Canada Post will unveil a new Remembrance Day stamp Nov. 3 honouring Chinese Canadian soldiers recruited for secret, high-risk missions behind enemy lines in Asia during the Second World War.
In a media advisory issued Oct. 28, Canada Post announced the commemorative stamp will recognize members of Force 136, whose wartime contributions helped the Allied campaign against Japan despite the racial discrimination they faced at home.
The stamp will be unveiled at the Chinese Canadian Museum in Vancouver during a private ceremony beginning at 1:30 p.m. PT. Canada Post said the issue honours the service and legacy of veterans whose contributions helped advance the Allied war effort and, following the conflict, break down racial barriers in Canada.
Force 136 was the Far Eastern branch of Britain’s Special Operations Executive (SOE), a wartime organization established to conduct espionage, sabotage and other clandestine operations in enemy-controlled territory.
According to the University of Toronto’s Canada Declassified research project, approximately 150 Chinese Canadian soldiers were recruited for special duties in the Pacific theatre between 1944 and 1945. Their language skills and cultural backgrounds made them particularly valuable for intelligence gathering, sabotage and operations behind Japanese lines.
The university’s research also reveals many recruits were denied the right to vote or enter certain professions in Canada, even as they volunteered for dangerous military assignments overseas.
The Chinese Canadian Military Museum Society, which has extensively documented the unit’s history, describes the soldiers’ training as particularly demanding. Recruits learned jungle survival, demolitions, wireless communications, parachuting, espionage and specialized commando techniques. The museum society notes 13 recruits selected for an operation known as Operation Oblivion underwent three months of intensive training at a secret camp at Commando Bay on British Columbia’s Okanagan Lake. They later continued their preparations in Australia.
Their original mission involved entering Japanese-occupied China to support resistance fighters, but the operation was cancelled. According to Veterans Affairs Canada, Force 136 personnel subsequently prepared for missions elsewhere in Southeast Asia.
Veterans Affairs Canada reports Chinese Canadian operatives participated in covert missions in Borneo and Malaya in 1945, supporting local resistance movements and helping sabotage Japanese supply lines and equipment.
Following Japan’s surrender, some members also assisted in freeing Allied prisoners of war and overseeing the surrender of occupying Japanese forces.
One of the unit’s notable operations involved Capt. Roger Cheng, who led a team of Chinese Canadian soldiers into Japanese-occupied Borneo in March 1945. According to the Chinese Canadian Military Museum Society, Cheng’s team worked with local communities, supported resistance activities, helped locate prisoner-of-war camps and assisted in maintaining order as the war ended.
Four members of his team — Norman Low, Louey King, Roy Chan and James Shiu — were subsequently awarded the Military Medal for their service.
The soldiers’ contributions were especially significant given the discrimination Chinese Canadians experienced during the war. Veterans Affairs Canada notes Chinese Canadians faced restrictions on voting rights and employment, even as many volunteered for military service. Despite these barriers, more than 600 Chinese Canadians served in various branches of the armed forces during the Second World War, according to Veterans Affairs Canada.
Their wartime service helped strengthen the movement for equal citizenship rights.
Veterans Affairs Canada notes the federal government repealed the Chinese Immigration Act, commonly known as the Chinese Exclusion Act, in 1947. Chinese Canadians also gained voting rights in the postwar years, with remaining provincial restrictions lifted by 1949.
The forthcoming stamp will add another chapter to Canada Post’s tradition of recognizing military service and sacrifice through its annual Remembrance Day issues. Canada Post has not yet released the stamp’s design or full production details. Additional information, including the denomination, designer and available formats, will come with the official unveiling.
Those scheduled to attend the Nov. 3 ceremony include Vancouver mayor-elect Pete Fry; Catherine Clement, community historian, author and curator; Dr. Melissa Karmen Lee, chief executive officer of the Chinese Canadian Museum; and family representatives Rick Wong and the Honourable Brent G. Hoy.
Hoy is a retired British Columbia Provincial Court judge and a trailblazer in the province’s Chinese Canadian legal community. He was the second person of Chinese heritage appointed to a court in British Columbia, according to a 2023 profile published by the Provincial Court of British Columbia. Although Canada Post identifies Hoy as a family representative at the unveiling, the advisory does not specify his connection to a Force 136 veteran.
The unveiling will take place at the Chinese Canadian Museum, 51 East Pender St., Vancouver. Doors open at 1 p.m., with the ceremony beginning at 1:30 p.m. The event is by invitation only.
For collectors, the issue will recognize a lesser-known chapter of Canadian military history while drawing attention to the contributions of Chinese Canadians whose wartime service remained largely unrecognized for decades.