The Immigration Acts
![Picture](/uploads/1/0/9/2/10920969/7512124.jpg?376)
Fig. 1 A poster expressing the mood towards Chinese people at the time
Unknown to most Canadian citizens, the Canadian government has a history of racial discrimination against Chinese immigrants during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Chinese Immigration Acts in Canada consisted of 2 government acts; the Chinese Immigration Act of 1885 and the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923.
The Parliament of Canada during the time of our first prime minister John Alexander Macdonald established the Chinese Immigration Act of 1885 while the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923 would have been established by the Parliament of Canada under the tenth prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King.
First in 1885 a head tax was required from every Chinese immigrant wanting to enter Canada and later in 1923 the Canadian government completely prohibited Chinese immigrants from entering Canada in general unless studying as a foreign student, as a diplomat, or under certain special circumstances deemed reasonable by the minister of immigration.
This Chinese Exclusion Act caused many Chinese workers who were sent from China to work on the Canadian Pacific Railway to be separated from their families in China who sent them to Canada to make money.
"My own grandfather paid the Head Tax in 1912 and returned to China on four occasions to marry and father four sons. He was unable to bring his family over to Canada until the Chinese Exclusion Act was finally repealed in 1947. Even then, the Canadian Government imposed restrictive quotas and it was not until 1968 when he was able to unite the entire family in Canada." (3)
-Lee Ming Fung, CCNC
The Parliament of Canada during the time of our first prime minister John Alexander Macdonald established the Chinese Immigration Act of 1885 while the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923 would have been established by the Parliament of Canada under the tenth prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King.
First in 1885 a head tax was required from every Chinese immigrant wanting to enter Canada and later in 1923 the Canadian government completely prohibited Chinese immigrants from entering Canada in general unless studying as a foreign student, as a diplomat, or under certain special circumstances deemed reasonable by the minister of immigration.
This Chinese Exclusion Act caused many Chinese workers who were sent from China to work on the Canadian Pacific Railway to be separated from their families in China who sent them to Canada to make money.
"My own grandfather paid the Head Tax in 1912 and returned to China on four occasions to marry and father four sons. He was unable to bring his family over to Canada until the Chinese Exclusion Act was finally repealed in 1947. Even then, the Canadian Government imposed restrictive quotas and it was not until 1968 when he was able to unite the entire family in Canada." (3)
-Lee Ming Fung, CCNC