Quong Wing was a naturalized Canadian citizen, originally from China, who ran a restaurant in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.

In 1912, he attempted to hire two white women, Mabel Hopham and Nellie Lane, to work as waitresses.

Consequently, he was charged and convicted under a provincial statute, An Act to prevent the Employment of Female Labour in certain capacities,[2] which prohibited white women or girls from working in businesses owned by "Chinamen".

The Court interpreted the word "Chinaman" as including all those born in China regardless of subsequent nationality.

Justice John Idington, alone in dissent, was the only one concerned with the justification of the law and held the law to be invalid on the basis that citizenship was a matter of federal jurisdiction and so ultra vires of provincial powers.