Chinese Canadians

The first record of Chinese in what is known as Canada today can be dated back to 1788. The British fur trader John Meares hired a group of roughly 70 Chinese carpenters from Macau and employed them to build a ship, the North West America, at Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island, British Columbia. This was then an increasingly important but disputed European outpost on the Pacific coast, which, after Spanish seizure, was abandoned by Mears, leaving the eventual whereabouts of the carpenters largely unknown.

Chinese labourers working on the Canadian Pacific Railway

Before 1885 and the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), access to British Columbia from other parts of Canada was difficult. The creation of a better transportation system was essential to integration of British Columbia into the new Confederation.

Chinese railway workers made up the labour force for construction of two one-hundred mile sections of the Canadian Pacific Railway from the Pacific to Craigellachie in the Eagle Pass in British Columbia. When British Columbia agreed to join Confederation in 1871, one of the conditions was that the Dominion government build a railway linking B.C. with eastern Canada within 10 years. British Columbian politicians and their electorate agitated for an immigration program from the British Isles to provide this railway labour, but Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald, betrayed the wishes of his constituency (Victoria) by insisting the project cut costs by employing Chinese immigrants to build the railway, and summarized the situation this way to Parliament in 1882: "It is simply a question of alternatives: either you must have this labour or you can't have the railway."[10] (British Columbian politicians had wanted a settlement-immigration plan for workers from the British Isles, but Canadian politicians and investors said it would be too expensive).

Chinese communities in Canada in the 19th and well into the 20th centuries were organized around the traditional kinship systems linking people belonging to the same clans together.[11] As not everyone in the Chinese communities necessarily belonged to the same clans, "voluntary" associations that functioned in many ways like guilds that provided social welfare, community events and a forum for politics became very important in Chinese-Canadian communities.[11] Linking together all of the voluntary associations were Benevolent Associations that in effect ran the various Chinatowns in Canada, mediating disputes within the communities and providing for leaders who negotiated with Canadian politicians.[11] As many Chinese immigrants knew little or no English, and most white Canadians did not welcome them, the Chinatowns tended to be cut off from the wider Canadian communities, functioning as "islands". The Canadian media in the late 19th and early 20th centuries depicted the Chinatowns in lurid and sensationalist terms as centres of "filth"; using the very poverty of the Chinese against them, Canadian newspapers frequently claimed that the Chinese immigrants were an innately dirty people who carried infectious diseases and were prone to criminality.[11] Reflecting the popularity of "Yellow Peril" stereotypes, the media blamed Chinese immigrants for all the crime in Canada, depicting the Chinese as luring innocent white Canadians into gambling, prostitution and drug addiction.[11]

Many workers from Guangdong Province (mainly Taishanese people and Pearl River Delta peoples) arrived to help build the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 19th century as did Chinese veterans of the gold rushes. These workers accepted the terms offered by the Chinese labour contractors who were engaged by the railway construction company to hire them—low pay, long hours, lower wages than non-Chinese workers and dangerous working conditions, in order to support their families that stayed in China. Their willingness to endure hardship for low wages enraged fellow non-Chinese workers who thought they were unnecessarily complicating the labour market situations. Most of the Chinese immigrants in the 19th century spoke Cantonese and their term for Canada was Gum San (Chinese: 金山; Jyutping: gam1 saan1; Cantonese Yale: gām sāan; lit. 'golden mountain').[12] The name Gum San, which concerned a supposed gigantic mountain made of pure gold located somewhere in the Rockies, was not taken literally, but instead was a metaphor for the hopes of Chinese immigrants for greater wealth in Canada.[12] Almost all of the Chinese immigrants in the 19th century were young men, with women staying behind in China with the hope of marrying a "Gold mountain guest" as those who made money in Canada usually returned to China.[13] Unable to marry white women, many Chinese men in Canada married First Nations women as the Indian peoples were more willingly to accept them.[14]

From the passage of the Chinese Immigration Act in 1885, the Canadian government began to charge a substantial head tax for each Chinese person trying to immigrate to Canada.[15] The Chinese were the only ethnic group that had to pay such a tax. Owing to the fear of the "Yellow Peril", in 1895 the government of Mackenzie Bowell passed an act forbidding any Asian-Canadian to vote or hold office.[15]

