This digital museum exhibit will explore the lives and treatment of immigrant communities in Canada from the 1900s to the 1950s. This topic aims to shed light on the journey toward today's inclusive, multicultural Canada, where diverse ethnicities coexist. By examining the injustices present in early foreign immigration policies, this exhibit helps understand the hardships faced by immigrants and provides insight into Canadian society.
1. The Anti-Asian Riots in Vancouver, 1907
The Vancouver Riots, which occurred in 1907, is an important event highlighting the racism faced by the Asian immigrant community in Canada in the early 20th century. It began as an anti-immigration rally, organized by the Asiatic Exclusion League, and as time went by this Anti-Asian, especially Chinese protest escalated to a riot. They argued that relatively low-paying Asian immigrant workers were threatening the livelihoods of white workers amid the recession and high unemployment rates. The incident(riot) resulted in an estimated 10,000 Vancouver residents storming Chinatown, causing widespread property damage, and forcing the evacuation of about 2,000 Chinese residents. This is a gloomy incident in which tension between Canadians and immigrants escalates into violence.
2. Chinese Immigration Act, 1923
The Chinese Immigration Act of 1923 and the Head Tax on Chinese Immigrants exemplify the profound racial discrimination entrenched in Canadian immigration policy during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Head Tax Initially imposed under the 1885 Chinese Immigration Act, was a targeted economic and immigration barrier designed to curtail Chinese immigration after Chinese laborers had been in constructing the Canadian Pacific Railway. The Head Tax starting at CA$50 per person and escalating to CA$500 by 1903, this tax imposed a significant financial burden on immigrants family at the time, and symbolizing Canada's institutionalized racial exclusion.
3. Japanese Internment Camps, 1942
The Internment of Japanese Canadians during World War II is a prime illustration of racism and the Canadian government's discriminatory actions. After Japanese militaristic government attacks on Pearl Harbor and Hong Kong in 1941, fear and hatred of Japanese Canadians spread throughout British Columbia, and exaggerated media coverage fueled it. On Feb. 24, 1942, Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King's Cabinet authorized the removal and Internment of Japanese Canadians from Canada's western coast through council order P.C. 1486. This resulted in the forced expropriation of more than 21,000 Japanese Canadians, whose property was confiscated and auctioned off by the government. The Internment was a serious violation of the citizenship and human rights of Japanese Canadians, leaving a deep scar on the immigrants community.