The Paper Trail to the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act is a special adaptation of the award-winning landmark exhibition that debuted at the Chinese Canadian Museum in Vancouver on July 1, 2023 – the 100th anniversary of the Act. It takes an unflinching look at Canada’s exclusion years when, for the first and only time in Canadian history, the country banned the entry of a single community and issued immigration cards to Chinese who were born here. The exhibition focuses on the human impact and personal cost this law inflicted on Chinese people in Canada. The displays reveal haunting stories of loss, despair and fear, as well as powerful examples of courage and perseverance.

Curated by award-winning Chinese Canadian historian Catherine Clement, The Paper Trail exhibition involved extensive crowdsourcing of private documents and stories from families across Canada, as well as hundreds of hours of painstaking research.

Entrance into this temporary exhibition is included with a Manitoba Museum All Attraction Pass. Manitoba Museum Members and Indigenous Peoples can access this exhibit at no charge.

The Paper Trail exhibition opened May 1, 2026 in recognition of Asian Heritage Month, and is on display in the Manitoba Museum’s Discovery Room and Urban Corridor until April 2027.