In 1902, the Liberal Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier appointed a Royal Commission on Chinese and Japanese Immigration, whose report stated that the Asians were "unfit for full citizenship ... obnoxious to a free community and dangerous to the state."[11] Following the Royal Commission's report, Parliament voted to increase the Chinese head tax to $500 dollars, which temporarily caused Chinese immigration to Canada to stop.[11] However, those Chinese wishing to go to Canada began to save up money to pay the head tax, which led to agitation, especially in British Columbia for the Dominion government to ban Asian immigration.[11] Between September 7–9, 1907, an anti-Asian pogrom took place in Vancouver. The Asiatic Exclusion League organized attacks against homes and businesses owned by Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Indian immigrants under the slogan "White Canada Forever!"; though no one was killed, much property damage was done and numerous Asian-Canadians were beaten up.

Chinese Canadians in Toronto's High Park, 1919

The 1907 pogrom was merely the most dramatic expression of the continuous agitation in Canada, especially in western Canada and among the working class, for the total exclusion of Asian immigration to Canada. In 1922, the feminist Emily Murphy published her best-selling book The Black Candle blaming Chinese and black immigrants for allegedly causing the problems of drug addiction among white Canadians. In 1923, the federal Liberal government of William Lyon Mackenzie King banned Chinese immigration with the passage of the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923, although numerous exemptions for businessmen, clergy, students and others did not end immigration entirely.[16] With this act, the Chinese received similar legal treatment to blacks before them who Canada also had specifically excluded from immigration on the basis of race. (This was formalised in 1911 by Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier who in Sub-section (c) of Section 38 of the Immigration Act called blacks "unsuitable" for Canada.) During the next 25 years, more and more laws against the Chinese were passed. Most jobs were closed to Chinese men and women. Many Chinese opened their own restaurants and laundry businesses. In British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Ontario, Chinese employers were not allowed to hire white females.[17] Ernest Chewant Mark, an immigrant who arrived in Canada in 1908, emerged as one of the leading critics of the 1923 Exclusion Act, and worked closely with Senator William Proudfoot, a Presbyterian minister, into seeking to pressure the government to repeal the act.[18]

A Chinese man picking watercress in Toronto's High Park, 1920

Some of those Chinese-Canadian workers settled in Canada after the railway was constructed. Most could not bring the rest of their families, including immediate relatives, due to government restrictions and enormous processing fees. They established Chinatowns and societies in undesirable sections of the cities, such as Dupont Street (now East Pender) in Vancouver, which had been the focus of the early city's red-light district until Chinese merchants took over the area from the 1890s onwards. During the Great Depression, life was even tougher for the Chinese than it was for other Canadians.[19] In Alberta, for example, Chinese Canadians received relief payments of less than half the amount paid to other Canadians. And because the Chinese Exclusion Act prohibited any additional immigration from China, the Chinese men who had arrived earlier had to face these hardships alone, without the companionship of their wives and children. Census data from 1931 shows that there were 1,240 men to every 100 women in Chinese-Canadian communities. To protest the Chinese Exclusion Act, Chinese Canadians closed their businesses and boycotted Dominion Day celebrations every July 1, which became known as "Humiliation Day" by the Chinese Canadians.[20] The film-maker Melinda Friedman stated about her interviews with Chinese-Canadian veterans of World War II: "The thing that was the most shocking to me was hearing from the veterans ... describe what life was like in Vancouver as late as 1940, with the Ku Klux Klan living in Vancouver who were targeting, quite often, the Chinese community."[21]

In 1937, when Japan attacked China, the government of Chiang Kai-shek asked for the overseas Chinese communities to support the homeland.[22] From 1937 onward, the Chinese-Canadian community regularly organized fund-raising events to raise money for China.[23] By 1945, the Chinese Canadians had contributed $5 million Canadian dollars to China.[23] Following the Xi'an Incident of December 1936, a "United Front" bringing together the Chinese Communist Party and the Kuomintang had been formed to resist Japanese aggression, which was soon put to the test when Japan invaded China in July 1937. Within the Chinese-Canadian communities, a "United Front" atmosphere prevailed from the summer of 1937 on as various community leaders put aside their differences to focus on supporting China.[24] Starting in 1937, a boycott was organized of Japanese goods, and Canadian businesses that sold war materials to Japan were subject of demonstrations.[25] One of the main slogans used at the demonstrations was "Don't Kill Babies", a reference to the Imperial Japanese Army's habit of using Chinese infants for "bayonet practice".

