“盘占元纪念奖征文比赛”获奖文章（二等奖）：“Great Achievement is Usually Born of Great Sacrifice１.”

“Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice１.” 

Dmitry Kosarev (Memorial University of Newfoundland, Bachelor of Engineering- Class of 2017)

Multiculturalism is itself the cornerstone of Canada’s identity, and so it is that the Chinese-Canadian community is at the cornerstone of Canada’s multiculturalism. Starting with the construction of the first British fort on Vancouver Island in 1788 by a group of 50-70 labourers from Macao, whose fates are unknown due to a Spanish assault on the group in 1789², Canada’s ethnic mosaic is interwoven by the presence of Chinese-Canadians.

The second appearance of Chinese immigrants in British Columbia, in June 1858, proved to be more long lasting, but no less tumultuous. Their presence, encouraged only while the province faced a labour shortage in the midst of the lower Fraser Valley gold rush, quickly became resented when the country’s economic fortunes escalated after 1865. What one would see as desirable virtues, innovation in mining and willingness to engage in long, backbreaking hours, were eventually used to fuel bigotry from Western settlers. ‘Chinatowns’ were the vainglorious creations of larger towns, such as Victoria, Nanaimo, and Kamloops, to isolate the Chinese population ³.

While the local British Columbia government marginalised the Chinese settlers and denied them the right to vote, the federal government viewed them as expendable labour. Having promised the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway by 1881, but with the project exceeding projected dates and expenses, the cost-slashing federal government awarded New York contractor Andrew Onderkonk the task of building sections of the railway from Port Moody to Yale, and from North Bend to Lyttonby. Needing to dramatically cut his own cost estimates, Onderkonk was forced to hire resident Chinese settlers and negotiate the arrival of over 15,000 more Chinese workers from the provinces of Guangdong and Fujian ⁴. However, in a politicised push promoting inequity and discrimination, legislative efforts had already begun in 1879 to ban Chinese workers from working on the railroad3. But in May 1882, these efforts were rebuked by Prime Minister John A. Macdonald, who stated that, “At present, it is simply a question of alternative – either you must have this labour or you cannot have the railway³.” Forced to accept ‘the lesser of two evils’, Chinese workers were accepted by Onderkonk’s firm, but discriminated against immensely. Paid half of what white labourers earned, forced to purchase supplies from overpriced company stores and to pay for their own food and shelter, Chinese workers had little savings to last them over the bleak winter months when construction was halted, and even less to send back home⁵.

Subsisting on a diet of rice, dried salmon and tea⁶, they rested in canvas tents that offered little weather protection; after the gruelling labour of pushcarting rocks and blasting mines with volatile nitro-glycerine, this was hardly a suitable way for people to live. Occupational safety was a non-existent concept in this era, and barely a day passed without fatalities in accidents or due to exhaustion. Hundreds perished from cholera, smallpox and scurvy. Unsurprisingly, the ‘Inland Sentinel’ reported in February 1883, "Here in British Columbia along the line of the railway, the China workmen are fast disappearing under the ground²." Indeed, 2-4 Chinese labourers died for every mile of railroad that was completed; yet, local residents remained unsympathetic.

But, even though the Inland Sentinel newspaper reported in 1880 that "Many of them seem mere boys...a very poor lot for railroad work⁵," their resilience, work ethic and commitment shone through prejudices, impressing J.A. Chapleau, the Premier of Quebec, who testified at ‘The Royal Commission on Chinese Immigration’ in 1885 that the Chinese workers were, "... trained gangs of rock men as good as I ever saw⁷." Yet, despite their vital role in the completion of the railway, no Chinese workers were present in the ‘The Last Spike Ceremony’, which marked the completion of the massive project; many were instead soon fired. Left with meagre savings, and still having to repay China-based recruitment companies for their passage, many were forced to stay in Canada⁷.

The ‘Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association’ was founded in Victoria in 1884 by Chinese merchants to assist poor, ill and homeless Chinese immigrants and to enable them to continue productive lives, albeit with restrictions on occupations⁸ . Nevertheless, with increasing immigration pressures by the British Columbian government, the federal government introduced a ‘Head Tax’ on Chinese immigrants in 1885, and slowly raised the fee for each potential Chinese settler to $500 by 1903. Until they had paid their fee and were processed, new arrivals were confined to cell-like rooms for days and even weeks. Segregation became a common policy in businesses and schools. Interracial marriages required special permission, riots against Chinese businesses became common and the introduction of the Chinese Immigration Act in 1923 banned the entry of all Chinese into Canada, with few exceptions. The act came into effect on ‘Canada Dominion Day’, quickly known as "Humiliation Day" by Chinese-Canadians^6,9 .

It was only China’s favourable participation in WW2 and voluntary participation of over 600 Chinese-Canadians, who infiltrated and fought behind Japanese lines in China and Malaysia³, when hardened Canadian attitudes started to change. The Chinese Immigration Act was repealed in 1947, after much federal government deliberation, and entry controls were gradually relaxed. In 1967 the ‘Universal Immigration Policy’ finally admitted the Chinese under universal criteria, exalting education and occupational skills over ethnic origin. And In June 2006, the Canadian Parliament issued an official apology for the historical mistreatment of Chinese-Canadians, and survivors were compensated for paying the ‘Head Tax’².

Making us more aware of what the meaning of perseverance and equity truly is, it is only through understanding the history of what those before us have endured that we can appreciate the shoulders of giants that today’s Canadian generation stands on. It is our responsibility to remember the indomitable and heroic individuals who toiled and struggled so that we can achieve that same purest of goals in our own lives: to strive for justice, equality and dignity with every ounce of our body and being.

1 Napoleon Hill, ‘Think and Grow Rich,’ published 1937.

2 http://www.mysteriesofcanada.com/Canada/history_of_the_chinese_in_canada.htm

3 http://www.sfu.ca/chinese-canadian-history/chart_en.html#

4 http://www.mhso.ca/tiesthatbind/BuildingCPR.php#

5 http://www.mhso.ca/tiesthatbind/ChineseRailWorkers.php

6 http://www.library.ubc.ca/chineseinbc/railways.html

7 http://www.immigrationwatchcanada.org/2005/06/29/chinese-railway-workers-in-1880s-b-c-were-really-temporary-workers-some-canadian-history-to-review-on-our-national-holiday-july-1/

8 http://web.uvic.ca/vv/student/chinatown/Tongs/CCBA.html

9 http://ccnc.ca/toronto/history/info/info.html

This essay won the second place of the James Pon Memorial Award.