Saturday, 07 May 2022 | 2:00 p.m. EDT
Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Signing of the Asian Heritage Month Declaration by the Senate of Canada

Special Guests and Presenters
- The Honourable Ahmed Hussen (Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion)
- His Worship John Tory (Mayor, City of Toronto)
- The Honourable Dr. Vivienne Poy (former Senator who tabled the Motion in the Senate of Canada, and Founding Patron, Asian Heritage Month-CFACI)
- Mr. Justin Poy (Honorary Patron of Asian Heritage Month-CFACI
- Stephen Siu, Chinese Canadian Legend Award recipient
Event Program
Land Acknowledgement & Opening Remarks
Host: Stephen Siu (Chinese Canadian Legend Award recipient)
Greeting from The Honourable Ahmed Hussen (Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion)
Greetings from His Worship John Tory (Mayor, City of Toronto)
Video of greetings from The Honourable Ahmed Hussen and His Worship John Tory
Greetings from The Honourable Dr. Vivienne Poy (former Senator who tabled the Motion in the Senate of Canada, and Founding Patron, Asian Heritage Month-CFACI)
Video of greetings from The Honourable Dr. Vivienne Poy
Greetings from Mr. Justin Poy (Honourary Patron of Asian Heritage Month-CFACI, and Chinese Canadian Legend Award recipient)
Video of the presentation by Justin Poy
“Asian Heritage Month: purpose, Relevance and What We Can Expect”
The Honourable Dr. Vivienne Poy and Mr. Justin Poy
In this interview, Justin Poy interviews his mother, retired Senator who put forward the Motion in the Senate of Canada to declare May as Asian Heritage Month, Honourable Dr. Vivienne Poy—exploring the original purpose of Asian Heritage Month and how it is relevant today and tomorrow.
Video of the presentation
Asian Heritage Month Lecture |“ Asian Pop Culture and how it influences Canadians”
Mr. Justin Poy
In 2019 “Parasite” became the first film from South Korea to win an Academy Award. During the COVID-19 lockdown in 2021, ‘Squid Game’, a South Korean television production, captured the minds of the young and old alike and garnered multiple awards in the West including a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor. While Korean film and television was sweeping across Canada and the world, China cracked down and cancelled one of iQIYI’s highest rated global reality television shows, ‘Youth With You 3’ for “wasting milk,” after thousands of people in China were seen buying a sub-brand of milk from dairy giant Mengniu, just to scan the QR code in the cap, only to then pour all the milk down the sewer. This violated food-wasting laws, which prompted further laws against extreme pop culture. It’s clear that Canadians are influenced by Eastern trends—but to what extent?
Justin Poy is the Founder and Creative Director of The Justin Poy Agency (JPA), an award-winning advertising agency that specializes in multicultural advertising. In 2020, JPA became the exclusive ad agency for iQIYI North America in Canada. iQIYI (NASDAQ: IQ) is one of the world’s largest media streaming companies with hit shows such as ‘The Rap of China’ and ‘Youth With You 3.’ Justin is the Honourary Patron of Asian Heritage Month (CFACI) and the recipient of the Queen’s Golden and Diamond Jubilee Medals. He has been awarded the Chinese Canadian Legend Award and is recognized as Alumni of Distinction by both Toronto Metropolitan University and The Toronto French School. He has received the prestigious Arbor Award from the University of Toronto. Mr. Poy eagerly supports education and sits on the Dean’s Advisory Board for the Faculty of Science at York University and supports Canadian media as the Founder of The Justin Poy Agency Award at Toronto Metropolitan University’s RTA School of Media.
Video of the 2022 Asian Heritage Month Lecture
For the Sake of Our Multicultural Heritage
Stephen Siu (Chinese Canadian Legend Award recipient)
This lecture explores human rights issues that impact Asian Canadians and the First Nations. From Indigenous land acknowledgements to responses to Chinese head tax and Japanese wartime internment, Stephen Siu, a Chinese Canadian Legend Award recipient and an accomplished photographer, will be doing a photographic presentation to explore human rights issues that impact Asian Canadians and the First Nations and look at the visions of human rights today and into the future.
Stephen Siu, former Executive Director of the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto, is currently the President of Yee Hong Community Wellness Foundation. Yee Hong is largest Chinese Canadian charity in Canada. He has served as advisor to several non-profit groups including the Ontario Cross-Cultural Music Society and the Canada-Hong Kong Library. He recently founded the CanAsian Creative Exchange to drive creativity exchanges. He was presented with the Chinese Canadian Legend Award in 2009, the Arbor Award in 2010, the Canadian Senate 150 medal, and the House of Commons “Canada 150” medal in recent years.
Watch the video of Stephen Siu’s presentation | Part I, Part II
Event co-Organizers: Asian Heritage Month—Canadian Foundation for Asian Culture (Central Ontario) Inc.; Toronto Public Library; York Centre for Asian Research, York University; Asian Institute at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto; York University; Richard Charles Lee Canada Hong Kong Library, University of Toronto; Chinese Canadian Photography Society of Toronto; WE Artists’ Group; Social Services Network; Cambridge Food and Wine Society
Asian Heritage Month Festival is partially funded by the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Asian Canadian Artists in Digital Age is funded by Canada Council for the Arts Digital Strategy Fund.