The Immigration Of Canada During The Canadian Pacific Railway

In 1896 to 1919 Canada was in a time of social change, this included racism, immigration, and other factors contributing. Immigrants came from all over the world, this included USA, Europe, and Asia. People from the Americas were looking to settle in big cities like Toronto because of the affordable electricity, which was part of Canada's urbanization and economic uprise. people in Europe settled in the prairies to farm, we wanted them because they were known to be hardy and could farm in harsh conditions. People from Asia were coming to Canada to work on the most treacherous parts of the railroad. There was plenty of discrimination against the Chinese people, this can be characterized by the head tax placed on the Chinese. It started at $50 and then went to

Throughout the last three decades, increasing numbers of Asians have migrated to Canada from all over the Asian continent. Currently, 44% of the Vancouver area population is of Asian descent (Statistics Canada, 2001). Immigrants commonly occupy skilled job positions that the host nation is unable to fill with its own citizens, and thus they offer many advantages to their receiving country. In a nation with a declining birthrate, such as Canada, their contribution can play a major role on multiple levels. The immigrants themselves often enjoy a greater earning potential than they did in their native country, which can be advantageous for those who wish to send money back home to support their families.

The Canadian Pacific Railway required a great amount of effort to construct. As a solution to this, the Canadian government brought Chinese men to work for them in British Columbia

In the early immigration, the Fraser River gold rush is perhaps the largest event. It was an overall positive event, and the Chinese were a large part of the business of the time. They were entrepreneurial and established themselves selling things that were important to the miners, importing goods, growing food, and building infrastructure. Stores similar to the Wong Toy & Co. one would’ve existed then. The head tax period was obviously dominated by the creation of the Chinese Head Tax, similar to other anti-Chinese taxes throughout the world. This was a major step backwards in Chinese Canadian history, and the backwards thinking of it all was best illustrated as they continued to immigrate along the very railroad they helped build. Canada

Around the mid-19th to early 20th centuries, British Columbia was in a period of economic explosion. Those who were willing to work hard could find many opportunities. At this time, gold was found in British Columbia and Canada became dependent on workers to finish making the transcontinental railway. Many lumbering, coal mining and fishing business were not experiencing enough growth to match the needs of the society. This portrayed Canada as a place of opportunity and settlement for Asians whose homelands were becoming overcrowded. Sadly, the early pioneer years were extremely difficult for Asian immigrants due to the extensive racism and barriers keeping them from full participation of the Canadian

Unlike the Union Pacific, the Central Pacific decided upon hire predominantly Chinese immigrants who had originally immigrated to California in search of Gold. The Chinese were paid even less than the Irish immigrants of the Union Pacific, and faced even more extreme racial prejudice. Additionally, Chinese immigrants were subject to all taxes that full citizens of California were, although

When they arrived in America most of the Chinese immigrants moved west. Most of the Chinese immigrants moved west because they wanted to get jobs in rural areas and build homes for their families. A lot of Chinese immigrants got jobs working on building railroads. The Chinese immigrants were very good at this job, because they got paid very low wages, and that affected the pay rates of white Americans, European immigrants, and Russian immigrants. In the 1882 Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act. This act stated that Chinese laborers could not enter the country, because chinese immigrants accepted low wages, and also affected the pay rates of others. However Immigrants from Italy and Russia did not have to go through this. They also had an easier time getting jobs because of

Canada is a country built on immigration, mainly British at first, but from all over the world afterwards. Chinese immigration to Canada dates back to the period of the gold rush when they were recruited to mine. In the 1880's, the Chinese population increased after Canada joined the confederation and extra labour was required to build a cross-country railway. Due to the poor economy in China, many Chinese were willing to migrate and work for low wages. The Canadian government seized this opportunity and allowed the companies working on the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) to import Chinese immigrants. With a drive for completion a significant number of Chinese were recruited. In order to control this increase in immigration, the

The Chinese Exclusion Act was established in 1882, in which the first time United States prevent a group of immigrants with nationality (Lee 4), marked United States’ from welcoming nation to an enclosed and discriminative nation, has monumental impact on each Chinese immigrants and culture of the entire American Chinese community (6). The poor conditions and lack of opportunities in the 19th century China and the Chinese’s hope of accumulating wealth to support their families in China fostered the huge influx of Chinese immigrants to United States. The discovery of gold in California also fuelled many Chinese’s dream of fast wealth (112). Due to the need for mass labour stemming from industrialization and high productivity of Chinese labours, employers would enthusiastically hire Chinese labour, which in turn sparked the increasing competition with the local workers and a growing anti-Chinese sentiment (114).

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923 was a terrible thing the Canadian parliament did that showed a bad side if Canada.The Chinese Immigration Act, 1923, known today as the Chinese Exclusion Act, was an act passed by the Parliament of Canada. The Chinese Exclusion Act effectively closed off Chinese immigration to Canada.The Chinese Exclusion Act was terrible because only Chinese people were singled out completely from entering on the basis of race. Secondly, the act was borderline unfair to every person of Chinese descent as it ruined family and economic life for people of Chinese descent living in canada at the time. Finally, it promoted racism in the Canadian government, as they all thought it was a resounding success, and did not think they were doing anything wrong.

Stemming from a lack of skilled labourers in B.C, the need for immigration was key in developing the idea of a Canadian “El Dorado”. Thankfully though, the enticement of gold was enough to do so. Dubbed Gold Rush Fever, it “went global in the 19th century. Gold rushes caused the first large scale world migrations.” And due to this immigration, “Nineteenth - century gold rushes shaped and reshaped trans - pacific networks of

Canada has continuously served as a home to immigrants and refugees from decade to decade harbouring people from a variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds. The first set of immigrants to settle in the country came from Britain, the United States and from other nationalities mostly including immigrants from Europe who were either desperate to escape from religious or political turmoil or were simply attracted to Canada’s economic promise. Soon after the Canadian confederation in 1867, immigrants from Irish and Chinese backgrounds who occupied most of the country were used as workers and the demand for labourers to

During the 1800s and early 1900s the farmers of Canada benefitted greatly from the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway because of the ease

After World War Two, Canada’s immigration policy changed. From World War Two to the 1960s, Canada’s immigration policy was restrictive and the government still favoured European and American immigrants because they were more likely to adapt to the Canadian society. The government did try to limit the number of other immigrants. By 1947, the Chinese Exclusion Act was revoked by the federal government. This was a step in the right direction to make Canada’s immigration policy to be more reasonable. By 1962, Canada removed regulations on immigrants from Africa, Asia and other countries. Under Pierre Elliott Trudeau, Canada’s immigration policy became “colour-blind”

The first measure restricting immigration enacted by Congress was a law in 1862 forbidding American vessels to transport Chinese immigrants to Canada; 20 years later Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act excluding Chinese immigrants. In 1875, 1882, and 1892, acts passed by Congress provided for the examination of immigrants and for the exclusion from Canada of convicts, polygamists, prostitutes, persons suffering from loathsome or contagious diseases, and persons liable to become public charges. The Alien Contract Labor Laws of 1885, 1887, 1888, and 1891 prohibited the immigration to Canada of persons entering the country to work under contracts made before their arrival; professional actors, artists, singers, lecturers, educators, ministers, and personal and domestic servants were exempt from this provision. Alien skilled laborers, under these laws, were permitted to enter Canada to work in new industries. A diplomatic agreement made in 1907 by Canada and Japan provided that the Japanese government would not issue passports to Japanese laborers intending to enter Canada; under the terms of this agreement, Canada government refrained until 1924 from enacting laws excluding Japanese immigrants.