Canada's Governments and the "Chinese Problem"
from “Kootenay: an exploration of Historic Prejudice and Intolerance”
http://web.archive.org/web/20040316180406/collections.ic.gc.ca/kootenay/ethnic/government.asp
The Chinese are foreigners. If they come to this country, after three years' residence,
they may, if they choose, be naturalized. But still we know that when the Chinaman
comes here he intends to return to his own country; he does not bring his family
with him; he is a stranger, a sojourner in a strange land, for his own purposes for a
while; he has no common interest with us, and while he gives us his labor and is
paid for it, and is valuable, the same as a threshing machine or any other
agricultural implement which we may borrow from the United States on hire and
return it to the owner on the south side of the line; a Chinaman gives us his labor
and gets money, but that money does not fructify in Canada; and if he cannot, his
executors or his friends send his body back to the flowery land. But he has no British
instincts or British feelings or aspirations, and therefore ought not to have a vote.
- John A. Macdonald, 1885.
"The Heathen Chinee in British
Columbia.” The Canadian
Illustrated News, April 26, 1879
In its hundred plus year history Canada and the province of British Columbia have
had a shameful history of dealing with their non-white immigrants. These immigrants
were often blamed for economic, social and political problems which arose.
The British Columbia Government often took the leading role in such matters,
especially in the case of the Canada's Chinese immigrants, the majority of which
settled in British Columbia. The "Chinese Problem" would in fact consume much of
the B.C. government's time and energy throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
Image courtesy of National Archives of
Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, C-72064.
Federal Government Policy
Perhaps the most important and consistent method used by the federal government to discourage Oriental immigration
was the Head Tax. The Head Tax began in 1885 and was at first set at $50. This sum would be required of a Chinese
immigrant prior to his admission into Canada (if he was not denied entry for a number of other reasons -for example,
suspicion of having a contagious disease). Not all Chinese people were taxed. Those who were educated (such as
doctors, scientists, students, clergy) and those who were only visiting Canada were not forced to pay.
Even children were taxed as this example of a Head Tax certificate indicates.
The Head Tax, however, became less effective toward the turn of the century due to the
need for cheap labour to build Canada's infrastructure (railway lines). Such need offered
opportunity to Chinese immigrants and other temporary migrants to make great sums of
money. Therefore, these men were more than willing to pay a Head Tax of $50.
Rhoda Chow - Head Tax
Certificate, 1913
Image courtesy of Trail City Archives,
Trail, BC, 1253.
In response, the Canadian government approved measures called for by Canada's
intolerant citizenry. The Head Tax was raised to $100 dollars in 1901. This tax, however,
did not have the desired effect and the "yellow peril" (as the Chinese were referred to)
continued to stream into the country. In 1904, once again the Canadian government
responded, this time raising the tax to $500.
In 1923, while W.L. MacKenzie King was Prime Minister, the government passed the
Chinese Exclusion Act which in effect stopped the entrance of Chinese people into Canada. At the same time the Ku Klux
Klan was organising in Canada and claimed more than 50, 000 members. The act remained in place until 1947. It's
existence as a law of Canada made Chinese Canadians unwelcome in their own country.
The Canadian government often felt the pressure of Britain in these matters because discriminatory measures were seen
to jeopardize British interests in the Far East. While Japanese were not to be harassed due to the importance of the
British-Japanese treaties, the Chinese were a different matter. The Canadian government often stopped attempts to
outlaw Chinese immigration altogether. At the same time, Head Taxes continued to be levied on Chinese immigrants until
1947.
TRADE AND COMMERCE CANADA
CHINESE IMMIGRATION ACT
AS AMENDED TO DATE
June 1st, 1910.
[Excerpts.]
1. The short title of the Act Respecting and Restricting Chinese Immigration as defined is the Chinese Immigration Act.
7. Every person of Chinese origin, irrespective of allegiance, shall pay into the Consolidated Revenue Fund of Canada, on
entering Canada, at the port or place of entry, a tax of five hundred dollars.
