Trailblazer, human rights activist Susan Eng dead at 72

Susan Eng faced cancer with the same courage she stood up to anti-Asian racism with all her life. But on July 26, at 72 years old, the human rights advocate died.

Eng was the first Chinese Canadian woman to be appointed to the Toronto Police Services Board (TPSB), formerly known as Metropolitan Toronto Police Services Board. To friends, colleagues and apprentices, she was a trailblazer. 

Former Scarborough-Southwest city councillor Brian Ashton says Eng was inspirational.

"I think any young woman in the community today, any minority, should look back and see her as a Joan of Arc of that particular decade," he said.

In an obituary published by the Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice (CCNC-SJ), Eng is said to have continued her advocacy battle even as her health deteriorated in the past year.

Amy Go, president of the CCNC-SJ, says Eng grew up peeling potatoes in the basement of a restaurant. Eng, said Go, was the descendant of a head-tax payer and worked tirelessly to eradicate discriminatory government policies.

"That really made and, of course, shaped her — turned her into an advocate and a very good one at that," Go said.

Among 1st Asian-Canadians to make partner at major firm

Despite being a straight-A student in high school, Eng was told by the school's guidance counsellor she should get a job as a secretary after graduation, the obituary says.

Eng decided to go to law school, becoming one of "a handful Asian Canadians to make partner at a major law firm in Toronto," it says.

She joined the Chinese Canadian National Council (CCNC) in 1980 when it was first established. Eng then left her legal practice and served at the TPSB from 1991 to 1995. Under her supervision, Toronto Police adopted the "first-ever" telephone translation services for 911 calls in more than 140 languages, the obituary says. She also pushed for mandatory reporting every time an officer drew their gun.

The TPSB told CBC Toronto in an emailed statement that Eng played a key role in promoting accountability and transparency within the police force. 

"Susan's leadership contributed to important policy discussions around community safety, police reform, and governance," they said. "We express our deepest condolences to her family and loved ones."

An intelligence report leaked to CBC News in 2007, showed officers began wiretapping and conducting surveillance on a close friend of Eng's, Peter Maloney, in May 1991, days after she was sworn in as chair of the police board.

At the time, police had gone to a judge claiming Maloney may have ties to drug dealers. The judge granted officers authority to wiretap his phone, but they were ordered to shut down the wiretap after a minute if the calls involved anyone, such as Eng, not listed on the paperwork.

Police ignored the order and recorded them, with some recordings lasting 20 or 30 minutes.

'The best friend I'll ever have to lose'

Then-police chief Bill McCormack and Julian Fantino — superintendent of detectives at the time and later police chief and OPP commissioner — repeatedly refused to say whether they requested or were aware of the surveillance.

Just four days before Eng passed, she sent Maloney a funny video from her Mount Sinai hospital bed, he wrote in a post on Facebook.

"I don't know why the best of us seem to leave us before their allotted time," Maloney said. "For me, Susan was the best friend I'll ever have to lose."

Maloney, who is now executive assistant to Member of Parliament Shafqat Ali, initially met Eng in 1984, when they were running against one another for a city council seat.

"She was always insightful. She was always so sensitive to other people," he said.

In the early 2000s, the Ontario Court of Appeal dismissed a class action lawsuit by head tax payers and their families. After this, Eng went on to revive a previous CCNC campaign and co-founded and co-chaired the Ontario Coalition of Head Tax Payers and Families. 

• IN DEPTH | Chinese head tax

In this role, she created the "Redress Express" campaign, which allowed for head tax payers, families and activists from across Canada to travel to Ottawa and lobby Parliament through donated VIA Rail rides, the obituary says.

Later, in 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper shared a formal apology with the House of Commons for the 62 years of legislated racism. 

'Never in this to get anything for herself'

In 2019, Eng created the CCNC-SJ where she played a crucial role in anti-Asian racism advocacy as the pandemic took hold, according to the obituary.

She was granted the Arbor Award and the YWCA Women of Distinction Award. But Go says she never sought personal recognition.

"She was never in this to get anything for herself," she said.

Eng also worked with the Coalition Against Homophobia and helped with training initiatives at the Community Alliance for Accessible Treatment — a coalition that promoted healthcare access for racialized and newcomer people living with HIV.

For Go, though, Eng was much more than just an activist. 

"She was just so strong and so bright … Susan was always down to earth. Susan never talks down to you. Susan was patient, Susan explained," she said. "She had such a great sense of humor. You should have heard her laughter. We laughed until we cried."

Go said Eng was like a big sister.

"I really cannot express how impactful she was to me, to my friends, my colleagues," she said. 

A community memorial is set to take place in September.