World War II veteran George Chow

The Second World War became the turning point in history of Chinese Canadians. To show support for the war, fund-raising events were held from September 1939 to raise money for the Canadian war effort, and by 1945, Chinese Canadians had purchased some $10 million worth of Victory Bonds.[26] The Chinese community of Victoria was praised in a parliamentary resolution for being especially active in holding events to encourage people to buy Victory Bonds.[26] In December 1941, Canada declared war on Japan, and from time onward, China was an ally, which helped to change white Canadian views.[27]

Chinese-language poster encouraging the purchase of Canada Victory Bonds

The Afro-American newspaper The Pittsburgh Courier called for the "double victory" or "Double V campaign" in a 1942 editorial, urging black Americans to work for victory over fascism abroad and racism at home.

[28] Though originally intended for black Americans, the slogan of "double victory" was taken up by Asian-American groups as well.[29] The same slogan of "double victory" came to be embraced by Chinese Canadians.[30] Despite not being allowed to vote or hold office, about 600 Chinese Canadians enlisted as "active" members to fight overseas (until late 1944 all Canadians serving abroad were volunteers).[26] The prime minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King, did not want Chinese Canadians to serve in the military as he knew that veterans would demand the right to vote just as Chinese-Canadian veterans had done after World War I, but strong pressure from the British Special Operations Executive, which needed Asian-Canadians to work as agents who could go undercover in Japanese-occupied Asia, forced his hand.[31] Unlike in the First World War, where about 300 Chinese Canadians had served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, this time Chinese Canadians serving in the Canadian military were given officers' commissions.[26] All three services were reluctant to have Chinese Canadians given officers' commissions as having Asian men serving as officers giving orders to white men challenged the racial hierarchy.[26] However, all those serving as airmen in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) were officers, and once Chinese-Canadian airmen received officers' commissions, both the Army and the Navy were forced to follow suit. The RCAF was the service most open to Chinese Canadians because of the heavy losses taken in the bombing offensive against Germany. For RCAF, a 5% loss ratio was considered crippling and between March 5-June 24, 1943, the 6th Group of the RCAF lost 100 bombers in air raids over Germany, suffering a 7% loss ratio; altogether, 9,980 Canadians were killed in bombing raids against German cities between 1940–45, making the strategic bombing offensive one of the most costly operations for Canada in World War II.[32]

In 1943, William Lore was commissioned as a Lieutenant-Commander in the Royal Canadian Navy, becoming the first person of Chinese descent to be given an officer's commission in any of the Commonwealth navies.[33] Lore was the first Allied officer to land in Hong Kong on August 30, 1945 and it he who announced to the surviving Canadian POWs, who had been held in barbaric conditions by the Japanese since surrendering on Christmas Day in 1941, being reduced down to "human skeletons", that they were now free men.[33] Kam Hem Douglas Sam of the Royal Canadian Air Force, who had been serving on a Halifax bomber was shot down over France on June 28, 1944, and joined the French resistance, being awarded the Croix de Guerre from France after the war for his work with the resistance.[33] Sam, who came from Victoria and could remember some French from high school, was able to pass himself off as a Vietnamese student in Reims.[34] Sam first served with as a liaison with the SOE to organize landings of arms to the resistance from Britain.[34] Sam later fought with the resistance, ambushing German troops on their way to Normandy.[34] Flying Officer Quan Jil Louie of the RCAF was killed in early 1945 when his bomber was shot down over Germany.[33] As Louie came from one of the more wealthier families of Vancouver's Chinatown, his death in action attracted much attention in Vancouver, and with it commentary he was not allowed to vote or hold office.

