Introduction
A census carried out in Canada in 1870 revealed that its total population stood at 3.6 million. Of these, there were British and French immigrants amounted to one million each. There were other smaller groups like the Germans, Dutch, Chinese and Japanese. The Chinese and Japanese still kept their oriental culture while the rest of the immigrants adapted to the new way of living in Canada. The first immigration of Chinese men into Canada began in 1788.
Captain John Meares was accompanied by a handful of Chinese artisans to help in building a Vancouver Island trading post and boats. Also the California gold rush and the same in British Columbia enticed their immigration into North America (Yung, Chang & Lai, 2006). The Chinese immigrants were ‘fortune seekers’ to go back home after earning unlike their European counterparts who had come to stay (Ethnic and Racial Studies, 1982). The white races were hostile and racist towards the Oriental cultures. This essay reveals how competition at the work place and culture caused racial hostility towards the Oriental ethnicities. This led to creation of the ‘Chinese Bachelor Societies” and placement of Japanese in internment camps after having all their property sold out.
Causes
The Japanese and the Chinese stood firm with their oriental culture which they did not do away with after getting into Canada.Due to their firm stand, the other immigrants of European origin begun castigating them. They felt that these people were very susceptible to all kinds of diseases and dirty that the rest. They were also perceived to be an immoral and dishonest pack which could not live without their culture. They were also viewed as weaklings who could not suit into the harsh Canadian climate.
Before the year 1880, Canada did not have a reliable railway system. They needed to build a mode of transport that would connect the towns to the hinterland for development but they did not have reliable and cheap labor. The lead contractor to build the Canadian Pacific Railway, Andrew Onderdonk sought for cheap labor from China. When the workload became overwhelming, he used other contracting companies which were hiring China men.
The Chinese accepted the jobs without knowing the conditions that they were going to work in. The Chinese readily accepted to provide labor because back home, they were undergoing through immense poverty back home and political hostility after the Opium war of 1788 and other civil wars which had decimated the Chinese population (Ethnic and Racial Studies, 1982). Poverty escalated as a result of these wars while other governments took advantage of using them as cheap labour.
The Canadian Federal Government needed people to tackle the dangerous jobs during railway construction and the native Canadians and European Canadians themselves were not destined for such job. After railway construction, the Federal government did not have any use of these people. This essay focuses on other reasons like nativism, racism that came as a result of competition at the work place and led to Canadians developing immense hostility towards the Chinese.
During the railway building ordeal, they were paid less than other workers irrespective of the fact that they did dangerous jobs like planting of extremely dangerous explosives and carrying heavy rocks (Ethnic and Racial Studies, 1982). They were paid half of the salaries that the white men were being paid irrespective of doing the same job. This was Andrew Onderdonk’s way of cutting expenses and he believed that he was helping them because the wages were above those that were being paid in China.
They were also faced with the problem of poor housing because they lived in badly tented structures which did not protect them from the elements of weather. These poor working conditions saw one in every seven China men succumb to death.
Ironically, during the Canadian Pacific railway construction, the federal government had use of them but after the last job was done, thousands were sacked. Due to their poor wages, they had not made enough money to enable them return to mainland China therefore increasing their frustrations. The Chinese wanted to go home after getting money. As time went by, the government found out that these people would be the best source of labor because they had a poor background.
Hostility from the Federal Government of Canada towards Chinese and Japanese immigrants began in the late 19th century. This can be attributed to institutionalized racism where Canadian citizens looked at the Chinese immigrants as ‘a burden in the white man’s society. The white Canadian population feared the loss of jobs to the immigrants but above that they had developed extreme problems like xenophobia and nativism to support their claims of job loss (Yung, Chang & Lai, 2006).
Desperation increased because they could do any job for the lowest wage for survival which angered workers. On the west coast, things were not getting any better. Politicians and workers registered in trade union began opposing the existence of Asians on their soil looking at them as a threat (Yung, Chang & Lai, 2006). Many white Canadians who had the “blue collar” jobs felt that these immigrants would go after their employment and this would affect their general standards of living. In 1885, the Federal government held a Royal Commission to study the effects of the Chinese-Canada immigration.
