For much of the Chinese Canadian community, Canada Day stirs up memories of a painful time in history.
Precisely 101 years ago this year, on July 1, 1923, the country celebrated Dominion Day (now called Canada Day) while passing racist legislation — the Chinese Immigration Act.
It was also known as the “Chinese Exclusion Act” because although migration to Canada from most countries was restricted, the law completely separated Chinese people from immigrating based on race.
“It was a source of humiliation,” Teresa Woo-Paw, chair of the Action, Chinese Canadian Together (ACCT) Foundation, told Daily Hive over the phone. “So, for many years, people of Chinese descent refused to recognize Dominion Day and called it ‘Humiliation Day.’”
“Just imagine on the national day that is supposed to be celebrating Canada, this discriminatory law comes into effect,” added April Liu, manager of public programs and education at the Chinatown Storytelling Centre in Vancouver.
Liu says that it’s important to note that “Humiliation Day” is no longer a term used in the community outside of its historical context.
As members of organizations that focus on preserving and revitalizing the Chinese Canadian community, both Liu and Woo-Paw think it’s important to reflect on the past and move forward this Canada Day.
Here’s what you should know about the significance of this racist legislation and the strides the Chinese Canadian community has taken since 1923.
Impacts of the “Chinese Exclusion Act”
It all started with the Chinese Head Tax of 1885, which required Chinese people to pay a $50 fee to enter Canada. The tax then went up to $100 and then $500, equivalent to about two years’ wages at the time.
Its successor, the Chinese Immigration Act, lasted from 1923 to 1947 and hurt generations of Chinese Canadian families.
“That’s about 24 years in which families were separated,” explained Liu. “It caused a lot of strife in the community. It was damaging to local businesses. The family separation was just devastating. It made it almost impossible for Chinese Canadians to settle and put down roots.”
Because of the law, Woo-Paw’s father didn’t meet her grandfather until he was 41.
“My grandparents were separated for 31 years, and I know people in Calgary that never got to meet their father,” said the former Member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. “That kind of harm has never been really recognized or learned by Canadians.”
Woo-Paw says that for the longest time, many have said the Chinese community isn’t very engaged and that they’re underrepresented in civil society, whether in politics, economics, or other areas.
She attributes this to the effects of the legislation.
“The community’s development was impacted, the social integration of the community was impacted, the economic opportunity of Chinese Canadians were impacted,” she said.
Liu says the turning point came around World War II. Chinese Canadians were advocating to get themselves into the military because there were policies to keep them out.
“They wanted to prove their loyalty to Canada so that they could advocate for their rights when they returned,” she explained.
So when the war ended, community leaders like Won Alexander Cumyow (known as the first Chinese person born in Canada) led a successful movement to repeal the Chinese Immigration Act in 1947.
Life after the law was repealed
After the act was repealed, families were reunited, and Chinese Canadians reached other significant milestones, like receiving the right to vote; Liu says that’s when Vancouver’s Chinatown began to flourish.
“That’s where you see a lot of Chinese Canadians, breaking boundaries, becoming the first Chinese Canadian lawyer, or the first Chinese Canadian doctor to serve in Canada because slowly, the barriers were getting dismantled,” she said.
Last year, the Chinatown Storytelling Centre celebrated the community’s strides since then with an exhibit titled “Our Journey Continues.”
It shared the stories of multigenerational families who lived through the “exclusion act” and how their descendants are contributing to Canada’s future a century later.
Won Alexander Cumyow and his wife Ye Eva Chan | Yip Sang. (Chinatown Storytelling Centre)
One of the featured stories was that of Alannah Yip.
She’s a descendant of two prominent pioneer families — Cumyow’s and Yip Sang’s — another influential community leader from Vancouver’s Chinatown.
Yip continues her family’s barrier-breaking legacy as an elite sport climber. She was the first and only Canadian woman to compete in the sport’s Olympic debut at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
Woo-Paw herself is a testament to how far the Chinese Canadian community has come. Since immigrating to Canada 52 years ago, she’s learned about her paternal grandfather’s experience during the “Chinese Exclusion Act.”
“I think knowing that history… I do feel a sense of empowerment, knowing that my family has long roots in this country,” said Woo-Paw. “So when I became a community advocate, I have a greater sense of citizenship.”
Moving beyond Canada Day
Both Liu and Woo-Paw think that Canada Day is an important day to celebrate and reflect on the difficult lessons learned.
“It should be a time for dialogue and reconciliation and acknowledging the unceded ancestral territories that we live on,” said Liu. “I think by having difficult conversations and acknowledging historical wrongs, that’s the only place where we can start with the healing, and to imagine a better future, and to say never again.”
Woo-Paw says moving towards a more inclusive future means being more aware of our biases.
“I think that we should increase our awareness on what Canada Day means to different people in this country…then we can act in better allyship with each other and build a better Canada together,” she said.
This article was originally published on June 30, 2023.