The Absurdity of the Chinese Head Tax and its Consequences Canada has many historical wrongdoings, both known and lesser known. One well-known instance of these wrongdoings is the Chinese Head Tax Act that was put in place at a time when Canadian officials did not take kindly to the fact that the Chinese were willing to work for less money while doing work that was of the same efficiency and quality as native Canadians. The Chinese head tax had gotten out of hand, and then Canada made a new act called the Chinese Immigration Act (the Exclusion Act). The government was worried that Canadian citizens would start having more trouble getting jobs. What is the historical background and origins of the Chinese head tax? The first large number of Chinese immigrants to come to Canada first went to San Francisco, California. They were not welcome there either. In 1858, the Chinese immigrants wanted to follow the gold rush and went to the Fraser River Valley in British Columbia. In the 1860’s, many moved on to find more gold in the Cariboo Mountains in the interior of …show more content…
The Chinese head tax act started in 1885 and started at $50.00, which is about $1,616.23 in our money today. In 1900, the head tax was doubled to $100.00 and required the Chinese leaving Canada to come back within a year of leaving or face paying the head tax again when they came back (Petrov, 2021). Then, in 1903, the head tax was increased to $500.00 per Chinese immigrant, which caused families to separate because many of the Chinese that came before the head couldn't pay it for their whole family. Having the head tax increase to such a substantial amount would have made it financially burdensome if the whole family were to reunite. This had an emotional toll on the whole family and caused many more hardships. Family separation and dislocation became normal for any Chinese that had a family in Canada at the time (Road to Justice,
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
The Canadian government is using all its power to protect the Canadian culture and domestic business. “in 1920s, the Canadian government imposed protective tariffs on foreign magazines.” This is one good example that the Canadian government has a huge concern towards citizens losing their culture and the nation is losing business.
The period of 1914 to 1939, Canada’s immigration policy got very unfair. Changes were made to the Immigration Act in 1914 that allowed the rejection of anyone from any race that was deemed unsuitable for Canada’s requirements. Also, in that same year, the Komagata Maru came to the coast of Vancouver. It was a ship that carried many from Punjab, India. The ship wasn’t allowed to dock and passengers weren’t allowed to disembark off the ship. The ship hadn’t sailed directly to B.C. from India so only 24 passengers were allowed to disembark; most of them were doctors or Canadian citizens already. Another act to keep out unwanted immigrants from Canada was the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923. This act came into effect on July 1st, 1923. It banned all Chinese immigrants from entering Canada, except merchants, diplomats and foreign students. Before the Chinese Exclusion Act was put into place, the Chinese had to pay a head tax of $500 just to get into the country. The numbers of Japanese immigrants were also restricted. The Canadian government restricted only 150 Japanese immigrants to come to Canada in a year. In 1925, the government relaxed restrictions on immigrants coming from many countrie...
...nts in mind that show that Canada was not always the Human Rights Role Model that it has become during the twenty-first century. These events could be anything such as the disgraceful, and unprovoked, treatment of the Canadian-Japanese during the Second World War or the attempts to assimilate the Native Americans of Canada into Caucasian culture with the White Paper document. Even during the beginning of the twentieth century prejudices were held against immigrants, many were discriminated against and hated. With these horrendous events in mind it is amazing that a country, with such a troubled past, can possibly make up and become the Role Model for Human Rights that Canada is perceived as. These historically significant events have affected the way that Canada has developed and as such has helped to mould the country of Canada into what society knows it as.
The fear of Japan invading Canada in World War Two cause racism to arise in Canada. After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941 (Bolotta et al, 2000), Canadian citizens feared the Japanese immigrants living in Canada may aid Japan in attacking. Worried about its citizens and problems that may arise, the Canadian government prevented the problem by interning Japanese Canadians. The issue with this solution was the Canadian Government was not justified in interning the Japanese Canadians. The Canadian government had no reason to intern the Japanese Canadians; it was unreasonable, unnecessary and discriminatory.
