First Chinese Mayor
Peter Wing – The First Chinese Mayor in North America
About Peter Wing
Peter Wing was a Canadian politician and was the first mayor of Chinese descent in North America. He was born in Kamloops, British Columbia in 1914 and had lived most of his life there. In 1934 he became a member of the Kamloops Board of Trade.
First elected as an Alderman in 1960, he then served as mayor of Kamloops for three terms starting in 1966. During his term as mayor, Wing was also President of the Union of British Columbia Municipalities. Wing was also the first native-born mayor of Kamloops.
In 1976, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada and was awarded the Order of British Columbia in 1990. In 1999, the city of Kamloops renamed the Peter Wing Rotary Rose Garden in his honour. On 27 December 2007, Wing died at the age of 93 in Vancouver from a stroke.
This is the story of Peter Wing, son of a landless Cantonese peasant, and the first Chinese Mayor in North America. From the arrival in Kamloops of Eng Wing Him, his father, to Peter’s accomplishments in his retirement, it covers the history of his life and the growth of the city of Kamloops.
Peter Wing, first Chinese mayor in North America
Peter Wing’s father Eng Wing came to Canada in 1910 at age 16 from the Canton region of China. He returned to China in 1910 to take a wife before returning to Canada in 1913. Peter’s mother was the only fifth Chinese woman in Kamloops.
Peter was born in 1914 and went to Stuart Wood School and excelled but eventually left school to work for his father who had started a grocery business, married Kim Kwong of Revelstoke in 1932 and became an active member of the Kamloops Board of Trade in 1934.
Being civic-minded, Peter joined many organizations such as the Rotary Club of Kamloops which he joined in 1942, serving as president in 1976-77. As well, he has been involved with the Chamber of Commerce and Union of BC Municipalities.
In 1958 Peter ran for political office and was elected the first public official of Chinese descent of any major city in North America. Following two more successful aldermanic elections, in 1965, he became mayor the 28th mayor of Kamloops. Peter won two more terms and retired in 1972.