Former Valley resident and world-travelled photographer Sujee Quon made a pilgrimage back to China. Her goal was to record her family history and connect to where she was born, and connect the stories her parents once told her to the actual places where they happened.
“I was in China this year for a month from January into February,” said Quon. “I have been back to China several times, but this was my first time back by myself without the guidance of mom and dad. My dad, Chuck, died only two years ago and my mom is starting to lose her memories. I have always wanted to record my past and my history. I knew it was time to record whatever I could now.
“I’ve travelled to several areas of China: Beijing, Yunnan, Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou over the years. This time, I focused on the province of Guangdong, where I was born. I spent time in the country and in the cities.
“All these facts were a confluence that led me to go to China this year,” said Quon. “First, to start discovering my heritage, my village where I was born. I wanted to meet my cousins and connect with them.
“In 1949, during the communist takeover, uniting the country was imperative and the People’s Republic of China declared Mandarin as the official language of China in 1955. I do not speak Mandarin. I can speak Chinese, but only the Village Dialect or Toisanese. It is substantially different from Mandarin, especially the tones. It is not common to hear this dialect now. I have always wanted to learn to speak Mandarin. So, the trip became a trip of discovery and at the same time, I booked myself into a school and attended daily one-on-one Mandarin classes.”
It has been Quon’s dream to tell the story of her parents’ origin and how they came to Canada. She also wanted to see how much China had changed over the years, since her family had left the country.
“I have always wanted to tell the story of my mom and dad,” said Quon. “Their immigration story is not unlike thousands of other Chinese or other immigrants who survive the difficulties of adapting to a foreign land, a foreign language and different social standards. I have been recording their stories for a long time and as I mature into an elder, I see how their successes reinforce my view that Chuck and Jean were both resilient and creative people.
“My first trip was in 1979 with mom and dad, my husband, sister and 9-month-old daughter. Back then, we were given a three-day visa. It took almost a year to stretch that to five days. There was no tourism, no restaurants, no shops, only a sea of bicycles. Wherever we went, groups of Chinese people would surround us, follow us, stare at us. It was simple curiosity. We looked foreign and so different, but our faces were Chinese.
“Over several trips, I have observed the unprecedented rapid evolution of China,” said Quon.
“My second trip in 1993, China was just opening as a market economy. People were finally allowed to hold more than one job. The proliferation of small businesses on the sidewalks and every tiny booth was overwhelming. There was a distinct hum in the air. Even taxi drivers asked about jobs and business opportunities.
“By the time we returned in 2005, sightseeing tours were plentiful,” said Quon. “Hotels and wonderful food were readily available. People were dressing in fashionable clothes. Everyone on the streets walked with purpose. Shanghai was already large and bold. Cars were replacing the sea of bicycles.
“By 2015, I could see the change everywhere. The look of a better life with better living standards was evident. The cosmopolitan life was prevalent.
“My 2024 trip was like landing on another planet,” said Quon. “Roads, trains, flowers, parks, food, everything was easily available and plentiful. The cities were densely populated. We travelled through miles of towers of apartments. There was a sea of cars on eight-lane freeways. Architecture was glamorous, imaginative and bold.
“I did not expect this much change. Infrastructure, vast, clean roads and parks, flower-lined freeways. Pay by phone was the only way, from the fruit carts on the street to the luxury designer stores. There was so much to see. Technology was evident everywhere and provided a lifestyle for every level of the population.”
Quon was amazed at what she saw in China and how much it had changed over the years. Despite its high population, she marvelled at the country’s cleanliness, efficiency and safety.
“What impressed me most was the density of people both in the country and the city,” said Quon. “The towers and towers of apartments continued for miles. Yet things were amazingly organized, extremely clean. There was a sense of calm and efficiency. Despite the massive population, I never felt intimidated, scared or crowded.
“Subways, trains, airports, anything public was hyper clean and ran with precision. When the signs say the train is arriving at 10:15, that is the exact time it arrived. Sidewalks and roads were wide and well-maintained. I was very impressed that all signs everywhere, even in public washrooms, were in Chinese and in English.
“The safety and security in China were remarkable,” said Quon. “Even in Hong Kong, when I was visiting my Canadian cousins who also have homes in North America. They told me they felt safer in China than in Canada. It is very safe. I never felt threatened even when walking in crowds or at night.”
Quon came back to Swan River to share her stories, experience and photographs from China with others at a presentation called China 2026 Through My Lens, which she did at the Swan River Library on June 25.
