The Countdown to Humiliation Day
What began as a shortage in the Canadian labour market ended with one of the most revolting and atrocious displays of prejudice and discrimination against an entire country and culture of people. The events leading up to Humiliation Day brought forth a legalized intolerance that would leave an inescapable bruise on Canadian history.
South Asians have long since endured the brunt of intense prejudice at the hands of Canadians and the Canadian government. A most prevalent discrimination against the Chinese was seen in Western Canada, mainly British Columbia. In the mid 1800s, it was the general consensus among Canadians that South Asians could not become part of mainstream culture, nor did they belong as part of it, simply due to the fact that they were not white.
1858 brought the first wave of Chinese immigrants into Canada in their pursuit of riches during the Fraser River Valley gold rush. The next large influx of the Chinese was during the 1880s as per request of the Canadian government in order to complete the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Progress on the impending project was almost completely stalled as the Canadian labour market lacked the manpower to complete a project of this magnitude with its own resources, but promises has been made and results needed to be delivered.
Large numbers of Chinese immigrants were recruited to live in Canada and work as labourers on the railway. They arrived in masses with the hopes of being able to earn a living and making a life in a promising new country. The working and social conditions they were met with were far from what they had expected or envisioned.
Socially, the Chinese were alienated and treated as inferior. Labou...
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...ers. They also fought and died for Canada in the war along side Canadian forces. Once again their efforts and contributions went unrecognized as they were met with contempt and disdain upon the soldiers return home. They were accused of taking jobs away from white men and resentment toward the Chinese grew deeper with the realization that some of them owned land and farms in Canada.
The hardest and most heinous blow that the Chinese suffered was implementation of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923. On July 1, 1923, this law came into power and forbade any and all Chinese from entering Canada. Immigration to Canada had always been subject to restrictions, but the Chinese have been the only race in history to be subjected to an outright ban. The inclusion of this act of state-sanctioned racism will infinitely be known by the Chinese people as Humiliation Day.
The tendency to racially discriminate and victimise against certain minorities or a specific nationality was a long-lasting sting of racism which was a part of Canadian history. The discrimination by Canadians directed towards Japanese-Canadians during WWII was a significant historical event that needs to be addressed. After the Pearl Harbour attacks in Hawaii by the Japanese navy, 24,000 Japanese-Canadians were placed in internment camps, where they were stripped of their identity and freedom of rights based upon their racial origin. In the aftermath of the internment, many Japanese-Canadian natives were left without life savings, as all of their belongings were confiscated and never given back. This internment of the Japanese-Canadians occurred
One particular ethnic group that suffered severe discrimination was the Chinese people. They first came to America for several reasons. One of them was the gold rush in California in 1849, in which they were included in a group of immigrants called the “Forty-Niners” (179). From gold mining, they switched to other jobs with resulted in the rise of anti-Chinese sentiments. People felt that Chinese people were taking the jobs away from them, because Chinese people worked for much smaller salaries that businesses preferred. This mindset gave way to the creation of The Chinese Exclusion Act passed in 1882, which prohibits more Chinese immigrants from coming to America. In addition, the act states “no State or court of the United States shall admit Chinese to citizenship”. Like the Naturalization Act, the Chinese Exclusion Act was created to hinder Chinese people from becoming citizens so that America could remain homogenously white (186). It also aimed to stop Chinese people from establishing a bigger community in the country in hopes of eliminating the threat of competition to their white counterparts (186). Like African-Americans, Chinese people were considered racially inferior and have struggled to prove that they were worthy to be called true Americans, rather than
The Canadian Pacific Railway was the first transcontinental railway built to connect Canada from coast to coast. (Canadian Pacific Para. 9) The construction almost delayed completely because of John A. MacDonald losing power, but it was finally continued with the help of a syndicate. (Canadian Pacific Para. 4) Due to the insufficient amount of adequate workers in British Columbia, Chinese contract workers were imported to help construct the track with minimal pay and harsh conditions. (Canada Para. 1) Chinese-Canadians were discriminated by being given the most dangerous job, no food or shelter provided, and the least pay. Unfortunately, when the track was completed, the Exclusion Act for Chinese immigrants was established to stop immigration from China, (Calgary Chinese Cultural Centre Para. 5) while also making it impossible for family members from China to immigrate. (Calgary Chinese Cultural Centre Para. 11)
Zong L. & Perry, B. (2011). Chinese immigrants in Canada and social injustice: From overt to
In today’s rapidly growing global society, foreign relations with other countries are imperative to a nation’s prosperity and world-wide harmony. Especially with China, the fastest growing country in the world, it is important for Canada to establish relations that can benefit both countries. The foundation of these Sino-Canadian relations was created by Norman Bethune’s involvement in the Second Sino-Japanese War. China was not always such a flourishing and prosperous society. In 1937, during this war, Japan invaded China with imperialist objectives.
