Anyone who’s seen politician Katrina Chen deliver a speech reaches an inescapable conclusion: she’s very comfortable on-stage.
With her ever-present smile and dynamic presence, B.C.’s minister of state for childcare speaks with conviction and confidence.
But it wasn’t always this way for the co-chair of Premier-designate David Eby’s B.C. NDP leadership campaign.
“I used to be very shy,” Chen tells Pancouver over the phone. “I used to hide at the back of the class all the time. And now, I’m in front of the microphone.”
It was Chen’s love of arts and culture that enabled her to undergo this metamorphosis. She learned piano as a child and she still taps away on the keyboard at home when she’s feeling stressed out.
“When I was in high school, I joined band, I joined choir,” she recalls. “Through singing, through playing music, that was how I made friends. Music is the universal language.”
Her Canadian journey began on Halloween in 2000. That’s when she arrived as a homestay student from Taiwan at the age of 17.
“It was the first time I had left my family,” says Chen, now the MLA for Burnaby-Lougheed. “I was really excited but I was also very nervous.”
She had already studied tourism in Taiwan at a junior college, which was the equivalent of high school in Canada. Once she arrived here, she attended Langley Secondary School before going on to Langara College and then to Simon Fraser University, where she majored in political science and history.
At university, Chen joined the SFU jazz choir, which expanded her social network.
See Katrina Chen play some original music that she wrote during the pandemic.
She also joined a Taiwanese-Canadian band and learned how to play the guitar.
“So, music has always been an important part of my job to be more Canadianized or integrated in the local community—or connect with others,” she says.
Chen has continued her love of music as a member of the B.C. legislature, occasionally getting together with colleagues to perform together.
In the 2020 video below, NDP MLA Bob D’Eith is on piano as Chen and fellow MLA Bowinn Ma sing a cover version of Avril Lavigne’s “Keep Holding On”.
MLAs Bob D’Eeith, Katrina Chen, and Bowin Ma demonstrate their musical chops.
Kids’ books eased transition
Chen also credits children’s books for helping her master English, which she now speaks so confidently from the podium. She studied the language in Taiwan, but discovered that she needed to know so much more when she became a resident of an English-speaking country.
Fortunately, her homestay mom was an educational assistant.
“I actually went to her school and learned the work she did,” Chen says. “It was an interesting experience. And then she encouraged me to start by reading children’s books.”
Chen then became a collector of these books and shared them with others.
“That’s how I learned English,” she declares. “I started to improve on my reading. When I had my son, those books became really useful.”
The immigration experience hasn’t always been easy on Chen. She speaks candidly about experiencing unfair treatment and discrimination at times in her life.
“We all face this,” she acknowledges. “That’s why fighting anti-racism and public awareness is so important.”
Chen also encountered a new set of challenges when she become a single mother, which forced her to grow in different way.
“I was alone here, other than my son,” she says. “That was probably the biggest struggle I faced. But that being said, throughout that journey I am so grateful for the friends around me who are like family to me—and the support that they’ve provided to me.”
Chen adds that she’s also so appreciative of the diverse connections that she has been able to make on “this beautiful unceded territory”.
“So, yes, there are challenges,” she says reflectively. “I think every challenge comes with an opportunity. That’s what I tell myself.”
Chen also sees some common threads between Taiwan and Canada when it comes to diversity.
“It’s so important to be open-minded, to welcome diverse ideas—diverse connections—because we all learn from this and do better,” she states.
Her parents always encouraged her to embrace diversity and to volunteer in order to connect with other people.
“Whether it’s through music, through art, through daily life, or through volunteer work, I think that is so critical,” she says. “That experience helped me to be able to adapt to a new environment right here in Canada.”
Follow Charlie Smith on Twitter @charliesmithvcr.
