The Canadian Society – Our History in Taiwan

The Canadian Society – Our History in Taiwan

From then until now… The Canadian Society to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan.

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan has a long history in Taiwan dating back to 1983 when it was known as the Canadian Society. The Canadian Society was founded with a mission to promote goodwill and understanding between Taiwan and Canada.

The initial objectives of the Canadian Society are the same objectives that the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan continues to follow to this day: To provide a forum for Canadians to meet, to discuss matters of mutual interest which will help to promote the greatest understanding between Taiwanese and Canadians, to contribute to brotherhood, goodwill, and respective cultures of the two countries and to encourage exchanges between Taiwanese and Canadians.

Many thanks to Mr. Pierre Loisel Sr. and to Mr. John Hardyment for providing some original Maple Leaf magazines that we’ve been able to digitalize for you.

We would also like to extend our sincere thanks to Mr. John Hardyment and Mr. Pierre Loisel Sr. for taking the time to meet with us in May 2017 to talk to us about our history in Taiwan in person.

Here are the two men that started it all:

Mr. John Hardyment and Mr. Pierre Loisel Sr.

Now you can see how things started for the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan thanks to their efforts. We wouldn’t exist today if not for the hard work of these two extraordinary gentlemen, along with many other hard-working individuals who helped to establish the Chamber along the way.

The Presidents of the Canadian Society

  • 1983 Pierre Loisel
  • 1984 Pierre Loisel
  • 1985 John Hardyment
  • 1986 Charles Hung
  • 1987 Mark Bielarcyck
  • 1988 Tom Hoy
  • 1989 Francois Gagnon
  • 1990 Raymond Gunn
  • 1991 John Weston
  • 1992 Mark Levitz
  • 1993 Louis-Philippe Vanier
  • 1994 Pierre Loisel
  • 1995 Corinne Jeangrand
  • 1996 Boyd Topham
  • 1997 Jim Connolly
  • 1998 Darren Poproski
  • 1999 Darren Poproski
  • 2000 Chris Duncan-Webb
  • 2001 Geoff Ingham
  • 2002 Larry Mills
  • 2003 Larry Mills /Jennifer Hack
  • 2004  Kevin Dempsey
  • 2005  Bill Li /Jacques Van Wersch
  • 2006  Robert Fuller
  • 2007  Kim Fleming
  • 2008 Al Gibson / Marcus Clinch
  • 2009  Shawn McClelland
  • 2010  David Kuo
  • 2011  Heidi Gallant
  • 2012  Leo Seewald

We would also like to thank the corporate members who have been with us from the very beginning, including Bombardier and Manulife. We are happy to see that Air Canada is back with us again. You can see their logo as an event sponsor for The Canadian Society’s 20th Anniversary Gala on image number 8.

Here are a few photos we were able to scan from the Canadian Society’s 20th Anniversary Gala photo albums, celebrating 1983 to 2003.

Founder of the Canadian Society, Mr. Pierre Loisel Sr.

Founder of the Canadian Society, Mr. John Hardyment.

It always starts with friendship.


Maple Leaf Magazine Canada D’Eh 2005

How nice to see that Costco has been with us for so long. 


Submitted by Mr. Charles Hung. Thank you so much for contributing to our project, Mr. Hung. It’s truly wonderful to see all of this coming in for this project.