"We must Learn from the Past as We Look towards the Future"（１）
Aynsley Wong Meldru (Simon Fraser University, BA, Economics)
"We have the collective responsibility to build a country based firmly on the notion of equality of opportunity, regardless of one’s race or ethnic origin,” said Prime Minister Stephen Harper on June 22, 2006, while delivering an apology to the Chinese Canadian people for the past unfair and unequal treatment of Chinese Canadians. The Chinese Canadians have made great contributions to and sacrifices for the development of the economy of Canada, within a historical framework of racism. The first Chinese Canadian contribution was supplying necessary labour to complete the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885, under unjust, dangerous, and inhumane conditions sanctioned by the Government. After the railway was complete, the Chinese Canadian community survived despite Canada’s campaign to suppress population growth, limit economic opportunities, and prevent Chinese people from having the fundamental right to political vote. Prime Minister Harper said, "This was a grave injustice, and one we are morally obligated to acknowledge." In this period of extreme hardship and racist mistreatment, the Chinese Canadians resolved to contribute in every respect to the growth of Canada, and eventually earned equal status in the eyes of the nation.
The Chinese Canadian labourers were essential to the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, which was completed in 1885. Sir John A. MacDonald said in 1882 that “...without the Chinese there would be no railroad” because the Chinese workers were hired at lower rates of pay than their white counterparts, which allowed the railway to be completed within the given time and budget. Sir John A. MacDonald had promised the railway to the Province of British Columbia when it joined Confederationin 1871, but construction was delayed due to political scandal, lack of public funds and a tiny labour pool. When construction was finally underway, the $25 million dollar budget was not believed sufficient. Andrew Onderdonk, the contractor responsible for the difficult sections of terrain between Port Moody, B.C. and the Monashee Mountains, began to cut corners by hiring Chinese workers, who were renowned for their work ethic and desperation for employment, due to dire economic conditions at home in China. When the supply of existing Chinese labour from the United States and Canada was exhausted, new workers were recruited directly from China. These new arrivals took on personal debt to pay their passage to Canada and once hired, were unfairly paid only $1 per day, out of which the cost of food and supplies were deducted, while Anglo workers were paid as much as $2.50 per day. Under these conditions, the Chinese Canadian workers were victimized by a systemic injustice created by the railway and perpetrated by the government.
The railway work was difficult and dangerous for all labourers, but there was particular disregard for the humanity of Chinese workers, whose health and safety were ignored. The prevailing opinion of the time was expressed by Sir John A. MacDonald in 1895, when he said, “(the Chinese worker) has no common interest with us,...he gives us his labor and is paid for it, and is valuable, the same as a threshing machine or any other agricultural implement”. Without rights, the Chinese workers were delegated to difficult and dangerous jobs clearing and grading steep granite mountains and riverbeds, with the use of explosives, while white labourers were given easier sections of land and the chance to be promoted to supervisory positions. The Chinese workers subsisted on meagre diets because they were expected to pay for their own living expenses, while the white workers were supplied with camp rations. The Chinese diet consisted mostly of dried fish and rice and often led to malnutrition, scurvy and death. As many as 3 or 4 Chinese workers died for every mile of track laid, but these deaths went often unreported with neither compensation nor the recovered bodies being provided to the families in China. Even though the Chinese workers were living and working in deplorable conditions, there was a growing resentment from the Anglo population, some of whom believed they were entitled to the jobs even though the whites were unwilling to do dangerous work for so little pay. In 1882, the Government of Canada considered a resolution which would prevent the use of any more Chinese labour on the railway. This law did not pass, because Chinese labour was integral to the success of the project. But in 1887, the BC Government passed a law which made it illegal for Chinese workers to be hired for any government construction projects, effectively barring the Chinese from large scale future employment at that time. It seems incomprehensible today that workers could be classified, hired, and compensated based upon their ethnicity instead of their skill, and that the lives of ethnic minorities in Canada could be seen as expendable.
