We were bemoaning this situation now that we had discovered these Canadian relatives. We were sure that Jack would know about these newly found Canadian relatives. After all, they were his relatives too, and he may have known them in China, and could help us with information about them.
Lo, and behold, our wish came true as if it were by magic! After not being in contact with him for about a decade, Jack suddenly turns up and contacts my sister. What had happened to bring about this contact was that one of the Canadian relatives called him to ask about who I was, to determine if I was really their relative, perhaps.
So, in an odd twist, by tracking down these Canadian relatives that we never met before, we are now back in contact with the maternal relatives that we had previously met, but had lost. Life is stranger than fiction indeed!