Chinese immigrants have long been a part of nation's history
Although many are familiar with recent migration patterns from the mainland and Hong Kong to Canada, the history of Chinese migration to the country goes back more than 200 years. The recent cancellation of the Immigrant Investor Programme, which more than 30,000 Hongkongers have used, is raising questions about access to Canada. About 67,000 mainlanders have also entered under the programme, according to reports in the South China Morning Post earlier this month.
Although many are familiar with recent migration patterns from the mainland and Hong Kong to Canada, the history of Chinese migration to the country goes back more than 200 years.
The recent cancellation of the Immigrant Investor Programme, which more than 30,000 Hongkongers have used, is raising questions about access to Canada. About 67,000 mainlanders have also entered under the programme, according to reports in the South China Morning Post earlier this month.
A look back at the migration from China to Canada shows that Chinese migrants arrived at about the same time as many of the British settlers and fur traders, according to some Chinese-Canadian historians. Henry Yu, associate professor of history at the University of British Columbia, says that when Captain John Meares - a fur trader with ties to India, Macau and China - came to North America in 1788, "a significant portion of that shipload of people were Chinese". They were part of the crew, Yu notes, and when the ship landed, the Chinese built forts and grew food.
The period before Canada became a nation was important, Yu says, because the Chinese were more inclined to stay longer than others. "They were more likely to see this as a good opportunity," he explains.
Like the British, most of the Chinese migrants at the time were young men, travelling alone. And when the gold rush came to California, Australia and British Columbia, they were there as well. But Yu cautions against looking at the construction of the railroad from 1881 to 1885 as a major catalyst for the arrival of the Chinese. Many were already in California, he says, before they built the Canadian Pacific Railway.
Laws came in to limit Chinese migration - most notably the head tax, which was passed in 1885. Under the bill, every person of Chinese origin had to pay C$50 on entering the country. In 1900, the head tax was increased to C$100, and in 1903 it went up again to C$500.
Despite the levy, 97,000 Chinese arrived from 1885 to 1923. "They kept people fed, they built infrastructure and they cleared land for development," Yu says of their role during that period.
