Jack Downey Comments on Canadian Issues to Inform and Amuse.



Photo Credit to Julie Ann Biggs out on the Mekong River, Cambodia Vietnam Border.".

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The Chinese in Canada The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
The history of how Canada treated Chinese immigrants is something we should be ashamed of. Things are getting better, but these immigrants, a credit to our Canadian Culture, are still facing prejudice and false and slanderous racist accusations that have no foundation, yet are still circulated from time to time.

The Canadian Mosaic has a place for every colour, creed, ethnic origin. That is what makes up our Canada. Early Chinese immigrants called Canada "Gam San" (The Gold Mountain). If one travels the world enough, one soon realizes that Canada is a Gold Mountain in which each person can advance as far as they are capable, as long as they are willing to work hard and obey the law.

One thing we must keep in mind is the age-old Canadian Immigration Policy. Because of our small population, we who are born here tend to feel threatened by any large group immigrating in to Canada. For example, the typical WASP, no matter how low on the social-financial ladder or how limited of skill or education level, seems to need constant affirmation of his or her superiority. This type of ethnic insecurity is extremely negative to Canada's well being. The easiest way to feel superior has always been to slander a visible minority or an immigrant. Intolerance seems to ebb and flow with the economy and the number of jobs available. Visible minorities are at most risk from the bigots.

See other pictures of Dragons click here The Dragon is found throughout Chinese Art and Culture. This combination of the Butterfly and Dragon is symbolic of the beauty and determination of a mother looking after her young. The family is the most important thing in Chinese life. It is a duty that can not be broken, that the young and the Elders are to be looked after regardless of any thing else. The family unit must also honour their ancestors and support one another in times of need.

The policy of which I speak is only discussed behind closed doors by our government. Though it sounds logical, the immigration policy fails to credit that most important thing that immigrants bring to Canada, is in the form of their desire to work hard to develop a solid family environment and provide upward mobility for their children. The fact is that an immigrant couple injects ten times as much money into Canada by immigrating as does an 'in country' couple. The new immigrates must have very a large sum of money even for consideration for entry to Canada. Do not become confused between an Immigrant and a REFUGEE. The rules and criteria are entirely different. For landed immigrants, there is a two year probation period, during which they can be deported if they break the law. They need a car, a residence (rent or buy), clothing, pots and pans, etc. and diverse other living needs, from beds to PCs. The 'in country couple' already has most of these things from their single days or are given many "start up' items by their family and friends. Often the immigrant has limited language skills and a simple thing like a driving test or shopping is a major problem. Financially, the immigrant has always been a sound investment.

We as Canadians are not reproducing ourselves at present. Without immigrants, we would have a net loss in population. Without immigrants, our economy will stagnate. The secretive government policy is simply "We do not want the immigrants, we want their children." There is no way we can have their children with out having the immigrant. No sane country would allow their young to leave and receive nothing in return for their education and upbringing. We need +15 million more people to provide a viable home market to support our long-term fiscal and social goals. If Canadians went back to families of 13 or 14 children then immigration could be reduced. We would still lose all our extra little toys, as the cost of such a large family would typically lead to a huge drop in standard of living and disposable income. The choices are active breeding or active immigration.

The history of the Chinese immigrant community is honourable. Canadian treatment of them is, historically, far less than honourable. As a WASP Canadian, whose ancestors cleared the streets of Toronto with a broad axe, I am ashamed of the shoddy treatment given to our Chinese citizens.

The first Chinese to arrive on the West Coast
The time of the original landing of Chinese in Canada is unclear, although history indicates that a group of Buddhist monks arrived in North America as early as 458 AD. In 1788, Captain John Meare, according to his diary, took fifty Chinese artisans to help him build vessels for fur trade along the Northwest Canadian coast (British Columbia). In September of the same year, Captain Meare and his crew set sail and their whereabouts became unknown. Source: click here

Opinion
I believe it likely that the Chinese artisans were abandoned and died off or inter married with the West Coast Natives. As for the Monks they were unlikely to have returned to China without spending time converting the BC Natives. There are records, from the time of Kubla Khan, of Chinese visits to North America. Scientific American, in the 1950s, produced a full report of finding Chinese pots and other foreign articles on the desert coast of Peru in South America. The site was carbon dated 10 BCE. It seems to me that Chinese visits may be the reason West Coast native art and woodcarvings have a very strong Chinese influence.

Recorded History
The first recorded Chinese settlers in North America came in 1848 for the California gold rush. As news of the Fraser River gold discovery spread, the first group of Chinese arrived in Canada on July 28, 1858, at Victoria, British Columbia. Most of these first arrivals were called "sojourners" (temporary workers), rather than settlers. They came from California, where an anti-Chinese feeling was then growing. Their historical arrival marked the establishment of a continuous Chinese community in Canada. In 1863, the Hong Sun Tang, the first Chinese Canadian community organization was formed.

The Ugly
THE BUILDING OF THE CPR The Canadian Pacific Railway was meant to connect Canada from coast to coast. It played a significant role in Canadian history, encouraging British Columbia to join in Confederation. In 1879, the government of Canada started construction on the western section of the CPR. A New York contractor, named Andrew Onderdonk, was awarded the contract to build the railway through the mountainous terrain from Port Moody on the Pacific Ocean to Eagle Pass near Revelstoke.