Labour leaders in Canada in the late 1800s and early 1900s were strongly opposed to the idea of Asians immigrating to Canada. In “Constructing the Great Menace” by David Goutor, it outlines the oppression of Asians by labour leaders which does not conclude that labour leaders hated all immigration and had a prejudice against all racialized groups. The unionists’ main argument for this opposition is based on the stereotype that Asians were claimed to have “accepted low wages and degraded working conditions” thus proving that they will diminish the standard of living for Canadian workers. These Labour Leaders were prejudice to Asians in an effort to supposedly protect Canadian workers and their jobs. However, it is not fair to say that labour
After the Gold Rush had concluded, Chinese immigrants were needed for employment such as, rail road construction and mining. The immigrants were accepted because they were hard workers. According to Schaefer (2015),
...panese Canadian Interment and Racism During World War II." IMAGINATIONS. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Jan. 2014.
Systemic discrimination has been a part of Canada’s past. Women, racial and ethnic minorities as well as First Nations people have all faced discrimination in Canada. Policies such as, Charter of Rights and Freedoms, provincial and federal Human Rights Codes, as well has various employment equity programs have been placed in Canada’s constitution to fight and address discrimination issues. Despite these key documents placed for universal rights and freedoms Aboriginal and other minority populations in Canada continue to be discriminated against. Many believe there is no discrimination in Canada, and suggest any lack of success of these groups is a result of personal decisions and not systemic discrimination. While others feel that the legislation and equality policies have yet resulted in an equal society for all minorities. Racism is immersed in Canadian society; this is clearly shown by stories of racial profiling in law enforcement.
was the driving factor that ultimately resulted in the internment of the Japanese Canadians. Racial prejudice against Orientals had been around in B.C. since the 1850s when Chinese immigrants came to Canada to help with the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway. A newspaper article described the Chinese as a “marvelous human machine, competent to perform the maximum of labour on the minimum of sustenance” (Adachi 42). While they were beneficial for contractors, they posed a threat to the white population (Figure 3). The cartoon suggests that the low living standards of the Chinese allowed them to endure the harshest conditions, while being satisfied with the lowest wages. In contrast, the typical European is portrayed as a civilized human being who cannot compete with the Chinese workers without sacrificing his dignity. As a result, when the Japanese started immigrating to Canada later on, the British Columbian population only saw them as another threat to their culture due to the similarities they shared with the Chinese. However, the Japanese proved to be a greater problem since they were not affected by the Head Tax imposed on the Chinese (Hickman, 33; Morton). The attack on Pearl Harbour was an excuse that finally allowed British Columbians to release the anti-Japanese sentiment that they had been suppressing for years. In addition, when the final decision to intern the Japanese Canadians was passed, the government considered them all as potential threats (Figure 4). There was no effort made to distinguish those who posed potential threats and those who did not; most of them had no connection with Japan besides for their ancestry. This can only be attributed to racism, as there are only 38 suspects out of the 22,000 internees. Similarly, selling of Japanese property was another racist act that the government claimed to be necessary for the war effort and to increase national security (Sunahara 90; “The War Years”).
More immigration lead to racism and fear among both English Canadians who believed immigrants were taking away their jobs and French Canadians who feared that immigrants may potentially dominate their culture. These misconceptions and fears lead the Canadian government to declare new regulations that restricted the immigration of Asian and eastern, and southern European descents as well as Jewish immigrants. Canada gave more preference to descendants of both Britain and Western Europe. Policies were then developed to grant access to the best immigrants (as it was called) who were mainly whites that possessed a wealth of skills and benefits but to exclude the non whites who we...
Canada experienced the revolution of changing politics and new ideologies, it was a necessary wave
Vancouver currently maintains an image as a sort of maternal ethnic melting pot, a region rich in cultural diversity and with a municipality that is both tolerant and welcoming of various displays and traditions. However, upon closer examination of recent history, it becomes clear that the concept of the city embracing minorities with a warm liberal hug is both incorrect and a form of manipulation in itself. The articles Erasing Indigenous Indigeneity in Vancouver and The Idea of Chinatown unravel the cultural sanitization that occurred in Vancouver at the turn of the nineteenth century as a means of state domination. Through careful synthesis of primary documents, the articles piece together the systematic oppression suffered by BC indigenous people and Chinese immigrants, reformulating our perception of the interests of the Canadian government.
The Chinese immigrants started flooding in through the West coast to California around the time of the Gold Rush, looking for economic opportunity. With the Chinese immigrants came a whole new cultural group and a whole lot of laborers that were eager to work. The Chinese quickly became involved in all kinds of labor from gold mining and building railroads to agriculture and fishing skills. The new Asian population just kept growing and growing as immigrants spread word of their good fortune in California and swayed more and more of their family to come over to the states. With their growing population they created their own large communities and the first ever Chinatown ...
And to enter you would either have to be a farmer, british, or American, but that all changed by 1952, when the government brought in a new immigration act which accepted all races, religion, beliefs and cultures to enter into their country. As you know, once you settle into a new country, it is customary to start a life which means, having a family, a job and a home. But during the war, it prevented many Canadians form having a child since there were limited jobs and homes, which made it hard to provide an income to support their family. But after the war had ended, everything went suddenly right. Thousands of young men returned home to return back to their jobs and start a family. By 1950, its population went up by nearly 30% due to young people having a lot of babies which resulted in the “Baby Boom”. As new young families began to emerge, they started purchasing cars, homes and furniture and things they have ever wanted but could not during the war. Companies started manufacturing family necessities and people who needed jobs could come and help manufacture these products, and the baby boom was one of Canada’s producers that accelerated