History of Chinese Immigration To Canada - Strife During The Post-war Period

Strife During The Post-war Period

The experiences of the Holocaust made racial discrimination unacceptable in Canada, at least from the government policy standpoint. Also, with the war aim of defeating Nazism in terms of discrimination, Canada's racial legislation made it look hypocritical. Moreover, with Chinese Canadian contributions in World War II, and also because the anti-Chinese legislation violated the UN Charter, the government of Canada repealed the Chinese Exclusion Act and gave Chinese Canadians full citizenship rights in 1947. However, Chinese immigration was limited only to the spouse of a Chinese who had Canadian citizenship and his dependants. However, after the founding of the People's Republic of China in October 1949 and its support for the communist North in the Korean War, Chinese in Canada faced another wave of resentment, as Chinese were viewed as communist agents from the PRC.

In 1959, the Department of Immigration discovered a problem with immigration papers used by Chinese immigrants to enter Canada; the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were brought in to investigate. It turned out that some Chinese had been entering Canada by purchasing real or fake birth certificates of Chinese Canadian children bought and sold in Hong Kong. These children carrying false identity papers were referred to as "paper sons". In response, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Ellen Fairclough, announced a program called the "'Chinese Adjustment Statement Program" on June 9, 1960. The program granted amnesty for paper sons or daughters if they confessed to the government. As a result about 12,000 paper sons came forward, until the amnesty period ended in October 1973.

Independent Chinese immigration in Canada came after Canada eliminated race and the "place of origin" section from its immigration policy in 1967. From 1947 to the early 1970s, Chinese immigrants to Canada came mostly from Hong Kong, Taiwan, or Southeast Asia. Chinese from the mainland who were eligible in the family reunification program had to visit the Canadian High Commission in Hong Kong, since Canada and the PRC did not have diplomatic relations until 1970. Institutional racism was allegedly completely eliminated in 1971 with the implementation of the policy of multiculturalism. After the implementation of the policy, Chinese Canadians finally felt that they were no longer institutionally discriminated in the mainstream of Canadian society.

The 1980s also saw movement of Chinese in Canada from the ethnic enclaves of Chinatowns to outlying suburbs of major Canadian cities. This movement was seen by some as changing the fabric of some communities with the establishment of new ethnic enclaves, commercial areas and use of Chinese language signage. The deputy mayor of Markham, Ontario Carole Bell expressed that the overwhelming Chinese presence in the city was causing other residents to move out of Markham. Also, the local communities in Toronto and Vancouver have accused the Chinese immigrants for hyperinflating property prices during the 1980s.

The incident involving a W-FIVE feature report in September 1979 was a turning point for Chinese in Canada in that it united the Chinese communities nationwide to fight anti-Chinese sentiments. The feature report stated that foreign Chinese were taking away Canadian citizens' opportunities for university educations. It suggested there were 100,000 students and featured a girl complaining that her high marks had not allowed her into the University of Toronto's pharmacy program because seats had been taken up by foreign students. The data used in the report, however, proved inaccurate. The Canadian Bureau for International Education revealed that there were only 55,000 foreign students in Canada at all levels of education, and only 20,000 full-time foreign university students. Historian Anthony B. Chan devoted an entire chapter of his 1983 book "Gold Mountain" to the incident, and found that contrary to the claims of the prospective pharmacy student, there were no foreign students in Toronto's program that year. Chan emphasized the anger that the Chinese-Canadian community had about the images of anonymous Chinese people in the feature was because they felt the "implication was that all students of Chinese origin were foreigners, and that Canadian taxpayers were subsidizing Chinese students — regardless of citizenship." Chinese communities nationwide staged protests against Canadian Television (CTV), the network that airs W5. Initially, CTV would only offer a "statement of regret" but the protests continued until an apology was made in 1980. Network executive Murray Chercover acknowledged the inaccuracy of a great deal of the program's information and added: "We sincerely apologize for the fact Chinese-Canadians were depicted as foreigners, and for whatever distress this stereotyping may have caused them in the context of our multicultural society." The protesters met in Toronto in 1980 and agreed to form the Chinese Canadian National Council to better represent Chinese Canadians on a national level.

During the mid-1980s and early 1990s, Canada's recession and growth of the Chinese economy resulted in a shift in Chinese migration in Canada. Attracted by the employment opportunities back home, newer Chinese immigrants began to return home, but retain their Canadian citizenship (and benefits).

This mindset created the phenomenon of astronaut families. In an astronaut family, the husband, being the money-earner, would only visit Canada once or twice a year, usually during December or the summer months, but his family would live in Vancouver, Toronto or elsewhere. Often teenage children were left with a house and bank account for months, while the parents worked in Hong Kong., This resulted in various social problems in schools, including a worry by police that such children were more likely to be drawn into gangs due to the lack of parental supervision.