Meet the transnationals: They moved to Canada but never really left Hong Kong
- Hong Kong’s year of turmoil has been felt with particular intensity in Canada, with hundreds of thousands dividing their lives and emotions between both places
- The extensive phenomenon of Hong Kong-Canadian transnationalism is explained by immigration policy history and tax rules
Cherie Wong was utterly consumed by the protest movement that swept Hong Kong last summer.
“I didn’t sleep properly for days, for weeks, really,” she said. She watched the protests obsessively, then became an activist herself. Wong, 24, tried to discuss her beliefs with older family members who included former members of the Hong Kong Police Force.
“It ended up in conflict, it was awkward,” she said. But her activities were cheered by her grandmother, in her mid-80s, who was “incredibly pro-protester. We’d just go into a private chat to talk about it.”
But Wong, a freelance writer and policy researcher, was not in Hong Kong. She was more than 12,000km away in Ottawa, Canada, watching events unfold on her smartphone.
“I would fall asleep watching a live stream, with my phone in my hand. I would wake up and the live stream would still be going,” she said.
While the past year of turmoil in Hong Kong has rippled through diaspora communities around the world, it has been felt with particular intensity in Canada.