Even before Railway construction began, the Residents of British Columbia were afraid that the Chinese would take away their jobs. A motion was then passed by the BC Legislative Assembly to prevent Chinese from working on Government projects.

As the anti-Chinese feeling grew in British Columbia, Onderdonk assured the community that he would give white labourers preference over the Chinese. He indicated that he would hire Native Americans and Chinese only if he could find no other workers in Eastern Canada or elsewhere. About a month after the construction started, Onderdonk found that many of the white workers he hired from San Francisco were unreliable. He was forced to hire Chinese Labourers, who were recruited from San Francisco and

Portland. It was estimated that approximately 1,500 experienced Chinese railroad workers came to Canada from the United States between 1880 and 1881 to help build the railroad in British Columbia. As more railway workers were needed in 1881, Onderdonk began dealing with the Lian Chang Company to hire 2,000 workers from Hong Kong. Eventually, a total of 15,700 Chinese were recruited, though only 7000 worked directly on the CPR at any given time. The initial tasks given to these workers involved grading and cutting out hills to fill ravines and gullies. Later they were assigned the more dangerous jobs of tunnelling and handling explosives. The wage for a Chinese worker was $1.00 a day and he had to purchase his own camping and cooking gear. By contrast, a white labourer received $1.50 to $2.50 a day and did not have to pay for his gear.

Chinese workers often died from exhaustion due to the hard work and long walks between the job site and the work camp. Some perished in rock explosions or were buried in collapsed tunnels SOURCE: click here

The Bad
The racist expression, "You haven't got a Chinaman's chance," refers to the practice of white rail 'Navies' preparing a dynamite bundle, cutting the fuse short and giving it to a Chinese worker to take into a tunnel. When he lit the fuse, he had only seconds to run out ahead of the blast. Wagers were placed on his chance of making it. Most did not.

A Steamboat blew up near Yale, B.C. in the 1800s. It was one of the supply ships bringing materials and workers for the railway being cut in the Fraser Canyon. The local paper reported the disaster and it's casualty list read, 'Six whites, 2 mules' 1 dairy cow and a bunch of Chinks killed.'

When Marco Polo was at the court of Kubla Khan, he remarked on the height of the soldiers guarding a city gate. The escorting Captain replied "They're only around 5 and ½ feet." When Marco replied "Not so, they are near 6 foot," he was informed that 'soldiers are measured from the shoulders down, their head is useless' by the Captain. I say that this system of measurement also applies to Bigots.

The Good
There were bright spots (not many) in the early days. Up in the Cariboo gold country, a reclusive Chinese miner came to town once a month, converted his small poke of gold to cash, and deposited his slender savings at the local Bank in Barkersville. After his initial deposit he would come in, convert his gold, and then be taken to the manager's office and given a cup of tea and the teller would bring in a wad of cash equal to his savings for him to count 'his' money. That done and assured 'his money' was OK, he would give the cash back to the Teller and, with a nod, go back to his claim. This happened every month as regular as clockwork until, one day, he didn't give the money back, but withdrew it all and disappeared. Some time later, the miner came in to make a new deposit. With him was his wife, who he had just brought from China. All the back breaking years sluicing for gold had given Canada a new family.

When the gold played out in the creeks and the railway was built, the Chinese were forced by circumstance to disperse across the West. The majority stayed on the West Coast. Others took on the most labour-intensive businesses in many western towns: Hand Laundries; Restaurants; and Truck Farms, all high-risk, low profit endeavours.

At Historic Fort Steel BC, you can see the Lum Laundry clapboard building on the edge of town. All the Lum children became professionals. In Lacombe AB, Mr. Wong and his family ran the restaurant where locals would come to the back door to borrow money from Mr. Wong during the lean Depression years. Mr. Wong's son, Jim (P Eng.), recounts that his father never had a borrower who did not pay him back, some times years later. Over in Saskatchewan, my Dentist, Dr. Leo Wong tells how his Father, who ran the local restaurant, had a standing offer to provide a free steak to anyone who could eat it after a visit to the local Dentist for extraction. No one could ever collect that free steak. After a visit to the dentist a local joke was "Did you get a free steak?" That family's children all became professionals too.

The local Chinese restaurant was often the late night Social Club in many western towns. When the town went to sleep and the restaurant's shades were drawn, a half a dozen or so men would arrive at the back door and the cards were dealt. Often the participants were the local Judge, Undertaker, Banker, Mayor and other leading citizens and even the town RCMP constable would slide up to the poker table on a slow night. The Chinese host was usually a net winner at this little Las Vegas in the Boonies. This was his night out with the boys and he played as hard as he worked. There are thousands of stories like this and they show that the Chinese are a great part of Canadian Culture and history.

Chinese New Year and the Dragon Boat festivals are expanding into our culture. A large number of second and third generation Chinese dot the Honour Rolls at our University, Colleges and Medical schools. We should all take pride in their success. Our Governor General Madam Adrian Clarkson is of Chinese origin and I'm proud of her.

For a synopsis of Chinese Canadian history, an excellent link on this subject is here

No matter how hard life in Canada became, the Chinese always persevered. Canada was called the Gold Mountain and here you see a early Chinese Canadian miner in the Cariboo country of BC cradling for gold from that Golden Mountain. The mountain, gigantic, the gold, extremely hard work, requiring long laborious hours for every small fleck of gold.NB. The Chinese invented this labour saving efficient device..

© Jack C. Downey CD

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