Chinese-Canadian soldiers from Vancouver serving in the Second World War

A number of Chinese Canadians were recruited by the Special Operations Executive (SOE) to serve in Japanese-occupied regions of China and Southeast Asia.[33] About 150 Chinese Canadians served with the SOE Force 136 behind Japanese lines in Burma.[21] Douglas Jung, who later become the first Chinese-Canadian MP, served as a SOE agent in Japanese-occupied Malaya in 1944–45, which was highly dangerous work as the Kenpeitai, the much feared Japanese military police, would give no mercy to any Allied agent whom they captured.[33] Those serving with the Force 136 were given cyanide pills to take if faced with capture by the Japanese as it was known that any SOE agent captured by the Japanese would be tortured and killed.[21] Another Chinese Canadian, Bill Chong, served with the British Army Aid Group in Hong Kong and southern China, smuggling out POWs to Free China (i.e. not occupied by the Japanese) and delivering aid to resistance groups.[33] The willingness of Chinese Canadians to fight and if necessary die for Canada in the war changed public perceptions, and for the first time newspapers began to call for the repeal of the 1895 law which forbade all Asian-Canadians to vote or hold offices.[26] The Canadian historian Brereton Greenhous wrote of the efforts of the men of Force 136: "Several of them were decorated for their actions, and their service was a major factor in influencing the Canadian government to grant Chinese and Japanese-Canadians full rights as Canadian citizens several years later".[35]

Frank Wong of Vancouver who served with the Royal Canadian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in north-west Europe in 1944-45 recalled that his service with the Army was the first time he had been treated as an equal, stating: "They treated me just like an equal. You have your uniform, you're in it together; you eat together and you sleep together.".[33] Like other Chinese-Canadian veterans, Wong argued for equality of treatment, asking why he should be treated as a second-class citizen despite his war services. Wong stated his reasons for enlisting were: "I decided maybe if I joined the armed forces, after the war they would give me the right to vote".[33] Peggy Lee of Toronto by contrast stated her reasons for enlisting in 1942 with the Women's Ambulance Corps was "do my bit" for Canada.[33] Roy Mah who served with the SOE behind Japanese lines in Burma stated: "We thought that serving in the armed forces would be an opportunity for us to prove to the general public that we are loyal Canadians, that in time of need, they would see that we have no hesitation to don the King's uniform and go overseas to fight for our country, fight to preserve democracy."[36] The Canadian historian Henry Yu stated about the efforts of Chinese-Canadian veterans: "They had to accept that they had fought this war—a good war in everyone's estimation—and they were still coming back to places built around white supremacy. So for some of them, they began vocally to argue: Why can't we vote still?"[21]

Many Chinese Canadians argued that if Canada was fighting against not only Nazi Germany but her racist ideologies such as the Völkisch movement, then it was hypocritical for so many white Canadians to support attitudes of white supremacy back home. Chinese-Canadian veteran Frank Wong described the situation as being unable to “live outside Chinatown, and professional jobs were not available to [Chinese Canadians]. I wasn’t even allowed to go swimming in a public pool.”[33][37] The contributions of Chinese Canadians toward the eventual allied victory did not spell an end to discrimination for them in Canada, although these attitudes did eventually start to dissipate.[37] According to Chinese-Canadian veteran George Chow, after being treated “like a second-class citizen” in youth, during his service he was treated “just like an equal", elaborating on his service as such: “you have your uniform, you’re in it together; you eat together and you sleep together."[33] Catherine Clement, the curator of Chinese Canadian Military Museum in Vancouver stated: "It's called a double victory because they not only helped Canada win the war, but they also helped propel the civil rights movement for the Chinese-Canadians."[21]

Canada was slow to lift the restrictions against the Chinese Canadians and grant them full rights as Canadian citizens. Because Canada signed the United Nations Charter of Human Rights at the conclusion of the Second World War, the Canadian government had to repeal the Chinese Exclusion Act, which contravened the UN Charter. The same year, 1947, Chinese Canadians were finally granted the right to vote in federal elections. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King was opposed to granting the franchise to Chinese Canadians, but Chinese-Canadian veterans led a coalition of churches, unions, civic groups and veterans' associations into pressuring the King government to end the exclusion of Chinese Canadians from the franchise.[38] Friedman stated about Chinese-Canadian enfranchisement: "Canada has this great spot on the world stage—as just, fair and level-headed country—but the reason it is that way is because Chinese residents forced that issue and made it more just."[21] One Second World War veteran, Ronald Lee, remembered when he learned that Chinese Canadians could now vote together with repeal of the Exclusion Act: "Down in Chinatown, we celebrated because we were Canadians! We were able to bring our families from China. It was quite the jubilation."[21] Arguing that it was unjust to discriminate against veterans, professions such as the law, medicine and engineering were opened for Chinese Canadians for the first time after 1945.[21]

