Canada has a racist past. Few people argue about that anymore. But Canada was not unusual. One hundred and fifty years ago most Western countries had racist immigration policies. Europeans feared they would be overwhelmed by migrating hordes, particularly of Asians.
Chinese Head Tax
In 1885, the Canadian government brought in a Head Tax of $50 per Chinese person entering Canada. That was a little bit higher than a labourer could expect to save in a year.
But, many Chinese people were desperate to escape the overcrowding and poverty of their homeland. The Head Tax didn’t deter them; almost 40,000 paid the money and came to Canada. In 1900, the tax was raised to $100, and still they came. Three years later, it was bumped up to $500, an enormous amount for an impoverished Chinese peasant.
Between 1903 and 1923, 42,000 people paid the $500 and came to Canada. In total, Ottawa collected $23 million in Head Tax payments.
Chinese Exclusion Act
When the Head Tax didn’t halt the flow of immigrants, Ottawa put its foot down and passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923. (A Chinese Exclusion Act had been passed in the U.S. in 1882. Australia and New Zealand also imposed head taxes to try to discourage Chinese immigration.)
The Exclusion Act put a stop to almost all Chinese immigration to Canada. No other group has ever been banned from coming here in this way. The Act came into effect on Dominion Day (July 1) and it stayed on the books until 1947. During the 24 years of its existence fewer that 50 Chinese immigrants were allowed into Canada.
The Chinese Canadian National Council says “this law was perceived by the Chinese Canadian community as the ultimate form of humiliation. The Chinese Canadian community called this ‘Humiliation Day’ and refused to celebrate Dominion Day for years to come.”
Chinese Men Forced to Live without their Wives
Chinese men already in Canada could not bring their families to join them. Some were never reunited. Women left alone in China had a very hard time raising their families. The 1931 Census found that there were 1,240 Chinese men to every 100 Chinese women in Canada. Most of the men were married but the law said they could not bring their wives to join them.
CBC News (June 10, 2004) reported that “For years, the president of the Vancouver Chinese Benevolent Association made an annual trek to Ottawa to petition for the law to be amended. ‘What we ask is not an open door to all Chinese who wish to come,’ Foon Sien told the authorities.” All he asked for was that married men be reunited with their families. Ottawa stubbornly refused his request
Intermarriage between Chinese and others Discouraged
Intermarriage was totally unacceptable socially. On the rare occasions that it did occur, both partners would be cut off from friends and family. Worse could happen, as Velma Demerson found out in 1939.
Ms. Demerson was 18 years old and had fallen in love with a Chinese man, Harry Yip. She was pregnant with their child when she was arrested by police in Toronto, as reported in This Magazine (June-July 2005) “under an archaic bit of legislation called the Female Refuges Act.”
She was sentenced to a home for wayward girls and spent 10 months behind bars, much of it in solitary confinement. When her child was born it was taken away from her. Upon release she married her lover and that resulted in the loss of her citizenship status. She has written about her experience in her 2004 book Incorrigible.
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