Immigration & Racism In Canada Taylor & Victoria

how the government's policies created ongoing issues Government Policies how the government's policies created ongoing issues

Racism From The Government A 1921 membership card to the Asiatic Exclusion League of B.C.  In 1921, British Columbia took away the voting rights of tens of thousands Chinese, Japanese, and East Indian people regardless of their citizenship. In 1922 the amendment to the Opium and Narcotic Drug Act was made to deport “domiciled aliens” with drug related convictions. This was directed against the Chinese. Racism against Chinese and oriental ethnicities has existed for a long time. Back in 1907 the Asiatic Exclusion League had a riot that had a large impact on Canada. A newspaper comic from 1907 at the same time as the Asiatic Exclusion League of B.C. 

The Canadian Railway Agreement The Railway Agreement The Railway agreement was a way to get immigrants from previously "undesirable" countries to come to Canada and work for the railway companies.  From 1925-1929, more than 185,000 Central Europeans entered Canada under the agreement. The Canadian Railway Agreement  September 1, 1925

1923 poster encouraging people to immigrate to Canada Empire Settlement Act The Empire Settlement Act was passed in 1922, between Britain and other commonwealth countries, including Canada. The act was to try and have British migrants move to countries such as Canada and to have largely British populated farms across Canada, especially in Alberta. This plan back fired  as most British immigrants moved to towns and cities and did not work on farms. As part of the agreement,  Britain was to pay for at least fifty percent of the costs in relocating the families over seas. 1923 poster encouraging people to immigrate to Canada

Statistics In 1921 22% of Canada's population of 8 787 949 were immigrants 44% of immigrants were female  3% were Chinese* 32% were Italians 82% had been in Canada for 10 years or more 52% were born in British Isles 19% born in the US 5% born in Russia 58% were naturalized citizens (obtained citizenship) 18 291 African American citizens in Canada 97.5% of total Canadian population were  European*

The Chinese Exclusion Act And the huge impact it had

A Montreal newspaper about the head tax Background In the late 1800s there was an influx of Chinese immigrants to help build the Canadian Pacific Railway. They also came to work on farms, logging operations, and opening stores. In 1885 after the construction of the Canadian pacific railway the federal government passed the Chinese Immigration Act. This put a head tax on everyone of Chinese origin immigrating to Canada have to pay a fee of 50$. It was raised twice more all the way up to 500$ per person. Between 1885 and 1923 approx. 81,000 Chinese immigrants paid the head tax. A Montreal newspaper about the head tax Chinese workers

1923 Chinese Immigration Act In 1923 the government passed a new Chinese Immigration Act (later the Chinese Exclusion Act). This made it so that all Chinese immigration into Canada was completely  banned. This legislation was kept in place until 1947. Because of the head tax, Canada’s Chinese communities were mostly male. These males were hoping to save enough money to bring over their families but the new Act made that nearly impossible. Picture of Yeung Sing Yew.  A Chinese immigrant who came to Canada in 1923 He had firsthand experience of the racism against the Chinese

The KKK Ku Klux klan

What is it? The Ku Klux Klan is an outlawed, racist, group with extreme racist movements towards white supremacy and anti- Catholicism. They used physical torture to those who disagreed with them. Simply, they were a white supremacy group against people of colour. The KKK was founded in Tennessee in 1865 by a group of confederate soldiers.

KKK in Canada The KKK had been brought into Canada after an African American man had fled into Canada after Klansmen declared him wanted. His brother had already been killed by the KKK. On 1 December 1924, C. Lewis Fowler of New York City, John H. Hawkins of Newport, Virginia, and Richard L. Cowan of Toronto signed an agreement to establish the Knights of Ku Klux Klan of Canada The KKK was never super successful in Canada,  but was briefly popular in the 1920's, especially in Saskatchewan. It was reported that in 1921 there were active KKK members in Montreal. By 1925, there were branches of the Klan around Canada.

What it was all about During the 1920's most Klan activities focused on defending white, Christian civilization, promoting community activities, enforcing morality, and combating corruption and concentrated economic power. 

Aftermath The KKK was present in Canada again in the 1970's Photo taken in Toronto 1981

Historical Significance Why is it important and how has it impacted our country?

Why do we study it? We learn about immigration and racism because these topics had and still have an impact on our culture and everything we do. Even things that happened hundreds of years ago affect the current times. Even though racism is a large part of our history, sometimes we want to brush it over like it never happened and its all in the past but its important to learn about, because it did happen and we want to prevent the things that it caused, from happening again. History Repeats itself and to stop the loop, we must learn from our mistakes.

Impact Past: Racism was closely connected to immigration. Canada didn’t want immigrants from certain countries because they thought lesser of them. Even the people that did immigrate to Canada were victims of racism by the European citizens. Many of the large events in history from any country can be linked to racism in some form or another. Present: Immigration impacts Canada in present day as well. In 2016, Canadas population was made of about 22% immigrants. It also may not be as present these days, as we have come a long way, but racism still happens in 2018. 

Sources Pier21.ca thecanadianencyclopedia.ca http://www.bbc.co.uk vancouversun.com www.thestar.com www.collectionscanada.gc.ca www.canadianmysteries.ca www.british-immigrants-in-montreal.com http://inflationcalculator.ca/ www.spacing.ca