The Honourable Raymond Chan, P.C., M.P.

Minister of State (Multiculturalism)

Richmond, British Columbia

Raymond Chan was first elected to the House of Commons in 1993 and re-elected in 1997 and in 2004. He was appointed Minister of State (Multiculturalism) after the 2004 election.

From 1993 to 2000, Mr. Chan served as Secretary of State (Asia-Pacific). During that time, Mr. Chan worked to develop and implement strategies to promote Canada's strong historic, social, and trade ties to the Asia-Pacific region. He frequently led Canadian trade delegations to Asia and represented Canada at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum, the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), the United Nations, the South Pacific Forum, and the Asian Development Bank.

A long- time human rights activist, Mr. Chan first became involved with public policy issues when he founded the Vancouver Society in Support of Democratic Movement in 1989. As a private citizen, he led a team on democratic and human rights reforms to China in 1991, and later, as Secretary of State (Asia-Pacific), to Indonesia in 1998 and East Timor in 1999.

He attended the University of British Columbia, where he earned a Bachelor of Applied Science (Engineering Physics) degree in 1977. He worked for 16 years as an engineering team leader at TRIUMF, Canada's world-class subatomic physics research laboratory, located on the campus of the University of British Columbia.

Mr. Chan was born in Hong Kong in 1951 and immigrated to Canada in 1969. He has two children.