9. No vessel carrying Chinese immigrants to any port in Canada shall carry more than one such immigrant for every fifty
tons of its tonnage.
12. No controller at any port shall grant a permit allowing Chinese immigrants to land until the quarantine officer has
granted a bill of health, and has certified, after due examination, that no leprosy or infectious, contagious, loathsome or
dangerous disease exists on board such vessel;
20. Every person of Chinese origin who wishes to leave Canada, with the declared intention of returning thereto, shall give
written notice of such intention to the controller at the port or place whence he proposes to sail or depart, in which notice
shall be stated the foreign port or place which such person wishes to visit, and the route he intends taking both going and
returning, and such notice shall be accompanied by a fee of one dollar.
21. The person so registered shall be entitled on his return, if within twelve months of such registration, and on proof of his
identity to the satisfaction of the controller, as to which the decision of the controller shall be final, to free entry as an
exempt or to receive from the controller the amount of the tax, if any, paid by him on his return; but if he does not return to
Canada within twelve months from the date of such registration, he shall, if returning after that date, be subject to the tax
of five hundred dollars imposed by the Act in the same manner as in the case of a first arrival.
25. If any person of Chinese origin who is,(a) a pauper or likely to become a public charge;
(b) an idiot or insane;
(c) suffering from any loathsome, infectious of contagious disease;
enters Canada, he or she shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, and shall in addition be
liable to deportation.
27. Every person who willfully aids and abets any such person of Chinese origin in any evasion or attempt at evasion of
any of the provisions of the Act, is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding
twelve months or to a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars or to both.
Chinese men sleeping.
Image courtesy of Vancouver Public Library, Vancouver, BC, VPL
18505.
The British Columbian View
Since the majority of Chinese immigrants settled in British Columbia, it was the place in which these problems festered.
While the Head Tax was seen as an effective response by the Canadian government, the government of British Columbia
did not see it that way. During the entire period in which Head Taxes on Chinese were raised, British Columbia was the
main province calling for such protective measures.
White British Columbia voters often rankled at what they saw as ineffective federal responses to the Chinese problem:
Ottawa debating the matter while Chinese stream into British Columbia was an image often invoked by British Columbia
supporters of Chinese exclusion.
Throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the British Columbia government proposed a number of
actions to strip Chinese citizens of rights and discourage their immigration. These varied from outright bans on Chinese
immigrants to labour laws that limited the length of hair men on public works could have (always shorter than the queue
"ponytail" that many Chinese wore). Invariably these pieces of provincial legislation were struck down when they reached
the federal level. However, the British Columbia government continued to pass these measures over and over, despite
Ottawa's objections. Legislation that was passed included Chinese people not having the right to vote; Chinese being
barred from owning Crown Land; Chinese being banned from having a job with public works. Such legislation shows the
general feelings towards Orientals and the ways in which the government (representing the people) acted upon their
dislike and mistrust of this particular immigrant population.
Government actions which deprived Chinese of their rights or discriminated against them were often politically and
economically advantageous for the B.C. government and their supporters. Such actions were also in keeping with popular
opinion of the day. The vast majority of white European residents of B.C. did not wish their province to be overrun with
immigrants, especially the "Mongolian hordes."
While the type of blatant discrimination exercised by the B.C. government seems shocking and unthinkable in the modern
day, it was quite workable in the nineteenth century. All other races and nationalities were graded in comparison to white
Europeans. The types of legislation and laws passed by the government to stop non-white immigration and to restrict
those already in the country were merely an extension of such Victorian attitudes.
"The same act which Excludes Orientals Should Open Wide the Portals of British Columbia to
White Immigrations." Cartoon by N.H. Hawkins, Saturday Sunset. (1907)
Image courtesy of Vancouver Public Library, Vancouver, BC, VPL 39046