A Brief History of Chinese Immigration to Canada, restrictions and exclusions

加拿大华人移民简史：限制与排斥

Significant immigration to Canada began with the 1858 gold rush, in the hope of a quick fortune many Chinese men living in California moved up North.

The next immigration wave occurred during the construction of the Trans-Canada Railway. Contractors hired thousands of workers from California, others were hired with the help of labour contractors directly from China. Most of these men hailed from Cantonese speaking areas. Contractors would pay them far less than their white counterparts. The Chinese men were often treated poorly, and were forced to do the hardest and most dangerous work.

The Chinese Immigration Act of 1885, the “head tax” law, legislated a $50 tax on any Chinese person entering Canada. The head tax would increase with time, eventually reaching $500 by 1903, this was meant to represent two years’ salary of a worker.

Despite the continual raising of the head tax, immigration continued, in part because companies would often pay the tax to bring workers into the country, keeping them indebted with a portion of their wage going to paying off the tax. At the same time Anti-Asian sentiments began rise, with many locals fearing that the cheap labour would threaten their jobs.

In 1923 the Chinese Immigration Act was passed. This act is often referred to as the exclusion act. It was only repealed in 1947, however, it wasn’t until 1962 that national origin restrictions were removed from Canadian Immigration Law. The act continues to have wide-reaching effects on Canada’s Chinese community.

  • 加拿大首批华人移民潮始于 1858 年的淘金热。当时许多居住在加利福尼亚州的华人男性北上淘 金。

    第二波移民潮发生在建设横贯加拿大的铁路期间。当时的劳务承包商从加利福尼亚州雇佣了数千名 华工，其他人则在劳务承包商的帮助下直接从中国大量招聘工人。这些人大部分来自台湾和广东。

    华工所得到的工资—低于白人劳工。除此之外，这些中国人往往受到恶劣对待，被迫从事最艰 苦、最危险的工作。

    1885年加拿大联邦政府颁布《华人移民法》，又被称为 “人头税 “法，规定对任何进入加拿大的华 人征收50加元的税款。随着时间的推移，这笔人头税不断增加，最终在 1903 年达到 500 加元， 相当于一名工人两年的工资。

    尽管人头税不断提高，中国移民仍在继续，部分原因是雇主通常会支付人头税以将华工引入该国， 从而使他们落入债务陷阱，因为华工不得不将工资的一部分用来偿还税款。与此同时，加拿大的反 亚裔情绪高涨，许多白人担心廉价劳动力会威胁到他们的工作。

    1923 年加拿大再度颁布新版《华人移民法》。该法案通常被称为《排华法案》。虽然该法案到 1947 年已被废除。但直到1962年，加拿大移民法方才真正取消了原籍限制。《排华法案》对加拿 大华人社区产生了广泛而深—的影响。