The Chinese Exclusion Act

Could you Imagine being just one year old, and your father says goodbye to you in China and returned to Canada. He wouldn’t see you for the next 18 years, and you were prevented from joining him by a racist Canadian law. This was not just the situation with Fred Lee yet countless others. Today in the event that we hear such news particularly about Canada we immediately believe it’s false. Despite the fact that that might be genuine nowadays, in the past years, there has been a great deal of racism and discrimination, and numerous racist and discriminatory laws were passed back then. One of such being the Chinese Immigration Act, but nowadays better known as the Chinese Exclusion Act. The Chinese Exclusion Act was put in place by the government of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King in 1923. This all began when in the spring of 1922, two Members of Parliament from British Columbia presented goals for the aggregate prohibition of Chinese immigrants that was widely supported in the House of Commons. In February 1923, the Chinese Head Tax of 1885 was revoked and intended to be replaced by the far more restrictive Chinese Immigration Act in 1923. This Act replaced the head tax with a Complete ban on Chinese immigration to Canada.

The Exclusion Act came into effect on Canada Day July 1, 1923, and back then it was called Dominion Day. Chinese-Canadians referred to Dominion Day as Humiliation Day. This act restricted all Chinese people from immigrating in the country, Though there were four exceptions students, merchants, diplomats and Canadian born Chinese who were returning to Canada after completing their education in China and this act lasted 24 years. This policy was in place to keep the Chinese out of the country and even get the Chinese in the country to leave. The Canadians thought it was a really good idea due to the fact that back then people were really racist. The government also thought it was a huge success and they did this out of economic necessity. To protect the interests of ordinary Canadian workers, Secure the existence of their people and preserve their cultural value.

The Chinese labour Contractors in British Columbia imported cheap labour From their Homeland to the point that one-third of the entire Workforce in BC had become Chinese. These Chinese workers work for about half the wages Of Canadian workers. To avoid losing their livelihood white people and Aboriginal people demanded that The government should restrict the importation of Chinese workers so that They would not be replaced by cheap Chinese labour. The government at the time also was worried that if the Chinese people came in large numbers and settled on the Pacific coast they would control the vote of the whole province, which could send the Chinese representatives to sit in the house of commons. The Chinese representatives might even make wishes regarding their people in Canada which would oppose other parties altogether. On the other hand, many Chinese Canadians families were separated because of this act and it left many children without their families. One of these children was Suen. Suen only met her father when she was an infant and didn’t get to see her father again until she was 16. Suen quotes “My father sent us money to support the whole family, Except for the money we received from him, we didn’t really know the details of his life and his situation. ”When Suen’s father finally did come back to meet his family in Hong Kong Suen never even recognized him, her cousin had to be there to introduce them to each other. Then In 1956 her mother and father both went to Canada and left Suen and her siblings in Hong Kong.

A spokesperson for the Head Tax Families Association of Canada, Sid Chow Tan, was also present while the interview with Suen was going on and he said “The fact is she would have been born in Canada were it not for the exclusion act, They keep talking about the head tax; the exclusion act was a much more insidious situation. ”This injustice is significant because it ruined the lives of countless Chinese Canadians. Many Chinese men had come to Canada alone, hoping to one day save enough money to bring over their wives and families. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923 demolished those dreams. During 1923 in Canada’s Chinese communities men outnumbered women by a ratio of almost 10 -1.

On May 14, 1947, the Canadian government repealed The Chinese Exclusion Act because when the war ended Canada signed a treaty with the UN and because of the Chinese people’s efforts in world war 2 and them fighting for Canada. Repealing the exclusion act and taking the head tax off now from the Chinese immigrants resulted in more immigrants from all around Asia which started to “boom” Canada’s economy. This particular historical event will always be remembered by the Chinese who had to leave everything they owned back home and start a new life with hardships and obstacles everywhere in front of them. We should educate ourselves and teach this to students in schools to help improve our outlook on racism that might still be going on. Even though Prime Minister Stephen Harper formally apologized for the head tax and exclusion act. n This was not enough, some people are still trying to get some answers from the government and one of them is Suichen Suen. She said in an interview with straight. com that she wants to know why Premier Christy Clark and the cabinet minister Teresa Wat, won’t return her letters. Suen only wants an inclusive, just, and honourable redress. Premier Christy Clark did apologize too, but CBC says that in 2013, the so-called ethnic vote scandal revealed the Liberals’ plans to win votes from ethnic communities in the provincial election with “quick wins,” including apologizing for historic wrongs. The leaked documents led one cabinet minister to step down and two top aides to resign, and Clark to apologize in the legislature.

I do not think enough has been done, In my opinion, to bring justice to the Chinese people they should get their money back and the government should ask for the Chinese Canadians opinions. I think We should make a national day on the day the exclusion act was repealed. On this day we would teach our society and student at school about what had happened 95 years ago. This injustice should be remembered as harsh times in the past for the Chinese and even being discriminated against they still chose to side with us in World war 2 and won the governments trust. The Chinese community in Canada had to suffer and go through a lot to finally be recognized as trustworthy people and not aliens. In the past, we have made many mistakes that we regret nowadays. We should just accept our past and move on with it and help those who suffered to move on as well and let go of the past.

Works Cited

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2. Lamb, W. K. (2007). Chinese Canadians and the Chinese Exclusion Act: A Long History of Discrimination. In Asian Americans and the Media. Polity Press.
3. Li, P. S. (2016). The Chinese in Canada (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.
4. McKenzie, A. M. (1999). Hidden Regime: China's Ban on Chinese Immigration to Canada, 1923-1947. In A Gentleman of Substance: The Life and Legacy of John Redpath (1796-1869). McGill-Queen's University Press.
5. Rekai, C. (1997). The Chinese Exclusion Act: A Reference Guide. ABC-CLIO.
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