Lila Gee, playground monitor, with Chinese children playing basketball at McLean Park in Vancouver, 1951

However, it took another 20 years, until the points system was adopted for selecting immigrants, for the Chinese to begin to be admitted under the same criteria as any other applicants. In the 1957 election, the Second World War veteran Douglas Jung was elected as a Progressive Conservative for the riding of Vancouver Centre, becoming the first Chinese Canadian elected to the House of Commons. Jung's election, which proved that white voters would vote for a Chinese Canadian, marked the beginning of a trend where Chinese Canadians cease to depend upon the Benevolent Associations to negotiate with the politicians and instead Chinese Canadians became politically active themselves.[11] After many years of organized calls for an official Canadian government public apology and redress to the historic Head tax, the minority Conservative government of Stephen Harper announced, as part of their pre-election campaign, an official apology. On June 22, 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivered a message of redress in the House of Commons, calling it a "grave injustice".

Some educated Chinese arrived in Canada during the war as refugees. Since the mid-20th century, most new Chinese Canadians come from university-educated families, who of still consider quality education an essential value. These newcomers are a major part of the "brain gain", the inverse of the infamous "brain drain", i.e., the occurrence of many Canadians leaving to the United States, of which Chinese have also been a part.

From 1947 to the early 1970s, Chinese immigrants to Canada came mostly from Hong Kong, Taiwan, or Southeast Asia. Chinese from the mainland who were eligible in the family reunification program had to visit the Canadian High Commission in Hong Kong, since Canada and the PRC did not have diplomatic relations until 1970. From the late 1980s, an influx of Taiwanese people immigrated to Canada forming a group of Taiwanese Canadians. They settled in areas such as Vancouver, British Columbia and to the adjacent cities of Burnaby, Richmond and Coquitlam. There was a significant influx of wealthy Chinese entrepreneurs from Hong Kong in the early and mid-1990s before the handover of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China (PRC). Canada was a preferred location, in part because investment visas were significantly easier to obtain than visas to the United States. Vancouver, Richmond and Toronto were the major destinations of these Chinese. During those years, immigrants from Hong Kong alone made up to 46% of all Chinese immigrants to Canada. After 1997, a significant portion of Chinese immigrants chose to move back to Hong Kong, some of a more permanent nature, after the dust of the handover was settled and fears of a "Communist takeover" turned out to be unnecessary.

Starting in the late 20th century, Chinese Canadians have become active in the cultural scene in Canada, with the writers such Larissa Lai, Evelyn Lau,  Denise Chong, Wayson Choy, Paul Yee, Jim Wong-Chu, and Vincent Lam all winning acclaim.[11] In the world of film-making, Christina Wong, William Dere, Colleen Leung, Richard Fung, Dora Nipp, Tony Chan, Yung Chang Julia Kwan, Karin Lee, Mina Shum, Michelle Wong, Paul Wong, and Keith Lock have worked as directors and/or as script writers.[11] The Confucian tradition emphasizing hard work, scholarship, self-discipline and learning has meant the Chinese-Canadians families have strongly aspired for higher education and the 2001 census reported that over a quarter of Chinese Canadians had a university degree.[11] As it was the Liberal government of Lester Pearson that liberalized the immigration system in 1967, Chinese Canadians tended to vote for the Liberals in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.[11] In 1993, Raymond Chan became the first Chinese-Canadian cabinet minister, and in 1999 Adrienne Clarkson became the first Chinese-Canadian governor-general.[11]

Canada Day celebrations in Toronto, organized by the National Congress of Chinese Canadians

