Ms. Monica Wu was born in Taiwan.  She immigrated to Brazil in 1965 and then to Canada in 1968.  Monica obtained a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from Concordia University in 1976.  She believes in life-long learning and went back to university at age 40 to obtain another bachelor's degree in Sociology and Anthropology. 

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Her focus has been the vital interplay of elimination of racism, societal equality, and cross-culture awareness. She developed that focus at a young age. When she was 12-years old she traveled to South Africa and saw first-hand the cruel injustices of apartheid. There, in a country so segregated by language, culture, race, and violence, her passion was sparked for promoting social justice and cross-cultural understanding. Now, 54-years later, as her work continues, she can look back through a long-line of volunteer engagement in every city she has ever resided in: Montreal, Guelph, Charlottetown, and for the last 26 years, Ottawa.

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She works actively against social injustice and for cross-cultural understanding.  Monica campaigned tirelessly for the Chinese head tax redress while serving as President of the PEI Chinese Canadian Association.  She served on the Board of Directors of the PEI Multicultural Council, designing two award-winning floats for the Council at the Charlottetown’s famous Gold Cup and Saucer Parade, a major event televised by CBC. 

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She co-founded the Ottawa Asian Heritage Month Society in 2004. She has been the chief organizer and chief coordinator for Asian Heritage Month celebrations in the National Capital Region for the past 15 years.

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 In recognition of her significant contributions to the community, the United Way of Ottawa awarded her a Community Builder Award in 2009.  She also received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012, the Canada 150: Ottawa West-Nepean Community Leadership Award in 2016 and the Ottawa Distinguished Women in 2020.

 

Monica is married with two children.  Her daughter is a medical doctor and her son a software engineer