Do you know that despite Canada being called multicultural and accepting, Canada’s history reveals many secrets that contradicts this statement? Such an example are Canadian aboriginals, who have faced many struggles by Canadian society; losing their rights, freedoms and almost, their culture. However, Native people still made many contributions to Canadian society. Despite the efforts being made to recognize aboriginals in the present day; the attitudes of European Canadians, acts of discrimination from the government, and the effects caused by the past still seen today have proven that Canadians should not be proud of Canada’s history with respect to human rights since 1914. First, is because of the attitudes of European Canadians towards aboriginals, which were mostly cruel and inhumane.
the Canadian government tries to shy away from such an allegation, the impact of the
World War Two had a significant impact on Canadian history as the Canadian government revoked many rights and changed the lives of Japanese-Canadians that were interred. Between 1941 and 1945, over 21,000 Japanese-Canadians (in which over two thirds were born in Canada) were limited of their rights and freedom and were forced into internment camps "for their own good". The Japanese-Canadians were considered as enemy aliens by the Canadian government the day after Japan bombed Pearl Harbour. They lost many rights along with it and their property was confiscated as well even though the Canadian government promised that they would receive their property back after the war was over. While the Japanese-Canadians were living in the internment camps, they were forced to suffer from the harsh nature and living conditions of the camps. Also, after all those these years of internment, the end result was that the Japanese-Canadians were given the freedom to move and were given a formal apology from the government in 1988. Not only did the internment of Japanese-Canadians tear families apart and scar the lives of many innocent civilians, but it also made the Canadian government open their eyes and realize how they were treating different ethnicities even though Canada was supposedly a free country.
It can be said without a doubt that the indigenous peoples of Canada have had to undergo much turmoil in order to reach the point that they are at today. When one looks at the timeline of events and the laws implemented since the arrival of the Europeans in North America it can be considered a miracle that so many aspects of the rich culture and tradition of these people have survived to see today. It is a blessing that these people have been able to pass down the languages, cultural and societal beliefs, as well as their stories from generation to generation so that the people of North America and the world today may be able to know and study these civilized and multifaceted cultures. The First Nations people of Canada have had to go through many types of oppression since the arrival of the settlers. And even though society has slowly made strides in the right direction in respect to eliminating the oppression on aboriginal peoples there still remains a vast inequality between the aboriginals of Canada and that of their counterparts of European descent in the forms of their educational differences which lead to difficulties in employment as well as an increased crime rate.
...slation, such as the Boat People. The Immigration Act of 1978 has impacted Canada greatly in a positive manner.
In the 1900’s a prominent English scholar Gilbert Murray said: “There is in the world a hierarchy of races;[some] will direct and rule the others, and the lower work of the world will tend in the long run to be done by the lower breeds of men. This we of the ruling colour will no doubt accept as obvious.”(Walker; 1997) It was very true at the time; everywhere you looked you could see that white men assumed all roles of responsibility. Canada has been fighting a never-ending war against racism in the 19th century. It. It has modified or created many laws to help try to combat the discrimination that exists within our country. Canada has modified its immigration act to make it less discriminatory. It has created the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to bring equality to everyone and it has, created human rights acts to protect people of different races.
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.
The immigration story of the Chinese had forced them to make a living, or work for what they wanted to one day become known for. Before the time the Chinese arrived in Canada, problems had occurred on the homeland. At the time most European countries had been coming to china to sell goods, when they had suddenly lost to Great Britain in the Opium war in 1842 to 1860. This had forced china to open ports for trade in Europe. This devastating issue made the Chinese community hassle knowing that the European would be invading. After the Chinese surrender had occurred towards Brittan, they were told to pay a massive fee. The payment had affected the annual intake of China’s treasury, which eventually was paid through higher taxes of their citizens. Since...
Canada's immigration policies changed many times after the end of WWII. Before WWII the immigration policies were "picky" on the people who wanted to come to Canada, but after, it was fair and equal to everyone. Canada's immigration policies changed drastically from being discriminative to being fair and equal to everyone, every country and race after WWII. This act to eliminating discrimination was successful because of; the introduction of the Point System, the introduction of New Immigration acts/policies, and finally the changes made in accepting Refugees. These action completely changed the immigration policies.