“My stories from this trip come from people that I spent time with,” said Quon. “There were my country cousins, the city cousins, the teachers at the school, the wonderful service people in all the hotels where I stayed, from the shopkeepers, restaurant servers, and hair salon staff. I talked to everyone. Everywhere I went, I was treated with respect and kindness. In fact, I am overwhelmed at the kindness and help that was extended to me wherever I went.
“In the evenings, when I took my walks, people sauntered and chatted, and children played yet stayed close to their parents. I never felt unsure or unsafe. I have returned with an impression of happy and content people. My photo presentation will illustrate this.
“I’m not a political body or even a social activist,” said Quon. “I’m simply an artist, a photographer and a storyteller. What I will present will be what I saw, what I experienced and what I was told. Through my stories and images, I want people to make up their minds about the country.”
Quon has a big project in mind for her photographs and trips to China. It is something that she wants to do to pay tribute to her father. This will all tie into a new book and exhibit for her in the future.
“I have a project that is close to my heart,” said Quon. “It is also something I want to do to honour my father and his father. I want to return to my village to restore our home. This work is being documented through this first trip and the following trips as the project takes shape. The culmination of this will be a new book and an exhibit in Quebec.
“In August, I return to Quebec and then on to North Carolina, where I will be attending Beyond: The BBSI Experience, a 10th anniversary gala of a great nonprofit organization that I am proud to support called Ballet Boys Summer Intensive Program.
“In September, I return to China with a small team to begin the process of the village restoration,” said Quon.

This flash flood has taken its toll on everyone in the Valley, including residents, farmers, and local businesses. Several businesses sustained damage as a result of floodwaters and are working together to try to salvage what is left. Dan Grazier of Grazier Manufacturing was one of the businesses that took a hard hit from the flooding in the area.
“My business was literally and figuratively underwater,” said Grazier. “There is substantial building damage and we’re just starting to sort out the equipment damage. It’s fairly substantial and so is the damage our neighbours have sustained.”
Grazier knew there was some heavy rainfall in the forecast and that it had created some flooding issues, but he had no idea of the magnitude of how much water and how quickly it would come his way.
“We had a regular work day on Monday, June 8, and I had some suspicions the water might come, but I actually didn’t think it would,” said Grazier. “There were some flooding issues at the Cargill turnoff, but that is a fair distance away. There were lots of ditches for that water to fill up along the way, so I didn’t think it was actually possible. I was where the flood started.
“I had started scratching around the storm drains in case the water did come, it would start flowing in there. That afternoon, the roads were bare and dry. At 4 p.m., I noticed some trickling down the roads, along the outer sides. Then by 5 p.m., there were thick streams coming down both sides of the road and shortly after, there was some pooling between my shop and Co-op.
“Whenever we see a heavy rain or spring thaw, it will usually flood out across the street,” said Grazier. “I started to realize that this was beginning to be a bit of a problem. I talked to Mayor Jacobson to confirm that water is coming in and that there might be a problem. I sent him a picture and had already gone home for the day. When I checked my security cameras, I noticed the water around it and told him I was about 10 minutes away from losing our office.
“He activated things very quickly and got sandbags down here. By the time I got to our office, it had already been swallowed up by the water. People were showing up to sandbag, including an army of young people. We were too late to save our office, so we started helping our neighbours sandbag. There were an unbelievable number of people from the community helping out. I was shocked by the number of young people who came to help out and did a lot of grunt work.”
In a time of a natural disaster and crisis of this magnitude, Grazier is proud of the efforts made by those who were helping each other out all around the Valley. Thanks to the teamwork efforts by everyone in the community, people are starting to get back into their homes and businesses.
“We tried to minimize the damage and I think everyone is doing ok,” said Grazier. “There is some building damage all around; further up the street, it looks a little better. Most of the businesses in this area are back in the buildings, cleaning up with a lot of work ahead of them. We’ve been stripping walls all week here at our office.
“Louisiana Pacific has been really good to us and offered some labour and their summer students to help us with stuff where we needed some more hands. We’ve been helping each other as we go. It has been a couple of late nights, but a real community effort. Countless people came to help who had no real affiliation with the businesses per se, but came as good people trying to help out. For once, I’m at a loss for words.
“We were shoulder to shoulder in mud and water, helping one another out,” said Grazier. “It might not be our property, but we are friends and work with these people every day, and care about each other here. Even though our property took in a lot of water, people still wanted to try and help us any way they could.”