This Commission came up with very mean recommendations. They advised the federal government to come up with the Chinese Immigration Act which would act as a blockade to Chinese entry into Canada. To discourage their immigration, they imposed a tax of $ 50 on any Chinese who wanted to get into Canada (Ethnic and Racial Studies, 1982). This barred the efforts of the families of these men from joining them. They were also denied some other human rights like voting from as early as 1875. Due to complaints by politicians from British Columbia the tax per head on any person coming into Canada had to be reviewed. By the late 19th century, the fee had been increased by 10 fold which was almost equal to a Chinese’s wage for two years. This resulted to creation of a Chinese bachelor society in Canada.
The Commission came up with the Japanese exclusionism policy where most of them were placed in camps to work in farms with very limited freedom. This happened after the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japan. Canada did this so that they could support their allies America. The Japanese were also forced to evacuate from their homes which bordered the Pacific coastline and told to move inland towards the rocky mountains.
Economically poor, they were also faced with a communication problem since they could only speak a different version of English ‘pidgin English’. This led to their social alienation and drove them to live in isolation in the ‘Chinatown Ghettos’ where they lived together. The sex ratio was greatly altered. For every one Chinese woman, there were 12 men. Those without men were called whores by the white populace. The need for sexual satisfaction made these bachelors to adapt to “living with each other” because racism could not allow them to take a Canadian native or white woman
This form of social regulation led to racial formation. They also faced racism and racist remarks towards the Chinese population discouraging from bringing in their wives and children (Ethnic and Racial Studies, 1982). As they invested in running their own businesses due to lack of employment after world war, the severe discriminatory regulations deepened the issue of racism further. They were required to operate their businesses as Chinese only and were never allowed to employ any whites. If they interacted, the whites believed that they will contaminate them with their “dirt, poverty and disease”.
During the great economic depression of the early 20th century, the Chinese in need were given half the amount that a white was given, a sign of social and racial segregation. However, it was the Chinese who sustained the prairie owners during that time by giving them credit.
By early 20th century, many Chinese workers received legislation from the federal government barring them from practicing professions like pharmacy, medicine and law. This forced them to practice non-professional jobs that Canadians of European origin could not do for example putting up groceries and processing of salmon at local plants. (Ethnic and Racial Studies, 1982). During railway construction, they filled in the gap of women by occupying their roles like cooking.
Even after their ‘disuse’ that came after railway construction, they easily fitted in the families of wealthy people where they worked as house-helps and in farms. After the Holocaust, the federal government decided to repeal such discriminatory acts and this came way after signing the UN Charter. These laws were driving at one point, one of prohibiting reproduction among Chinese.
In the reproduction context, the federal government of Canada did not want the Chinese population to increase any further and if it had to increase then they had to pay for it in accordance to the Chinese Immigration Act. Any increase in the Chinese population had to come with a benefit in to the federal government. This was indicated by a newspaper printed in 1889 in Victoria town that stated “we have plenty of room for many thousands of Chinamen…….their industry enables them to add very largely to our own revenue” (Ethnic and Racial Studies, 1982). This indicated that the Chinese were a tolerated lot as long as they provided the federal government a source of cheap labor.
In 1896, the human rights of the Chinese immigrants faced another blow which was a legislation that barred them completely from voting. This acted as a ‘silencer’ to their rights and the led to disenfranchisng of the Chinese community that lived in British Columbia. This hostile racist environment made them to form the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association and it was compulsory for every Chinese immigrant to join. Following extreme racist cases and racism, the Chinese could not be able to win any legal battle. Therefore this association came in handy to present the Chinese in legal cases and helped to transport the dead back to their motherland China.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the problems that the Asians faced in Canada were due to a single factor: competition at the workplace. Due to the fear of loss of jobs to this “inferior race” which had been forced by hardships to take the least wage possible or even no wage because it could not help them to maintain their living standards (Martin & John, 1999).This competition was the one that led to other effects like racial hostility.
References
Ethnic and Racial Studies (1982). 5(4). NY: New York, Routledge.
Martin, B. & John S. (1999). Ethnic and Racial Studies Today. NY: New York, Routledge.
Yung. J, Chang.G. & Lai, H.M (2006). Chinese American Voices: From the Gold Rush to the Present.1 st ed. CA: California, University of California Press.