Intro to Exclusion Act

On July 1st 1923, the federal government passed the Chinese Immigration Act, which was also known as the Chinese Exclusion Act.

The Exclusion Act made it illegal for Chinese people to enter Canada. The Act technically provided exemptions for diplomats, students, and merchants to enter Canada, but in practice, immigration officials rarely gave out exemptions. Between the passing of the Act in July 1923 and its repeal in May 1947, only 44 Chinese people were allowed to enter Canada. The Chinese community would refer to July 1st as “Humiliation Day” and the Chinese Exclusion Act as the “Cruelty Act”.

The C.I. certificates, which had begun in 1885 as a “receipt” for those who had paid the head tax, was greatly expanded by the Exclusion Act. Under the new law, every Chinese person in Canada, both Chinese-born and Canadian-born, had to possess a C.I. certificate.

The C.I. certificates functioned similarly to modern photo ID, but were used for a more sinister purpose. Each Chinese person had to carry their certificate with them to prove to government officials that they had entered Canada or had been born in Canada before the Exclusion Act was passed, and thus were legally allowed to be in Canada.

Family Prevention and Separation

Due to exclusionary policies, the Chinese Canadian community was a “bachelor society”, as it was primarily comprised of men who had no spouses or children, and lived alone in rooming houses with other men.

Many young Chinese men married before migrating to Canada, leaving their wives and children back in China. They sent the wages they earned in Canada back to their families. For the vast majority of these men, it was too expensive for them to pay the head tax to bring their wives and children over, although many hoped to some day make enough money to bring their families to join them in Canada. After the 1923 Exclusion Act cut off Chinese immigration to Canada, many Chinese men lived alone in Canada, with no hope of ever bringing their wives and children to join them in Canada. The best they could hope for was to save up enough money to purchase a ticket back to China to visit their families for a short period of time.

Before 1923, 98% of the Chinese people who came to Canada were men. The head tax made it impossible for all but the wealthiest merchants to bring their wives and kids to join them. In both Canada and China, it was uncommon for women to work, and working women also earned low wages. Without money, it was essentially impossible for women to pay the head tax for themselves.

Since there were few Chinese Canadian women in Canada, most single Chinese men had very few opportunities for marriage. Racial prejudice meant that most white women would not consider marrying a Chinese man. There were a few cases of intermarriage between Chinese men and white women, as well as between Chinese men and Indigenous women, but these marriages were heavily stigmatized. White women who married Chinese men often faced estrangement from their own communities. Thus, most Chinese men in Canada throughout the Exclusion Era lived as bachelors.

After the repeal of the Exclusion Act in 1947, Chinese men with wives and children back in China hoped the repeal meant that they would be able to soon bring their families to join them. Even after the repeal of the Exclusion Act in 1947, it would be years before Chinese men with a family in China could be reunited with their families in Canada, if at all. In theory, the repeal meant that Chinese migrants could begin entering the country, but the Canadian government was slow to begin approving new Chinese immigrants. It was not until 1967, when the Canadian government completely overhauled its immigration policies, that many Chinese men were finally able to bring their families over to Canada.

Newfoundland

The history and experiences of Chinese immigrants in the province of Newfoundland were distinct but similar to those of Chinese people elsewhere in Canada.

Starting in 1906 Newfoundland would impose a Head Tax on Chinese immigrants through the Act Respecting the Immigration of Chinese Persons. By 1923, the year that the Canadian government introduced the Chinese Immigration Act, Newfoundland was the only province that had not yet joined Confederation and would not do so until 1949. The Head Tax in Newfoundland would remain at $300 until 1949.