History in Canada
The earliest reports of Chinese immigration to Canada date back to 1788. As the story goes, the Navigator/Explorer Captain John Meare employed about 50 artisans from China and ventured to the Northwest coast of Canada. The purpose of their voyage was to build fur trade vessels, to encourage trade of sea otter pelts between Canton and Nookta Sound – now British Columbia (Wickberg, 2008; Chinese Canadian National Council). However, it was not until 1858 that Chinese settlement really started to shape the Canadian population.
Reasons for leaving China
During the 18th century, China experienced enormous population growth, most notably in the south. Totaling 430 million in 1850, such change put a strain on land availability and food production, and threatened community sustenance. Adding to this adversity, natural disasters in the region exacerbated the conditions of the country (Tan & Roy, 1985, Chinese Canadian National Council). In addition foreign expansion into China’s tea, opium and textile industries damaged the local economy paving the way for the Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864) – a large-scale rebellion against the Qing Empire and revolt against Confucianism that created long-lasting social unrest and instability (Tan & Roy, 1985). Such unstable domestic factors are said to have provided a “push” for Chinese citizens (notably those in the southern coastal areas of Guangdong and Fujian) to migrate, and look for opportunities outside of their homeland. These forces coincided with the North American “pull” – a demand for labour from immigrant – and led to waves of Chinese workers heading overseas.
“Golden opportunities”
In 1848, gold discoveries in California encouraged many Chinese citizens to migrate to North America – anxious to get a piece of the “Gam Saan,” or Gold Mountain. And in 1858, when news spread of the Fraser River Gold Rush in Victoria, BC, this golden fury of excitement was stimulated once more. A large number of Chinese headed into Canada, coming from San Francisco, Portland, Oregon, Hong Kong and Macao (Seng Hoe, 2003). British Columbia in the 1860’s was home to up to 7000 Chinese hopefuls – between 5000-6000 residing at the Fraser mines (Wickberg et al., 1982; Lee, 1967; Seng Hoe, 2003). Barkerville, BC became the first known community of Chinese origin in Canada.
The Canadian Pacific Railway
The next major course reported of Chinese immigration to Canada was during the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, between 1880 and 1885. Over 17,000 Chinese workers are said to have ventured to Canada for this project, 10,000 of them coming from China directly (Wickberg et al., 1982). But even though Canada opened its doors for the Chinese workers to enter, the Chinese in Canada were not viewed as ‘true’ citizens. Many Chinese Canadians reported they felt they were seen as an underclass, undeserving of rights or power.
During this time, people of Chinese origin faced great discrimination as minorities amongst the white workers, and were assigned the most strenuous, dangerous assignments on the railways, such as working with explosives and tunneling. It is estimated that one Chinese worker died for every mile of track built between Calgary and Vancouver (CBC, 2001, Chinese National Council). And to add insult to injury, despite being given the most hazardous tasks, the Chinese labourers were paid less than half of what the Canadian-born rail workers collected (Chinese Canadian National Council).
Building communities
The Canada Pacific Railway was built to connect the coasts of Canada, and as it paved its way through the country, Canadian communities of Chinese heritage began to emerge as well, in tiny pockets across the nation. The final completion of the rail in 1885 furthered the spread and dispersion of the Chinese workers throughout Canada, as many became faced with a loss of work. Suddenly cut off from economic opportunity, many people of Chinese origin moved east to seek out other avenues, while others returned to China.
Toronto
The Chinese Canadians who chose to move to Toronto found opportunity in laundry or restaurant ventures (Thompson, 1989). Their settlement into these sectors (almost exclusively) was primarily due to the discriminatory conditions existing in Toronto at the time. For instance, after 1885, the number of Chinese laundries in Toronto increased significantly. In 1881, there were 4; there were 24 in 1890, and 95 in 1901. – 75% of all laundry business in the city (Thompson, 1989). Working in these areas allowed Canadian Chinese workers to maintain as little contact possible with the “hostile” local Torontonians, while also gaining some form of financial sustenance – overcoming language and/or literacy barriers (Thompson, 1989).