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音樂為卑詩省省務廳長陳葦蓁敞開機會之門
任何人看過政治家陳葦蓁（Katrina Chen）演講都會得出同樣結論：她在演講台上如魚得水。
憑藉她時常掛在嘴邊的微笑和攝人的活力，這名卑詩省兒童保育省務廳長的每句話都流露著信念和自信。
然而，身為新任省長尹大衛（ David Eby） 卑詩新民主黨競選團隊聯合主席的她，以前並非這個模樣。
陳葦蓁透過電話告訴 Pancouver：｢我以前很害羞，總是躲在教室的最後排。 但到了現在，我卻站在麥克風前。｣
正是陳葦蓁對藝術和文化的熱愛讓她經歷了這種蛻變。 她從小學習鋼琴，到現在每當感到壓力很大的時候，仍會在家中以彈琴來紓壓。
她憶起高中時在樂隊和合唱團的日子。 唱歌和演奏音樂也是讓她結識志同道合好友的渠道，而音樂就是他們之間的共通語言。
她的加拿大之旅始於 2000 年萬聖節。當時只有17 歲的她，以寄宿學生的身份從台灣來到加拿大。現已成為本拿比洛歇選區省議員的陳葦蓁表示，那是她第一次離開家人，心情既緊張又興奮。
那時，她已經在台灣專科學校（相當於加拿大高中）完成觀光學位。 來到加拿大後，她最初就讀於蘭利中學（Langley Secondary School），再升讀蘭加拉學院（Langara College），最後進入西蒙菲莎大學（Simon Fraser University），主修政治學和歷史。
在大學期間，陳葦蓁加入了 SFU 爵士合唱團，擴大了她的社交圈。
她也加入了一支成員來自台灣和加拿大的樂隊，並學會了如何彈吉他。
｢音樂一直是加深我對加拿大的認同感、融入當地社區、或者與他人聯繫起來的關鍵元素。｣
陳葦蓁並沒有因為當上卑詩省議員而失去對音樂的熱忱，偶爾還會和同事一起演奏音樂。
在下面拍攝於2020 年的影片中，新民主黨省議員狄議思（Bob D’Eith） 正在彈奏鋼琴，而陳葦蓁和省議員馬博文（Bowinn Ma） 則一起翻唱了艾薇兒·拉維尼（Avril Lavigne）的歌曲「Keep Holding On」。
兒童書籍令適應過程變得容易
陳葦蓁認為，兒童書籍對她掌握英語發揮了莫大幫助，讓她能夠自信地在講台上說得一口流利英語。 她在台灣的時候曾經學過英語，但當她來到一個英語國家居住後，她意識到必須更深入了解這種語言。
幸運的是，她寄宿家庭的媽媽是一名教育助理。
她說：「我去到她任教的學校，了解她所做的工作，是一個有趣的經歷。然後她鼓勵我從閱讀兒童書開始。」
之後，陳葦蓁成為了兒童書的收藏家，並與他人分享。
她宣稱，這就是她學習英語的方式，由提高閱讀能力做起。 這些書亦成為日後教導兒子的重要工具。
儘管如此，陳葦蓁的移民經歷並不總是一帆風順，坦言經歷過不公平待遇和歧視。
她承認這是所有人都要面對的問題，亦說明了為何對抗種族主義和提升公眾意識如此重要。
成為單親媽媽後，陳葦蓁遇到了一系列新的挑戰，改變了她成長的方式。
「除了我的兒子，我在這裡沒有其他親人，這可能是我面臨的最大挑戰。 雖然如此，我非常感謝在這過程中一直陪伴我的朋友，以及他們對我的支持，因為對我來說，他們就像家人一樣。」
她補充道，對於能夠在「這片美麗的未割讓領土」上建立的各種情誼感到欣慰。
經過一些反思，她表示挑戰的確是存在，但每一個挑戰都伴隨著機會。這是她從中汲取的教訓。
在多樣性方面，陳葦蓁還看到了台灣和加拿大之間的一些共同點。
「開放思想，接納不同的想法、與不同的人聯繫是非常重要的，因為我們都可以互相學習並做得更好。」
她的父母總是鼓勵她擁抱多樣性並透過志願服務與他人進行交流。
她說：「無論是透過音樂、藝術、日常生活還是志願工作，我認為它們都是不可或缺。 這些經歷幫助我適應了加拿大的新環境。」
