Missing The Roar?

The Head Tax 1881 – 1885 – 17,000 immigrants from China to build CPR 1885 – new Head Tax just before CPR finished Only applied to Immigrants from China $50 to enter Increased steadily 1903 - $500 – ave. house price/2 years salary

Chinese Immigration Act (1923) - Section 26. 26. Whenever any officer has reason to believe that any person of Chinese origin or descent has entered or remains in Canada contrary to the provisions of … the Chinese Immigration Act ... he may, without a warrant apprehend such person, and if such person is unable to prove to ... the officer that he has been properly admitted into and is legally entitled to remain in Canada, the officer may detain such person in custody and bring him before the nearest controller for examination, and if the controller finds that he has entered or remains in Canada contrary to the provisions of this Act ... such person may be deported to the country of his birth or citizenship …. Where any person is examined under this section the burden of proof of such person’s right to be or remain in Canada shall rest upon him.

The Chinese Exclusion Act Passed July 1st 1923. Head Tax not effective in stopping immigration Led to almost complete stop on immigration Split up families and generations Stopped in May 1947 Response to protests after Chinese Canadians fought and died in WW2

I was born and raised in Canada, and was fortunate to know as a child my Goong-Goong, my grandfather Yeung Sing Yew, who paid $500 (over one year’s salary at the time) in Head Tax as a 13-year old migrant … months before Canada passed the Chinese Exclusion Act which forbade any further Chinese immigration …. My grandfather lived almost his entire life in Canada, only returning to China to marry, and was forced to leave his pregnant wife behind in China because of Canadian exclusion laws. These generations of split families were the direct legacy of Canadian legal racism. His own father had left him and his brothers in China as children because he could not afford to bring them over until they were old enough to work and help pay off their own Head Tax payments. When my grandmother and mother were finally able to join my grandfather in Canada, just before I was born, it was an emotional reunion. My mother had never known a father growing up, and he had been deprived of knowing his own child—she was 27 years old the first time she met her father.

The Road to Assimilation 1831 – first residential schools established 1867 Constitution – Canadian government given control of “Indians and Indian lands” 1884 – Potlatch outlawed 1894 – Residential school system established in conjunction with church groups 1914 – Dancing banned on reserve land 1920 – Residential schools compulsory 1925 – Dancing banned entirely.

I want to get rid of the Indian problem I want to get rid of the Indian problem. I do not think as a matter of fact, that the country ought to continuously protect a class of people who are able to stand alone … Our objective is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic and there is no Indian question, and no Indian Department, that is the whole object of this Bill. Duncan Campbell Scott (1920) Deputy Superintendent of Indian Affairs

Our aim is to make them [male residential school students] good Christian men, men of action, men of thought; we try to teach them habits of self-dependence, not to be always waiting to be told what to do, but to think for themselves, and we attempt to show them the beauty of a good life, well and usefully lived. (Signed) G.H. Hogbin –Principal Calgary Industrial School

Residential schools First nations children from 6 years old Legally bound - est. 150,000 Peak year was 1931 – 80 schools, more day schools. “Based on the assumption that European civilisation and Christian religions were superior to aboriginal culture which was seen as savage and brutal” - TRC, July 2015. Assimilate Natives into Canadian Society No language, culture, celebrations Forced to dress and behave in the right way Physical, mental, sexual abuse Lost Generation thesis – lack of role models, between cultures. Last one closed 1986

Truth and Reconciliation Commission PM Harper apology in 2008; compensation package ($) put in place in 2007; chance to apply ended 9/2012 TRC Established 2008 as part of official apology Heard testimony from almost 7000 survivors across Canada Report published 2015 Found Canadian government guilty of cultural genocide – “destruction of the practices and structures that allow a group to continue as a group” – TRC, July 2015 Scale of mistreatment – death rates 5x higher than other school age population Rates of death higher than Canadian serving in WW2. – CBC, June 2015. Encouraged sharing of stories – “truth” as first step in reconciliation process Reconciliation – “establishing and maintaining a mutually respectful relationship between aboriginal and non-aboriginal Canadians”