Head tax
Matters worsened for the this population soon after the completion of the Canada Pacific Railway when the government of Canada began enforcing a “head” tax of $50.00 on all Chinese migrants to Canada – the only ethnic group required to pay such a fee (Wickberg, 2008). This tax was raised to $100.00 in 1900, and again in 1903 to $500.00.
These fees slowed immigration in some respects over the short term but Chinese immigration to Canada increased again over the following years (Wickberg, 2008).
Humiliation Day
The Canadian government, perhaps upset by the inability of the head tax to stop Chinese immigration altogether, created the “Chinese Exclusion Act,” an outright prohibition of entry of the Chinese into Canada. July 1, 1923, the day this policy was enacted, became labeled as “Humiliation Day” by the Chinese already residing in Canada (Wickberg, 2008). This overt Exclusion Act influenced many to return to China, and prevented any newcomers. Canada’s Chinese population decreased substantially over the decades that followed (Li, 1998).
The struggle for equality
It was only after 1947 when the Exclusion Act was repealed that the Chinese population again began to increase in Canada. By 1961 the Canadian Chinese population was counted at 58,197 (Li, 1998).
Part of the push for the repeal of this act is said to have been influenced by the Chinese Canadian participation in the Second World War, which improved their public image in Canada. Canadians of Chinese background were hugely involved in war contributions; volunteering service, participating in fund drives, and getting involved with the Canadian Red Cross (Lee, 1976; Li, 1998).
Also believed to contribute to the demise of the act was China’s position after the war — viewed as an allied country to Canada. At that point, discrimination against the Chinese violated the UN Charter of human rights, and such a blatantly racist act could no longer persist.
However, even after the removal of the Exclusion Act, the Chinese were only permitted to enter Canada through sponsorship by a relative already living in the country. Most immigrants to Canada during the time following the elimination of the act were wives and children of Chinese Canadian men (Li, 1998).
Chinese immigrants were not admitted to Canada under the same criteria as the other immigrants until 1967, when the universal point system was applied. As result, in 1971 the Chinese population in Canada increased to 118,815, reaching 289,245 by 1981 (Li, 1998).
References:
Canadian Broadcasting Cooperation. (2001). Legacy of Hate. Available: http://history.cbc.ca/history/?MIval=EpisContent.html〈=E&series_id=1&episode_id=11&chapter_id=3&page_id=3
Chinese Canadian National Council. Chinese Canadian History. Available: http://www.ccnc.ca/toronto/history/info/content.html
Li, P.S. (1998). Chinese in Canada (Second Edition). Toronto, ON: Oxford University Press.
Li, P.S. (1999). Chinese. Encyclopedia of Canada’s Peoples. Toronto: Multicultural History Society of Ontario. Available: http://multiculturalcanada.ca
Lee, C.F. (1976). The Road to Enfranchisement: Chinese and Japanese in British Columbia. BC Studies, 30, 44-76.
Lee, T. (1967). A History of the Overseas Chinese in Canada. Taipei: Hai Tien Printing Co.
Seng Hoe, B. (2003). Enduring Hardship. The Chinese Laundry in Canada. Gatineau, Quebec: Canadian Museum of Civilization.
Tan, J. & Roy, P.E. (1985). The Chinese in Canada. Canada’s Ethnic Groups. Ottawa, Canada: Canadian Historical Association.
Thompson, R.H. (1989). Toronto’s Chinatown. The Changing Social Organization of an Ethnic Community. New York: AMC Press, Inc.
Wickberg, E.B et al. (1982). From China to Canada: A History of the Chinese Community in Canada. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart Ltd., 14.
Wickberg, E.B. Revised by Anthony B. Chan. (2008). The Canadian Encyclopaedia © Historical Foundation of Canada. Available: http:www.thecanadianencylopedia.com