In the 21st century, Chinese immigration from Hong Kong has dropped sharply and the largest source of Chinese immigration are now from the mainland China. A smaller number have arrived from Taiwan and very small numbers from Fiji, French Polynesia, and New Zealand.[39]

Today, mainland China has taken over from Hong Kong and Taiwan as the largest source of Chinese immigration. The PRC has also taken over from all countries and regions as the country sending the most immigrants to Canada. According to the 2002 statistics from the Citizenship and Immigration Canada, the PRC has supplied the biggest number of Canadian immigrants since 2000, averaging well over 30,000 immigrants per year, totalling an average of 15% of all immigrants to Canada. This trend shows no sign of slowing down, with an all-time high of more than 40,000 reached in 2005.[40] According to 2006 census, 70% of Chinese Canadians live either in the greater Vancouver area or the greater Toronto area.[11]

On June 22, 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivered a message of redress in the House of Commons, offering an apology in Cantonese and compensation for the head tax once paid by Chinese immigrants. Survivors or their spouses will be paid approximately $20,000 CAD in compensation.[41][42][43][44]

In December 2008, the Philippines passed China as Canada's leading source of immigrants.[45] In 2010, when Mainland China became the second largest economy in the world after the United States, its economic growth sparked even greater immigration opportunities to mainland Chinese. A 2011 survey shown that 60% of Chinese millionaires plan to immigrate, where 37% of the respondents wanted to immigrate to Canada. Many foreign countries such as Canada hold very large attraction for rich Chinese, because of their better social welfare system, higher quality of education and a greater opportunity for investment. The main reasons Chinese businesspeople want to move abroad was for some educational opportunities for their children, advanced medical treatment, worsening pollution back home (especially urban air quality) and food safety concerns.[46][47] The Canadian Federal Investor Immigrant Program (FIIP) as a cash-for-visa scheme allows many powerful Chinese to seek for a Canadian citizenship, and recent reports show that 697 of the 700 (99.6%) of the applicants to this visa in 2011 were mainland Chinese.[48] However, Canada—along with other English-speaking countries such as the United States and Australia—has increased its immigration requirements, forcing Chinese millionaires to seek permanent residency elsewhere.[49][50]

Province / Territory	Percent Chinese	Total Chinese
Alberta	4.3%	177,990
British Columbia	10.5%	517,805
Manitoba	2.3%	29,550
New Brunswick	0.6%	4,600
Newfoundland and Labrador	0.5%	2,265
Northwest Territories	0.9%	365
Nova Scotia	1.2%	11,515
Nunavut	0.3%	100
Ontario	5.9%	821,835
Prince Edward Island	2.0%	3,050
Quebec	1.5%	123,985
Saskatchewan	1.8%	19,965
Yukon	2.1%	835
Canada — Total	4.7%	1,713,870

Canadian metropolitan areas with large Chinese populations:[63]

Chinese Cultural Centre in Calgary

In 2001, 87% of Chinese reported having a conversational knowledge of at least one official language, while 15% reported that they could speak neither English nor French. Of those who could not speak an official language, 50% immigrated to Canada in the 1990s, while 22% immigrated in the 1980s. These immigrants tended to be in the older age groups. Of prime working-age Chinese immigrants, 89% reported knowing at least one official language.[53]

In 2001, collectively, the varieties of Chinese are the third-most common reported mother tongue, after English and French. 3% of the Canadian population, or 872,000 people, reported the Chinese language as their mother tongue—the language that they learned as a child and still understand. The most common Chinese mother tongue is Cantonese. Of these people, 44% were born in Hong Kong, 27% were born in Guangdong Province in China, and 18% were Canadian-born. The second-most common reported Chinese mother tongue was Mandarin. Of these people, 85% were born in either Mainland China or Taiwan, 7% were Canadian-born, and 2% were born in Malaysia. However, only about 790,500 people reported speaking Chinese at home on a regular basis, 81,900 fewer than those who reported having a Chinese mother tongue. This suggests some language loss has occurred, mainly among the Canadian-born who learned Chinese as a child, but who may not speak it regularly or do not use it as their main language at home.[53]

Some varieties may be underreported due to respondents simply responding "Chinese" rather than specifying: