* When we think of the Chinese in Canada our minds first go to those who came to help build the railroad. In fact there were several groups who came prior to the railroad.
The first group of Chinese people who move to Canada were a group of 50 artisans. Contracted by Captain John Meares in 1788, they set up a trading post of otter pelts on Vancouver Island. The next wave came in 1858. This group was lured by the gold rush in the Fraser River Valley. The First Chinese community in Canada was formed in Barkerville, B.C. By 1860 the Chinese population of Vancouver Island and B.C. was 6,000 people. Industry in Canada was growing between 1880 and 1920. The Chinese were involved in a variety work such as worked sawmills, salmon canneries, or on the railway. Others became shopkeepers or restaurateurs, or cleared land and grew vegetables.
Between 1870 and 1880 a large wave of Chinese came followed by another of young immigrants who came to build the Canadian Pacific Railway through the British Columbia Rocky Mountains. 15,000 Chinese worked on the BC section of the CPR, completing it in 1885. Their pay was $1 a day, that was half of the wage of a white labourer. This low pay saved the CPR an estimate of $3 million to $5 million in construction costs. However, many Chinese workers worked in the most dangerous conditions killing many. It was said that 1-3 Chinese workers died for every mile of railway. Later documentation showed it may have been as high as 10 per mile. After the railway jobs ended in 1885, Chinese were shunned and left to fend for themselves.
In 1902 a commission reported that Asians were “unfit for full citizenship...obnoxious to a free community and dangerous to the state.”* Acting on this mythical report, Parliament passed legislation on raising the head tax to $500. Where at beginning the head tax was $50. That year only 8 Chinese people came to Canada, instead of 4,719 the year before. Slowly the number of Chinese immigrants began to grow again. Now the Canadian Government passed the Chinese Exclusion Act. The date it was implemented was July 1, 1923. This day became known to the Canadian Chinese as “Humiliation Day.”* For many years the Chinese refused to celebrate Canada Day which is on the same day. It was illegal for Chinese men to employ white women because of a provincial law designed to protect the white population from “corruption” by Chinese-Canadian.
Some Chinese-Canadian served in World War I, and II. Their service went a long way in changing the views of many Canadians. Suddenly the Chinese-Canadians were heroes. The Chinese-Canadian war veterans who had fought in a war for Canada, were given the right to vote 2 years before the rest of their community. Finally in 1947 all Chinese-Canadian were aloud to vote. It wasn’t until 1967 that restriction on Chinese immigration were removed.
By 1993 about 700,000 Chinese were living in Canada. Over 68% of Chinese-Canadian live in Toronto and Vancouver. One of the biggest contributions the Chinese immigrants have given to Canada has been their investment in the Canadian economy. One major investor is Li Kashing, who bought Husky Oil and Gas in Alberta in 1987, as well he purchased the lands for Expo 86 development as Pacific Place in Vancouver in 1988.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Chinese like many other immigrants were not welcomed by Canada and were treated badly. One gentleman Lem Wong told his story for the book and movie A Scattering of Seeds. He came to Canada as a boy of 14 to create a Canadian dream. He was faced with hardship, exhaustion, loneliness, pain, and harsh words. Lem had a talent for kindness it seemed. He refused to hate back. Lem left the west coast for Ontario where he settled and worked in a laundry for the steelworkers. He remembered all his customers, and they liked Lem.
He finally made enough money to go back to China and marry. But he was not allowed to bring his wife back to Canada. The head tax was at its highest, $500, and the government tried to stop the flow of Chinese wives by putting demands on the husbands. Now the men had to be merchants. Working as a restaurateur or in a laundry didn’t count. Lem was determined and worked harder, he became a partner in the laudatory and opened his own laundry just so he could make enough to open a merchant business. His first attempt as an egg and butter shop failed. It took this determined young man 10 years to maneuver around the Canadian Government. His second attempt at a fruit and vegetable store finally made it and in 1912 he finally brought his wife and 9 year old son to Canada. He was 29 by this time and had spent half his life in Canada just trying to “earn a right to a family.”*
He went on to open a very successful cafe. He encouraged his 8 children to gain the highest levels of education. His children were everything to him “his prizes, his Canadian Children.” Yet “bruising stereotypes and punitive legislation were always part of the bigger world,”* that this family and others like Lem’s had to navigate. In 1923 it got even worst when the Canadian Government put into place The Chinese Immigration Act. This Act barred all Chinese from entering Canada but for those who were already citizens the grudges hardened even more. By 1924, 9,000 Chinese had moved up from menial labour and laundries to trade work such as cooks, waiters and owner. So what did the Province do? They retaliated with a law forbidding Lem or restaurateur to hire white. It seemed like all efforts were erased by cliches that constantly described the Chinese as “wily, ruthless, sneaky, and untrustworthy.”* While Lem’s home town embraced him they could not “protect him from hateful perceptions lurking within smaller minds.” But for Lem instead of hardening he continued to not hear what was being said.
Lem paid attention and saw an opportunity to build a dance floor and provide fine dining. He brought in bands and The Rose Room would come alive. He gave many great bands their first start at his establishment and even the radio station CJGC broadcaster live from Wong’s Cafe. The Depression came along with the new bigger posher Hotel London. Crowds dwindled, money became scarcer and the family moved many times finally living at the cafe upstairs. Lem never let these hard time effect his generosity. He worked at the Salvation Army feeding the poor as he remembered what it was like as a kid in Canada to not have enough food.
WWI broke out and Lem’s sons went to war for Canada, they came home as full citizens and began their own lives and families in Canada. In 1947 the Chinese Immigration Act was repealed and the federal vote was extended to Asian Canadians. After 50 years in Canada Lem Wong acquired full rights of citizenship. This is another story of how the unwavering determination of one person not only made a difference to Canada but int he case of Lem Wong what mattered more was “Character, duty and the purist of right over wrong. Lem used to say “You should only take the best of both worlds.” It was tough but he conquered them. Lem and his wife lived to 98 years old.
* Quotes taken from the book: A Scattering of Seeds- The Creation of Canada By Lindalee Tracy
Lem Wong
This is a 10 min video we found and it is not someone we know. She talks about what it is like to be a "head Tax" family in Canada.