Originally Posted by
shari91
Not only in the US. I'm actually quite disappointed in keyer because he usually flies in with a relevant post. This time, no. And it's about our own country.
"On July 20, 1871, British Columbia became a province of Canada. In its first session after joining Confederation, the province passed an amendment to the Qualifications of Voters Act to disenfranchise Chinese and Indian voters. Even though the Chinese were not removed from the voters' list until 1875, in January 1873 they were prevented from voting in Nanaimo by being physically barred from the polling stations. The Colonist applauded the act as sensible, and referred to the Chinese as "heathen" slaves who had no right to stand side by side with other Canadians at the ballot box. This event, honourable senators, happened 13 years after the birth of the first Chinese in Canada.
In May 1873, the first anti-Chinese society was established in Victoria."
"The Leader of the Opposition, Alexander MacKenzie, stated:
...the principle that some classes of human family were not fit to be residents...would be dangerous and contrary to the Law of Nations and the policy which controlled Canada.
Canada had become dependent on the Chinese as a cheap source of labour. Chinese workmen were paid $1.35 per day, as compared to white workers at $2 per day.
In order to adapt to a hostile environment, the Chinese mobilized whatever resources were available to them, including remote kinship ties, which helped in their survival in a foreign land, as well as in building ethnic businesses. Chinese culture played an important role in the adaptation and survival of these immigrants in Canada.
Between 1881 and 1884, Chinese labourers were hired to work building the Canadian Pacific Railway. Seventeen thousand Chinese arrived in Canada to fill the severe labour shortage during its completion. Chinese labourers were paid half the wages of white labourers. Railway contractors found them through Chinese companies that recruited them from China, Hong Kong and the United States. Henry Cambie, the surveyor and engineer for the CPR, described them as "trained gangs of rock men, as good as I ever saw."
Chinese labour was indispensable to the economic development of British Columbia, as shown in the royal commission of 1885."