Chinese Discrimination In Canada

The Canadian government currently promotes immigration. But throughout the history of immigration, the Canadian government has discriminated against Chinese immigrants. In the following paragraphs, I will be looking at when the first members of the group came to Canada, why they came here, and also prejudice & discrimination. The first group of Chinese immigration came to Canada at around 1858 for economic needs. Chinese immigration into British Columbia began with the discovery of gold in the Fraser valley. Most of them are settled in the West of Canada. They worked the gold fields and when the gold was depleted they moved into gardening, farming, domestic service, road construction and then as railway builders.
When the Canadian Pacific
Railway was constructed .between 1881 and 1885, Chinese were brought in from China to help build the railway. Between 1881 and 1884, over 15,000 Chinese came to Canada. About 6,500 of these were employed directly by the Canadian Pacific Railroad. In the time, there was prejudice against the Chinese, and they were paid only half the wage of white workers. According to Hughes (2005) , a Victoria newspaper was welcoming: "We have plenty of room for many thousands of Chinamen. … There can be no shadow of a doubt but their industry enables them to add very largely to our own revenues." (p.42).
As soon as the Canadian Pacific Railroad was completed, the Federal Government restricts the immigration of Chinese to Canada as Chinese labor was no longer needed. The Chinese faces a situation as the following:

However, Canada’s immigration policy was not equally generous for Chinese immigrants.
For example, instead of offering the Chinese an opportunity to come and settle in Canada, the government passed two laws to prevent Chinese immigration. The most significant discrimination is Head Tax. The head tax was:
So, this is the first law that the Canadian government passed, in 1885 to prevent Chinese immigration. The law forced every Chinese person entering Canada to pay a $50 entry fee. The government introduced this head tax to satisfy non-Asian laborers who felt that Chinese immigrants were competing for their jobs. But, head tax did not help to discourage to immigration to Canada. For many of these poor Chinese labourers, the opportunity to earn as much as $30 a month was much more attractive than the $2 a month they earned in China. Therefore, they were willing to borrow the money to pay for the overseas trip and the head tax. The Canadian government responded by raising the head tax to $100 in 1900, and then to $500 in 1903, which was about two years pay. The Canadian federal government collected about $23 million from the Chinese head tax.
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With the outbreak of World War I, Chinese labours were needed in Canada again. In the last two years of the war, the number of Chinese immigrants increased to 4000 a year. When the war ended and soldiers returned to Canada looking for work, there was another discrimination against the Chinese. It was not just the increase in the population that caused alarm, but also the fact that the Chinese had owning land and farms.
The Canadian government passed its second immigration law in 1923. The law was called Exclusion Act. According to Kwong (2000), it is defining as, “An act passed by the federal government of Canada, banning most forms of Chinese immigration to Canada.” (p.56).
That year, the Chinese Exclusion Act prevented all Chinese except consuls, merchants, and students from entering Canada. The government established this act because of the pressure from anti-Asian groups across the country. These groups felt that the head tax was insufficient because Chinese labourers were still coming to Canada. This second law successfully stopped Chinese immigration from 1923 to 1947. During 24 years, only 44 Chinese entered Canada officially.
In addition to the Head Tax and Exclusion Act, Chinese immigrants faced other forms of discrimination in their social, economic and political lives. The most important impact of the Head Tax and the Exclusion Act, however, was found in the development of Chinese Canadian family. During the Exclusion Act, the Chinese immigrants were not allowed to bring their family, including their wives, to Canada. While their husbands were struggling in Canada, many Chinese wives in China were left to raise their children by themselves. They experienced starvation and lack of money. As a result, the Chinese Canadian community became a "unattached society". The Head Tax and Exclusion Act resulted in long period of separation of families. Many Chinese families did not reunite..
The Chinese Exclusion Act was in effect until 1947.
In that same year Chinese Canadians gained the right to vote in Canadian federal elections. It wasn't until 1967 that the Exclusion Act was completely eliminated.
Changes to the immigration law in 1978 and 1985 promoted the arrival of wealthy people from Hong Kong and Taiwan. The changes were cause because of the returning of Hong Kong to China. That is why there are so many Chinese immigrants from Hong Kong in Vancouver now. In 1990, half of all business-category immigrants admitted to Canada came from Hong Kong or Taiwan. Now, most new Chinese Canadians are actually middle-class. In fact, in the past 50 years, more than half the Chinese who have immigrated to Canada have been in white-collar. They are settle particularly in Toronto and Vancouver.
In conclusion, the Chinese immigrants risked their lives to help build Canada's railroad in the 1880s. But as soon as the work was done, Canada just wanted them gone. It was the beginning of a difficult history for Chinese immigrants to Canada. They struggled through the head tax, personal attacks and job discrimination. But the Chinese in Canada persevered. And today, Chinese-Canadians are an integral part of Canada's multicultural society, form their own cultural
identities..