LiterASIAN Festival 2025: “The Paper Trail to the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act”

The 2025 LiterASIAN Festival arrives with the theme of "Origins," an exploration of heritage and resilience that reflects two significant milestones: the 30th anniversary of the Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop (ACWW) and the centennial of the Chinese Exclusion Act. Join award-winning Chinese Canadian community historian, curator, and author Catherine Clement in exploring the human experience of the Chinese Exclusion Act as revealed through the stories of the lives it touched – and that are featured in her new book, The Paper Trail to the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act.

Event Details:

• Date: Saturday, June 28, 2025

• Location: Chinese Canadian Museum (51 E Pender St.)

• Time: 3:00 - 4:30 P.M.

• Cost (includes museum admission): $15/general admission visitor; free for CCM annual pass holders
  *GST not included

• Register: Registration link here

• Book Pre-orders: Pre-order book here

* This event will be conducted primarily in English.

About the book:

The Paper Trail to the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act explores a dark yet largely forgotten chapter in Canadian history. The unprecedented law, which targeted only the Chinese community, was in place for a quarter of a century and remains among the most tragic episodes in the country’s history. Yet this story, which profoundly affected the individuals and families it touched, has been steeped in silence. Almost nothing about this period was shared by those who lived through it. Consequently, within a single generation, the trauma of exclusion was forgotten.

This is the first book to explore the human experience of exclusion as revealed through the stories of the lives it touched. The stories in this book reveal haunting tales of tragedy, loss and despair, as well as powerful examples of courage, perseverance, and resilience. They chronicle the lives of ordinary people caught in extraordinary times. Many stories are being shared publicly for the first time.

The Paper Trail to the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act is now available for pre-orders through the Chinese Canadian Museum for in-person pick-up on or after the book’s release on June 24, 2025. 

About LiterASIAN Festival 2025:

The 2025 LiterASIAN Festival arrives with the theme of "Origins," an exploration of heritage and resilience that reflects two significant milestones: the 30th anniversary of the Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop (ACWW) and the centennial of the Chinese Exclusion Act. This year’s theme is particularly poignant as it connects ACWW’s decades-long commitment to amplifying Asian Canadian voices with a critical period in history when the voices and presence of Chinese Canadians were institutionally silenced. From Toronto to Vancouver, LiterASIAN will be an experience where stories of origins and journeys intertwine. The festival is a space for reflection, remembrance, and reimagination.

Event Recording:

Available at a future date on our Youtube channel. Visit and subscribe at @chinesecanadianmuseum for updates!