Background information for Wayne Hai Lo

Family:
Wayne is fourth generation Chinese-Canadian.  His extended family had deep roots in the Vancouver/Victoria communities; his mother’s family had settled on Vancouver Island, while his father’s family had close ties to Vancouver’s Chinatown.  His mother’s family exhibited complete cultural assimilation back through his grandparents’ generation, while his father’s parents barely spoke English and stayed close to their neighborhood.  His parents settled on the Island, so Wayne and his siblings grew up in closer proximity to their mother’s family.  At home, Wayne, his eldest sister, and his older brother all learned enough Cantonese to communicate with their Chinese grandparents (as they thought of their father’s parents.)

Education:
For college Wayne attended Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon, USA, from 1986 to 1989.  There he majored in mathematics and civil engineering.  Among his peers Wayne was studious and introverted.  He occasionally played tennis during the warmer months, but otherwise his attention was focused upon his studies.  Wayne lived in a campus dormitory during all of his enrollment and partied very little after he once discovered his genetic susceptibility to alcohol.  His few acquaintances teased him by calling him “Wayne Smith” and telling others that he could become intoxicated from the smell of alcohol.  Wayne persevered through his academic misadventure in the States, but was happy to return home after graduation.

Military service:
After graduating from university Wayne entered the Canadian Navy to gain valuable job skills in the engineering field.  Since his education occurred abroad, Wayne entered as a rating, although he had little interest in progressing through the ranks.  He looked at his time in the service (1990-1993) as an extended internship; one of the deciding factors that led him into military service was the assurance of a permanent duty assignment in Vancouver, allowing him to reconnect with his family.  After leaving active duty, Wayne maintained inactive status in the Militia throughout his civilian career.

Civilian career:
Wayne worked for the Port of Vancouver as a professional civil engineer from 1994 to 1999.  During that time he opted not to apply for management-level posts on more than one occasion.

Personal life:
During his professional civilian life Wayne unsuccessfully dated women he was set up with by family members.  At the time of war’s outbreak Wayne was single, he owned a two-bedroom townhouse in the suburbs of Vancouver, and drove a Volkswagen Golf automobile.

Recent events:
After the start of hostilities Wayne was reactivated to military duty.  At that time he was struggling with the loss of almost his entire immediate and maternal family when Victoria was devastated during nuclear attack.  His older brother was saved due to being employed in the Foreign Service, stationed at the Canadian embassy in Jordan.  Wayne has had no recent contact with his brother.  Although his paternal grandfather passed on nearly a decade earlier, his grandmother still resides by herself in Chinatown.  Wayne was posted to the anchorage at Ladysmith until he was recently reassigned to a new hovercraft base in Vancouver.