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Roxana Chu-Yee Ng (1951–2013) was an activist and scholar for fair migrant labour, gender and racial equality, and decolonising pedagogy. She is noted for her research on the garment industry in Canada and its relation to immigration, gender, race, and class, as well as her contributions to embodied learning and critical pedagogy.

Ng grew up in Diamond Hill, Hong Kong, and immigrated to Vancouver, Canada in 1970. She trained in sociology and taught at the University of New Brunswick, Queen's University, and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. She taught in sociology, adult education, and community development, and directed the OISE Centre for Women's Studies in Education (2009–2013).

Ng was active in immigrant women's and garment workers' organising from the mid-1970s onwards. Her work informed advocacy for the protection of homeworkers in Toronto. Notably, she served as a board member of Inter Pares, and as board member then President (1994–95) of the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (CRIAW).

Early years
Roxana Ng was born in 1951 in Diamond Hill, a hill in the east of Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong which used to be a large urban squatter village. In 1968, she left to attend The Mount School, a Quaker boarding school in York, England. There, she was asked to change her name from Ng to Wu (the Mandarin translation) to make pronunciation easier for native English speakers. Ng refused. After graduation in 1970, she moved to Vancouver with her family. When they immigrated, Ng kept her last name; the rest of her family took on the Mandarin translation ("Wu").

Education and teaching
Ng trained in sociology at the University of British Columbia for her Bachelor's and Master's degrees. During her final years of study in Vancouver, Ng dedicated a large portion of her time to caring for family during her mother's sickness.

In 1977, she co-founded Vancouver Women's Research Centre (VWRC), an independent feminist organisation known for its participatory approach to research. Participatory research emphasises "knowledge for action" (in order to help resolve the problem being researched) and self-awareness on the part of the researcher as a participant with power and influence in research settings. VWRC was "founded on the principle that all research on women must start with women and must include their perception on the project, the parameters, the process, and the questions raised". Its work helped identify and address problems faced by women—particularly immigrant women—in economic development, domestic violence, and sexual harassment. Its publications included a report (1980) on sexual harassment in the workplace undertaken in collaboration with the British Columbia Federation of Labour. Ng went on to set up similar centres for immigrant women across Canada.

In 1978, Ng moved to Toronto for her PhD at Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), which she received in 1984. During this time, she became involved with Women Working with Immigrant Women (1979) and INTERCEDE (1980). In the following years, Ng taught at the University of New Brunswick and Queen's University. She returned to OISE in 1988 as professor, first teaching sociology and later, adult education and community development.

Ng directed the Centre for Women's Studies in Education (CWSE) from 2009 to 2013. She passed away on 12 January 2013.

Research
Ng is noted for her research on the garment industry in Canada and its relation to immigration, gender, race, and class, as well as her contributions to embodied learning and critical pedagogy. The first strand of her work documented the experiences of migrant women in Canada and their identity construction in a globalised world and labour market. The second strand of her work sought insight from Eastern philosophy and practice to integrate the mind-body-spirit segregation characteristic of traditional academia and higher education.

Ng's 1999 study, conducted on 30 Chinese-speaking homeworkers, found that wages were frozen at early 1980s levels (below minimum wage for homeworkers); none were receiving overtime pay (instead being paid per piece); and all reported work-related injuries. Ng estimated that there were around 8,000 women, many of them from Asia, who were homeworkers in the Toronto garment industry. These homeworkers, who were paid by the piece, "regularly ha[d] their piece rate reduced as their productivity increase[d]". Many garments sewn by homeworkers "[did] not have retail and manufacturing labels, making their employers difficult to trace and regulate", such that only two of the 30 interviewed workers reported labels on garments. The study was cited at a press conference at Queen's Park.

Organising work
Ng was active in immigrant women's and garment workers' organising from the mid-1970s onwards, and "continue[d] to refine her conceptualization of race, gender, and class relations based on her organizing experiences." Notably, she served as a board member of Inter Pares, and as board member then President (1994–95) of the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women (CRIAW). The organisations she supported included:

Selected works

 * "Decolonizing Teaching and Learning Through Embodied Learning: Toward an Integrated Approach." In Sharing Breath: Embodied Learning and Decolonization, edited by Sheila Batacharya and Yuk-Lin Renita Wong. Edmonton: Athabasca University Press, 2018. doi: 10.15215/aupress/9781771991919.01 (Open Access - CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
 * "Lifelong Learning as Ideological Practice: An Analysis from the Perspective of Immigrant Women in Canada." International Journal of Lifelong Education 29, no. 2 (2010): 169-184. doi: 10.1080/02601371003616574
 * "Toward an Integrative Approach to Equity in Education." In Pedagogies of Difference: Rethinking Education for Social Justice, 197-210. New York: Routledge, 2003. doi: 10.4324/9780203465547
 * "Integrating Community Diversity in Toronto: On Whose Terms?" In The World in a City, edited by C. Michael Lanphier and Paul Anisef, 373-456. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003.
 * "Toward an Embodied Pedagogy: Exploring Health and the Body through Chinese Medicine." In Indigenous Knowledges in Global Contexts: Multiple Readings of Our World, edited by George J. Sefa Dei, Budd L. Hall, and Dorothy Goldin Rosenberg, 168-183. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2000.
 * The Politics of Community Services: Immigrant Women, Class and the State. 2nd ed. Halifax: Fernwood Publishing, 1996. (Available through Internet Archive's Open Library)
 * Anti-Racism, Feminism, and Critical Approaches to Education, edited by Roxana Ng, Pat Staton, and Joyce Scane. Westport: Bergin & Garvey, 1995. (Available through Internet Archive's Open Library)
 * "Racism, Sexism, and Nation Building in Canada." In Race, Identity, and Representation in Education, edited by Cameron McCarthy and Warren Crichlow, 50-59. 1st ed. New York: Routledge, 1993. (Available through Google Books)
 * "A Woman Out of Control: Deconstructing Sexism and Racism in the University." Canadian Journal of Education / Revue canadienne de l'éducation 18, no. 3 (Summer 1993): 189-205. doi: 10.2307/1495382
 * Community Organization and the Canadian State, edited by Roxana Ng, Gilian Walker, and Jacob Muller. Toronto: Garamond Press, 1990. (Available through Internet Archive's Open Library)
 * Immigrant Housewives in Canada: A Report. Toronto: Immigrant Women's Centre, 1981.