That woman was 111-year-old Foon Hay Lum (no relation) and she was an advocate who fought for a formal apology and redress for the Canadian government's racist Chinese head tax and Exclusion Act policies https://twitter.com/CityNews/status/1254138680052256768

Here she is at the 00:20 mark calling out those policies on HKTV for not being right

Lum’s husband, Jack, paid the $500 head tax in 1921. At the time, you could buy two houses for that much money. In 1923, Chinese immigrants were singled out when the federal Exclusion Act came into force. Chinese immigrants were banned from entering Canada

Jack returned to visit China to find a wife and Foo Hay married. But the Exclusion Act was law. Because of the policy, though she and Jack were married, Foon Hay wasn’t allowed to enter Canada

With Canada’s door closed to new Chinese immigrants, Foon Hay raised their children in China. Jack returned to Canada to work and send money to his family

The ‘40s were marked by war and a catastrophic famine in southern China. My own family (from a fishing village in Guangdong province) certainly felt the impact. My late grandpa experienced those hardships and described that time as destitute. Many looked for ways to emmigrate

But with Canada’s Exclusion Act in place, Foon Hay and their children were separated from Jack for decades. Meanwhile in Canada, an "outcasts or citizens?" debate raged over Asian Canadians

(eg. took this pic of a 1943 pamphlet at the Chung collection at @ubclibrary)

The Exclusion Act was repealed in 1947 in Canada, four years after the U.S. repealed its own version. Chinese-Canadians were finally allowed to vote in federal elections 1947 https://www.library.ubc.ca/chineseinbc/exclusion.html

Jack, Foon Hay and the kids eventually reunited in Canada. Years after their reunion, the Lums later bought a brick house in Toronto for $10,000 in 1965 (source: @globeandmail)

Jack died in 1971. Driven to see the injustice of the head tax addressed, Foon Hay and others pushed for a formal apology and redress from the Canadian gov't. That happened in 2006. Foon Hay Lum was in Ottawa for that historic moment http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=39&Ses=1&DocId=2319090#OOB-1619175

"Even though the head tax, a product of a profoundly different time lies far in our past, we feel compelled to right this historic wrong for the simple reason that it is the decent thing to do, a characteristic to be found at the core of the Canadian soul," said PM Harper

Foon Hay continued to live in the family's Parkdale home until 2017. The Globe’s @CarolynIreland threaded a real estate story about the sale with details about Foon Hay’s life https://www.theglobeandmail.com/real-estate/toronto/108-year-old-foon-hay-lum-sells-her-home-after-52years/article33659502/

Foon Hay Lum was more than a COVID-19 victim. The nature of her death and others in long-term care homes raises questions about LTC facilities' pandemic preparedness. The home she was in lost 80% of its staff since April 4 https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2020/04/23/mon-sheong-home-for-the-aged-in-crisis-and-waiting-for-help-promised.html

All this is to say is that it continues to breaks my heart to see elders disproportionately affected by COVID-19. Rest in peace, Foon Hay Lum