The Chinese Exclusion Act

The Chinese Immigration (Exclusion) Act, 1923

The Chinese Immigration [Exclusion] Act (1923) effectively ended Chinese immigration to Canada, while requiring all Chinese residents of Canada, including the Canadian born, to register with the government. Failure to register made people liable to fines, imprisonment and deportation. The Chinese are the only racialized group to whom such measures applied.

The act originated as part of a deliberate strategy to create and maintain Canada as a “white country” and was part of a larger structure of white supremacy that also circumscribed the lives of Indigenous peoples, Asians, Africans, and Jewish people, and that was integral to the settler colonial project that made Canada. At the time the act was passed, only white people could be MPs and Senators, and election laws barred Asians and First Nations people from voting federally.

The act destroyed people’s lives, tore families apart, condemned men living in Canada to years of isolation and loneliness and their families in China to uncertainty and privation. It marked the Canadian-born as permanent outsiders to the country of their birth. As intended, it produced the decline of Chinese communities and prevented the creation of a Chinese population in Canada. During the exclusion era, the Chinese Canadian population experienced a forty percent decline.

Chinese Canadians actively resisted the legislation. News of the act led to an unprecedented rapid mobilization of Chinese communities across the country. Chinese Canadian delegates were able to convince the Senate of Canada to remove some of the most severe aspects of the bill affecting people already in Canada, including a required literacy test for resident non-citizens that would have led to the deportation of tens of thousands of people. After the Second World War, Chinese Canadian activists built broad support to repeal the act, which was achieved in 1947.

Even after repeal, the act continued to have negative consequences for Chinese Canadians and their communities. It took more than a generation to reunite families. The gender imbalance in Chinese Canadian communities as a result of the act was finally overcome in 1986. Because of the act, the majority of Chinese Canadians today are first generation immigrants. Even though the Chinese population of Canada is older than the country itself and Chinese Canadians played a key role in building Canada as a democratic, multi-ethnic and multi racial society. Anti-Chinese racism often results from the fact that Chinese Canadians continue to be commonly positioned as interlopers who do not really belong in the country.

National Remembrance of the Chinese Exclusion Act, 100 years later

June 23, 2023 marked the 100th year since the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed. Leaders in the Chinese Canadian community advocated for a national remembrance event in the Senate to reflect on this dark piece of Canadian history. This commemoration was initiated by the Chinese Canadian community leaders, Senator Yuen Pau Woo, Senator Victor Oh, Teresa Woo-Paw, Judge Albert Wong, and Dr. Lloyd Wong during a time of resurgence of anti-Chinese sentiments in Canada. Heavy lobbying from Chinese communities across Canada pushed to institutionally commemorate this history and its lasting impacts.

The remembrance event proved to be a powerful, emotional day, attended by 250 prominent Canadians including the Governor General Mary Simon and Minister Mary Ng. The commemoration took place at the very site where the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed one hundred years ago. The harms inflicted onto the Chinese Canadian community were by and large erased by Canadian institutions and society, including school curriculum. Every effort to redress and acknowledge this history would provide a path forward for the community. The Government of Canada officially acknowledged the Chinese Exclusion Act at this event. Governor General Mary Simon said, “today, we add another chapter to Canada’s true history. In telling the stories of those who suffered as a result of racism, we are not rewriting the past, but giving a fuller picture of our history and our national narrative.”

A commemorative plaque was unveiled to mark the occasion, presented by Teresa Woo-Paw representing the Action! Chinese Canadians Foundation, and Dr. Lloyd Wong who
jointly nominated the Chinese Exclusion Act for commemoration by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. Several families that were affected by the Head Tax attended the ceremony to witness the official acknowledgement. The event was also live streamed with over 800 viewing parties across Canada for those who could not be there in person.