Through community efforts, the water is subsiding and moving on.
“We were pumping water steadily last Friday,” said Grazier. “I figure we took in about eight inches of water. When they cut the railway and bypass, it really lowered the level of water around here. Now we have water just on the sides of the roads. There’s still lots of work to be done.
“We’ve been trying to pump out the low spots of water because whenever people would drive through the water, it would send it back into buildings. So people driving down here to take a look at what happened was a real problem in terms of the water coming back in. Once the road got cut, we saw the water drastically drop, so we cut back on the pumps. At the time, we weren’t sure if that was going to happen, and we were focused on trying to get the water away from the buildings so people could get back in them. Until the water went down, businesses couldn’t put forward a full effort into cleaning up.
“I just want to put a focus on the help that has been offered to us personally and around town,” said Grazier. “It has been remarkable. We are in the process of testing out our equipment to see what needs replacing. We are like a lot of people, not insured for overland flooding and a lot of people are scared about that and what it means for them.
“We were working to get to a point where we could set up some fans and dehumidifiers and dry things out over the weekend. We needed a bit of a breather and hoped this would help dry out our building, and then we plan to go help others in the Valley. There are a lot of people who are looking for and need help right now.
“I am so proud of everyone here and the community support,” said Grazier. “We will get through this.”

The Swan Valley Fire Department (SVFD) members are trained for not just fires, but overall emergency response. When the flooding hit the Valley, the calls for help came in.
“Our members are trained by courses provided to us by the Manitoba Emergency Services College in Brandon,” said SVFD Fire Chief Darren Fedorchuk.
“The first call for help came on June 8 at 7:11 a.m. and to date we have been dispatched to seven calls involving overland flooding and one mutual aid assist request from EMS. We received multiple calls for people trapped or isolated because of the overland flooding. We assisted 26 people with relocating to safe ground and rescued seven people from life-threatening conditions, which included five being trapped in a house surrounded by swift water from the river and two from a partially submerged vehicle.
“Our last call received was on June 10 at 8:29 a.m. to provide assistance to EMS, who requested help accessing a patient,” said Fedorchuk.
SVFD’s first call was to a triple incident which started with a water rescue for people trapped in their home in the Municipality of Swan Valley West. When SVFD arrived on the scene, water was flowing over the road, making it inaccessible by vehicle or foot. The use of the SVFD’s zodiac boat was used to rescue the victims and their pets safely.
A second page came in for another water rescue and SVFD arrived on the scene to find a large portion of the road inaccessible due to water flowing over it. As the crews prepared the Zodiac to be deployed, a local farmer was able to offer the use of his tractor to help get crews safely across to one victim and some animals.
The third call came in shortly after lunch, and it was for another water rescue, but for multiple victims trapped by flood waters. Upon arrival, SVFD found the road inaccessible due to water running over the road. The Zodiac was put into place, but had limitations given the condition of the shallow water in the field and ditches. Luckily, another farmer with a sprayer was able to help the crew out with victim rescue and multiple trips were made to take victims to safety.
Later that day, SVFD received another call for a water rescue for people who were stuck in a car in flood waters on Hwy. No. 83. The Zodiac was deployed and crews were able to rescue the two victims. While finishing that call, another one came in to rescue people who were trapped on Pretty Valley Road (P.R. No. 486). Once again, the Zodiac was used to rescue three individuals who were inspecting flood waters in the area and got cut off.
The next day, another call came in to retrieve a person from their property in the Municipality of Swan Valley West. The crew arrived on scene at the intersection of Hwy. No. 83 and Pretty Valley Road. The Zodiac was portaged closer to the incident location and a strategic method of rescue was planned out. The victim was rescued and reunited with their family.
No injuries were reported and the SVFD urge people not to attempt to drive through any flood waters or risk going into areas that are currently not safe, because you don’t know what is under the water.
Fedorchuk is familiar with responding to flooding, but has never experienced anything of this magnitude before. There were some difficult challenges to overcome with some of the rescues, but thanks to the assistance of others, those rescues were successful.
“In my time as fire chief, this is the most overland flooding I have seen in our response area,” said Fedorchuk.
“The hardest challenges were accessing where we had to be since roads were rapidly deteriorating, accessing areas that were too swift to cross by foot but too shallow for the rescue boat and portaging the rescue boat when we had to.”