This photograph shows Lillian Sam working at a café. Chinese Canadian women from Lillian’s generation struggled to find employment in Canada; many had to live dependently on their families. At the same time, the war became an opportunity for women to enter the job market, as millions of men were recruited to join the army, and service industries needed more people to produce war supplies. Along with her contemporaries, Lillian participated in the social change transforming women’s roles from domestic home keepers to active members in the workforce.