Assignment 2

CANADIAN HISTORY: THE NATIONAL PERIOD

Canada have always have taken pride in the fact that it is the land of multicultural and opportunity. Historically, those who had opposed or hated found sanctuary in the Canada. The tradition of pluralism that have began in the colonial era, continued through the nineteen century and on. People from Europe, Asia and Africa viewed Canada as Land of Opportunity, away from tranny and oppression. This however changed as nation moved in to late nineteen century and early twenty century. There was resistance against immigrants and World War I, definitely did not help due to both the social and economical issues that arose with increase of immigration, the Canadian government became involved in limiting immigration, based on their racist belief of white supremacy and other factors. The Chinese Immigration Act, 1923 is one of the documented law mirror the measures taken by Parliament of Canada banning most forms of Chinese Immigration of Canada. During the year between 1880- 1925 great tension aroused in Canadian because if immigration. Those tension mainly due to racism and unsatisfied workers that felt that immigrants were taking over the Canadian work environments and policies led to increasingly stricter government regulations on immigration. During the late 19 Century the some 15,000 laborers were brought from China to do construction work on the Canadian Pacific Railway, though they were only paid a third or a half less than their coworkers. Chinese immigration was heavily controlled by the Chinese Immigration Act of 1985, which imposed a hefty Head Tax on all immigrants from China. All Chinese immigrations coming to Canada were forced to pay a fifty-dollar fee to enter the country. In 1903, the amount was raised to five hundred dollars, a substantial amount of money at that time. Crown in Right of Canada collect about $23 million in face value from about 81,000 head tax payers. The tax system also had the effect of constraining Chinese immigration; it discouraged Chinese women and children from joining their men, so the Chinese community in Canada became a bachelor society. Intention of Head tax was to discourage further Chinese immigration after completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway and also to respond the pressure imposed by working class Canadian over anti-immigration sentiments. During the late 19 Century the federal government mostly supported business interest instead of the interest of workers. Immigrants, who were without a job after CPR project, were often willing to work for less pay than Canadian Citizens. Businesses were content with paying lower wages to immigrants and often exploit them. However, working class felt as if they were being forced out of the work force by immigrants. These sentiments led to anti –immigration movements among part of Canada. Equally so, Anti-Orientalism was particularly strong in British Columbia, where the Chinese tended to concentrate. Virtually every social evil was blamed on them at one time or another, including epidemics, overcrowding, prostitution, opium smoking, and moral corruption. The 1920 Provincial Elections Act reaffirmed that all Chinese were disqualified from voting, n addition to the legislative exclusions; there were other efforts in British Columbia to reduce directly or indirectly the competition from Asian labor. For example, the Civil Service Act of 1917stipulated that no one could work in the civil service who was not a British subject. The Factories Act of 1922 forbade night employment in laundries and restricted the hours of operation from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Since Chinese hand laundries operated late at night, they were most severely affected by this law. The British Columbia especially proposed a number of actions to strip Chinese citizens of rights and discourage their immigration. These varied from outright bans on Chinese immigrants to labor laws that limited the length of hair men on public works could have, which is always shorter than the queue "ponytail" that many Chinese wore. Adding the list of Legislation that was passed to impose anti-Chinese propaganda included Chinese being barred from owning Crown Land. Such legislation shows the general feelings towards Orientals and the ways in which the government acted upon their dislike and mistrust of this particular immigrant population.
However, in 1923 while W.L. MacKenzie King was Prime Minister the federal Parliament passed the Chinese Immigration Act, the most comprehensive legislation ever enacted to exclude Chinese from entering the country and to regulate those already here. The act stipulated that entry to Canada by persons of Chinese origin, regardless of citizenship, would be restricted to diplomats, children born in Canada, merchants, and students; all others were in essence excluded. Sections 23 and 24 of the Act still allowed Chinese residents of Canada to leave and return, provided that they registered before leaving and paid a fee of two dollars. If the resident did not return within two years, or failed to register their departure, they would be prohibited from entering Canada. But no new immigrants could come in. This meant that Chinese men living here could not bring their families into the country. Until its repeal in 1947, the 1923 act virtually stopped Chinese immigration to Canada. The Chinese population in this country declined since no new immigrants were admitted and some returned to China. One of the key effect this law had was that it ensured that Chinese men who’d come to Canada before 1923 wouldn’t be able to marry women, since so few Chinese females were in the country and inter-racial relationships were quite taboo at the time. This ensured the continuation of Chinese bachelor society within Canada. It’s possible that one of the intended effects of the ban was to ensure that Chinese people in Canada extinguished over few generation.
Furthermore, the Head Tax and Exclusion Act result in long period of separation of families. Many Chinese families didn’t reunite until years after the initial marriage, and in some cases they were never united. While their husbands were struggling abroad, many Chinese wives in China were left to raise their children by themselves. They experienced starvation and other extreme economic hardships. However, when the ban was lifted in 1947, many immigrants to Canada from China exhibited the same characteristics as those who came during the first waves of China-to-Canada immigration. For one, they tended to speak neither of Canada's official languages. They also retained a great deal of their Chinese heritage and culture, rather than being absorbed a bit more by the cultural values of the so-called white, "mainstream" Canadian society. The law was imposed in intention to force immigrants to change lifestyle to more Canadian like habitant. The language of the Law is very imposing and authoritarian as its official government document, stating duties of individual and rules of immigration in very composed way. For instance stated in section 26 “ Whenever any officer has reason to believe that any person of Chinese origin or descent has entered or remains in Canada contrary to the provisions of the Chinese Immigration Act… he may, without a warrant apprehend [arrest] such person”.

While the type of blatant discrimination exercised by the government seems shocking and unthinkable in the modern day, it was quite workable in the nineteenth century. All other races and nationalities were graded in comparison to white Europeans. The types of legislation and laws passed by the government to stop non-white immigration and to restrict those already in the country were merely an extension of such Victorian attitudes. Towards the end of the Second World War, the discriminatory policy had become an embarrassment for Canada, since many Chinese Canadians had contributed to the war effort and China was an ally. The denial of civil rights based on race also contradicted the statement on human rights embodied in the charter of the United Nations. Since Dominion Day coincided with the enforcement of the Chinese Immigration Act, Chinese-Canadians at the time referred to the anniversary of Confederation as “Humiliation Day” and refused to take any part in the celebration. To protest The Chinese Exclusion Act, Chinese-Canadians closed their businesses and boycotted Dominion Day celebrations every July 1. It’s an act of protest against Canadian Government actions, which deprived Chinese of their political and economical rights.. Anyhow, these mistakes have been criticized time and time again by critiques and the Chinese Canadian community continues to fight for a redress from the Canadian government. On June 22, 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper offered an apology and compensation only for the head tax once paid by Chinese immigrants. Survivors or their spouses were paid approximately CAD$20,000 in compensation. There were only an estimated 20 Chinese Canadians still alive who paid the tax in 2006.