Chinese Immigration to Canada

Propaganda

The Canadian Pacific Railway Have you ever heard of the Canadian Pacific Railway? Canada needed a railway that would stretch from one side of the country to the other Building the railway was difficult and dangerous due to the mountainous region

Chinese Immigration Workers were in short supply for the building of the CPR Between 1881 and 1884 as many as 17,000 Chinese men came to British Columbia to help build the CPR

Injustices The Chinese workers were paid as little as $1.00 a day From this $1.00 they still had to pay for their food, camping, and cooking gear White workers did not have to pay for these things, even though they were paid more money

Do you think the Chinese workers could afford to bring their families to Canada?

The Chinese Head Tax On July 20, 1885, the Canadian government imposed a $50 head tax on Chinese immigrants to Canada In 1900, the head tax was doubled to $100 In 1903, the Act was amended again to increase the head tax to $500

What were the short term effects? The most obvious short term effect of the Chinese Head Tax for the Chinese-Canadian people were that it caused them a heavy debt. In 1903 the head tax was raised to five hundred dollars, which was the amount it cost to buy a house during that time.

What were the long term effects? The inability to afford to bring an entire family to Canada. Often times the husbands had to borrow money to be able to afford to immigrate to Canada, and once they were in Canada they were making half the wage of other Canadians. It took many years for husbands to reunite with their families, which caused a lot of strains to family relations.

Chinese Exclusion Act On July 1, 1923, the Canadian government implemented the Chinese Exclusion Act, which did not allow Chinese people to immigrate into Canada. This Act resulted in the loss of families. Two thirds of Chinese people living in Canada were bachelors because their families could no longer enter Canada. The Exclusion Act only permitted Chinese immigrants to leave for two years, otherwise they would lose their entry into Canada. This caused a lot of problems for families living back in China because the children grew up in a “fatherless” family. As well, many wives and children of the Chinese men living in Canada died of starvation or war waiting for their husbands to return.

Apologies It took until 2006 for an apology to be made to the Chinese Canadians Prime Minister, Stephen Harper formerly apologized in the House of Commons for the implementation of the Head Tax The government also announced its intention to offer symbolic individual payments of $20,000 to living Chinese head tax payers and living spouses of deceased payers.

Question Do apologies and cash payments make up for the inequalities that the Chinese-Canadians faced?