Intolerance Towards Immigrants In Canada

Social Studies 11
Nov 17, 2013

How has intolerance towards immigrants been an issue in Canada since 1914?

“I have a dream that one day little black boys and girls will be holding hands with little white boys and girls.” ~ Martin Luther King Jr. Throughout the history of Canada there has always been an intolerance towards immigrants, There is a dream some people had for a utopian country, a country the is no longer defined by the color of your skin, the ways you act , the things you do or your beliefs, This dream of some people has still not been reached and most likely never will be, but Canada has greatly changed in many ways since 1914.the biggest problem is that most people do not realize that “Achievement has no color” ~ Abraham
Lincoln and that is the line between racists and the humans who have respect for one another. Canada’s past has shown racism and or Ways to show their power over the people of Canada, things such Internment Camps, Immigration laws, Segregation were all used.
Internment Camp were used to keep the Canadian Immigrants how were “potential treats”. In December 1914 a Prisoner of War Internment Camp opened at Camp Petawawa it was used for In housing 750 German, Austrian and Italian POWs. They occupied various buildings used by the militia in times of peace and were employed in road cutting, timber felling and ground clearing. The Internment Camp closed in May 1916.There were many of these camps used across Canada the 24 camps across Canada, 5,954 were of Austro-Hungarian origin, including 5,000 Ukrainians; 2,009 were Germans; 205 were Turks and 99, Bulgarians. All endured hunger and forced labour, helping to build some of Canada's best-known landmarks, such as Banff National Park. About 5,000 Ukrainian men and some women and children of Austro-Hungarian citizenship were kept in twenty-four internment camps and related work sites these were also known, at the time, as concentration camps. Many Austro-Hungarians were released in 1916 to help with the mounting labour shortage.
Another 80,000 were registered as "enemy aliens" and obliged to regularly report to the police. Those interned had whatever little wealth they owned confiscated and were forced to work for the profit of their governors. “I have to pay taxes, but have never been allowed to vote. Even now, they took our land, our houses, our children, everything. We are their enemies.” ~ Japanese Canadian Centennial Project, 1978. 22,000 Japanese were put into internment camps during WWII because of the freight the Canadian Government had about Japanese Spies. This was the confinement of Japanese Canadians in British Columbia. The internment began in January 1942, following the attack by carrier-borne forces of Imperial Japan on American naval and army facilities at Pearl Harbor. The Canadian federal government gave the internment order based on speculation of sabotage and espionage, although the RCMP and defence department lacked proof. The Internment camps played a great part in the changing of the immigration laws.
The Immigration laws in Canada have varied throughout the years of history depending on whom the immigrants were and why they were coming to Canada.
The Head taxes that were placed on the Chinese after the Canadian Pacific Railway was built served as a big problem to the Chinese who had worked on the railway. After the railway was built any of the Chinese men wanting to bring their families over had a very hard time due to the new law that was implied, any Chinese coming to Canada had to pay $50, which if that was money now it would be around $40,000 which was very hard to earn at that time. 1n 1923, after the Canadian government had made its money from the Chinese bringing their families over, the Government had made a new law completely. This Act was called “The Chinese Exclusion Act” and prohibited any and all Chinese People coming to Canada. With this law the Men who had not been able to bring their families over to Canada would no longer be allowed to pay for them to come over. The Minister of Immigration to Canada said “No Jews are too many” Anti-Semitism in Canada had a big role on the Jewish during the time that the needed help to get refuge from the War Going on in Germany. The Canadians turned down the Jewish who were looking to find a safe haven From the German's during WWII. The boat called the Saint Louis left port before 1932 and was Carrying 932 Jewish people from Europe it had travelled north up the eastern coast of North America Starting at Cuba and
finishing at Halifax before heading back to Europe, After Returning to Europe there was only 2 survivors. The things that couldn’t be changed or fixed with the immigration laws were done with the use of segregation.
The segregation of different people throughout Canada cause many dislikes between groups of people. “And thus goes segregation which is the most far-reaching development in the history of the Negro since the enslavement of the race.”~ Carter G. Woodson. Schools were used in Canadian history between 1918 and 1954 the schools had separated black people and white people, girls and boys, and natives from others. African Canadians in Canada West found themselves excluded from public education or forced into isolation, practices that were against the spirit if not the letter of British and Canadian law. Education laws were changed to accommodate racism, while guardians of the education system tolerated illegal discriminatory practices. African Canadians in the mid-nineteenth century fought against segregation and refused to be set apart numerous petitions to the Education Department complained of exclusion from common schools and expressed desires for integration, not segregation. When black people did open their own schools, children of all ethnic backgrounds were welcome in these institutions. Segregated Theaters started around 1921 this caused all Black people attending movies to sit upon the balconies because the main floor level was reserved for Whites only, so to ensure that would be the case, different rates were charged for tickets. African-Canadian Viola Desmond’s car developed problems and needed repair. To pass time, she bought a movie ticket and sat on the main floor since she had accidentally left her glasses in her car. She was ordered to leave the theatre, because she had paid the “Negro” rate but was sitting on the main floor. Although she offered to pay the difference, she was arrested, not allowed to consult a lawyer and fined. The Natives and females were separated from many political things; women and aboriginal women were not even considered people until 1919. Natives were not allowed to vote until 1916 but even at that the women were not allowed to vote until 1919, and these women were only allowed to vote if their husband were off fighting in the war, making the men unable to vote. The segregation in Canada played a big role in the racism towards immigrants showing them if they came here they would be under the control of the government.
Canada’s past has shown racism and/or ways to show their power over the people of Canada, things such as the Internment Camps, Immigration laws, and segregation. Looking at Canada history show how racist the country had really been in the past through the things like separating people from one another because of the color of their skin, or making people built a railway for them then make laws separating their families. In 1982 the Canadian Charter of right and freedoms was put into effect, this gave the freedom of conscience and religion; freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication; freedom of peaceful assembly; and freedom of association.