Denise Chong
| Denise Chong | |
|---|---|
| Born |
9 June 1953 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
| Residence | Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Education | |
| Occupation | Economist, writer |
| Home town | Prince George, British Columbia |
| Spouse(s) | Roger Smith |
| Children | 2 |
Denise Chong, OC (Chinese: 鄭霭玲; born 9 June 1953) is a Canadian economist and writer.
A third-generation Chinese Canadian, Chong was born in Vancouver, British Columbia on 9 June 1953, and was raised in Prince George. She studied economics at the University of British Columbia (UBC) earning her bachelor's degee in 1975. She received an MA from the University of Toronto in 1978.
Chong's career as an economist began when she moved to Ottawa to work in the Department of Finance, where she was employed until 1980. She then worked for one year as a special advisor in the Prime Minister's Office, dealing with issues pertaining to British Columbia. In 1981 she became a senior economic advisor and worked closely with the late Pierre Elliot Trudeau until the end of his term in 1984. It has been noted that her presence, as a Chinese female, was remarkable in the white male dominated world of government finance and that "she was a trailblazer for the more inclusive public service that was to come." Denise Chong's career in the Canadian government is made even more significant with her realization, through her familial and historical research, that her "grandparents lived in Canada at a time when they could not participate in White society. They were excluded from it: they could not take out citizenship, they couldn't own land, they couldn't vote."
With the end of Trudeau's term in 1984, Denise Chong left her role as a public servant in order to pursue a career as a professional writer.
Though her professional writing career did not begin until much later, Denise Chong was a journalist for the Ubyssey, a student newspaper at UBC, while she was an undergraduate student there.
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