two books — Destination Nova Scotia (1999) and Halifax: Sights of the City (2005) — pictorial books of historic and note-worthy locations.

A grant from Citizenship and Immigration Canada in 2011 created a position as a research associate at the Gorsebrook Research Institute for Atlantic Canada Studies. This grant enabled him to collect early photographs and conduct interviews with members of the Chinese communities in the Maritimes. The materials have been digitized at the University of British Columbia Library for educational purposes and for future generations. Closer to home, media interviews, presentations, publications, and walking tours of Halifax have been offered to a wide audience. Albert completed projects and made presentations at Pier 21 Canadian Museum of Immigration, the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, the Halifax Police Department, Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society and Halifax Central Library.

During this term as research associate, he is working with the Asia Pacific Foundation, The Chinese Canadian History Museum in Vancouver, and the University of British Columbia. His new term as a research associate at the GRI will provide another opportunity for further research and presentations into the early Chinese communities in the Maritimes.