After the completion of the railway, there was a surplus of unemployed Chinese workers with no means for return passage to China. These Chinese workers were not welcomed by society because there was by then a larger white labour population available. The Chinese were unwanted in most professions, and also denied the right to vote because Canadians believed, as stated by John A. MacDonald, “(the Chinese immigrant) has no British instincts or British feelings or aspirations, and therefore ought not to have a vote.” The Chinese Immigration Act was passed in 1885, which severely limited the flow of new Chinese immigrants. A Head Tax of $50 per Chinese immigrant was imposed, and ships were limited to 1 Chinese immigrant per 50 tonnes of displacement in cargo. In 1903, the Head Tax was increased to $500. July 1, 1923 became known as the “Humiliation Day” because a new Chinese Immigration Act was made law and all Chinese people, including those born in Canada, were required to register their identities with the government and carry a registration card. Although the head taxes were eliminated, the flow of immigration from China was essentially stopped by law except for those travelling under special circumstances. It was a difficult, demoralizing and frustrating time to be a Chinese Canadian but the Chinese population had no choice but to make a living where they could through primarily domestic labour, farm labour, cooking, and owner-operated businesses.
World War II created more racial difficulties. After Canada declared war on Japan in 1941, Japanese Canadians were evacuated to internment camps, and all Asians were denied the opportunity to serve in the armed forces until the middle of the war when Chinese volunteers were accepted. Approximately 600 young Chinese Canadians willingly fought for Canada, a country which had treated them as second class citizens. Some volunteered for special intelligence operations in the South Pacific and Asia. These recruits wanted to support the Allied efforts, and also hoped that their dedication to Canada would be later recognized. For the first time, Chinese Canadians were treated as equals; they received the same pay and veterans benefits as their Anglo counterparts. Their outstanding service led to a change in human rights politics when the Chinese were finally allowed the right to vote in 1949.
World War II also brought about labour changes on the home front. The large number of white Canadians serving overseas created available skilled jobs for the Chinese in lumber mills, shipyards, aircraft factories and munitions plants. For the first time, Chinese workers joined industrial unions andwere able to receive “equal pay for equal work”. As living conditions improved, Chinese workers fared better and were able to start bringing wives and children to Canada when the Immigration Act was repealed in 1947. In 1967, a more fair “points system” was instituted for evaluating potential immigrants; instead of being castigated for originating from a non-European country, new Chinese immigrants were graded based on points awarded for desirable traits such as employment skills, a family network in Canada, and pre-arranged employment in Canada. For the first time, immigrants from China were side by side with other immigrants from around the world.
In 2013, Canadian society is multi-ethnic and men and women of all backgrounds participate in their own social, political and economic ways to create the fabric of Canada. I believe it is important that we remember the sacrifices made by the pioneer generations of Canadians before us. The Government of Canada is publicly issuing apology for past injustices and we must learn from the past as we look towards the future. But history repeats itself; Human Resources and Skills Development Canada in 2012 issued a decision that the plan to import 201 Chinese miners at cut wages under the Temporary Foreign Workers program was likely to result in a "neutral or positive effect on the labour market in Canada”, without considering the effect of low wages and working conditions on the workers. We need to take action against these instances of exploitation and must pressure our governments, trade organizations and social networks to promote policies “based firmly on the notion of equality of opportunity, regardless of one’s race or ethnic origin”, so that we can grow a strong, stable future for all Canadians.
Bibliography
Hern, Frances, Yip Sang and the First Chinese Canadians Toronto, Heritage House, 2011
Mar, Lisa Rose, Brokering Belonging: Chinese in Canada’s Exclusion Era, 1885-1945, Toronto, Oxford
University Press, 2010
Ng, Wing Chung, The Chinese in Vancouver 1945-80, The Pursuit of Identity and Power, Vancouver, UBC
Press, 1999
Price, John, Orienting Canada Race, Empire and the Transpacific, Vancouver, UBC Press, 2011
Note
（１）This essay won the first place of the James Pon Memorial Award. The title of the article was added by the editor of Loving Sister. |
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