Prompt: In this lesson I say that it should be clear that the discourse on nationalism is also about ethnicity and ideologies of “race.” If you trace the historical overview of nationalism in Canada in the CanLit guide, you will find many examples of state legislation and policies that excluded and discriminated against certain peoples based on ideas about racial inferiority and capacities to assimilate. – and in turn, state legislation and policies that worked to try to rectify early policies of exclusion and racial discrimination. As the guide points out, the nation is an imagined community, whereas the state is a “governed group of people.” For this blog assignment, I would like you to research and summarize one of the state or governing activities, such as The Royal Proclamation 1763, the Indian Act 1876, Immigration Act 1910, or the Multiculturalism Act 1989 – you choose the legislation or policy or commission you find most interesting. Write a blog about your findings and in your conclusion comment on whether or not your findings support Coleman’s argument about the project of white civility.
After looking at other peoples’ blogs, and considering my options, I have decided to focus on the Immigration Act of 1910 because I think the time period around World War I and II is very important to the rise of nationalism–particularly Canadian nationalism. Also, since others have focused on other policies, I think this would supplement them well.
Canada’s first Immigration Act (1869) attempted to prevent diseases from entering Canada, and this was around the discovery of bacterial infections (see also). In 1906, the Immigration Act tried to keep out the insane or criminally minded, as well as those previously charged for serious crimes (even if not convicted). The 1910 Immigration Act focused on the deportation and inadmissibility of unwanted immigrants.
Decisions were made based on any evidence deemed credible or trustworthy, and bypassed courts as the executive branch of government had all of the authority. Those “unsuited to the climate and requirements of Canada” were prohibited. Immigrants were required to have a minimum of $25 upon their arrival, but those of Asiatic origin were required to have $200 before even being allowed entry.
Looking at the timeline, you see a pattern from bacterial infections to mental illness to race, coinciding with WWI. Enemy “aliens” were kept in internment camps or deported. The reverberations of the 1910 act continued afterwards, as 1919 prohibited undesirable races and nationalities.
The thinking was that people of British origin deserved to be here.
In 1923, Canada drew up the Chinese Exclusion Act to close the Chinese out and let the European in, and tax those Chinese already living in the country.
After the shell shock of the First World War, and the start of the Great Depression, the Americans went into isolationism, but the Canadians were still very much a British outfit; Loyalists like those Americans who remained loyal during the American Revolution, forming a “fictive ethnicity” where one is Christian, Anglophone and white, as Coleman says it in his White Civility: The Literary Project of English Canada (7).
It wasn’t until 1947 that Canadian citizenship was official–prior to that, we were all considered British subjects. Canadians cheered about Vimy Ridge, but it wasn’t until WWII that they got their due. At the same time, we allowed Chinese people to reunite with their immediate relatives in Canada.
However, priority was still given to British, French, and American people. Asians without close relatives living in Canada were discriminated against, along with homosexuals, prostitutes, and mentally handicapped people. Also, Japanese Canadians were put in internment camps in response to Pearl Harbor, and still received harsh treatment.
Discrimination on the basis of race or country of origin was finally dropped by 1962, but the Canadian government did not apologize for the Chinese Exclusion Act or Japanese Internment Camps until 2006 and 1988 respectively. Meanwhile, Aboriginals were not able to vote without relinquishing Indian status until 1960, and did not receive an apology until 2008.
Whether those apologies were genuine is up for debate, but they were definitely overdue.
From what I have found, there is a great deal that justifies Coleman’s argument that Canada is an ‘imagined community’ based on a “fictive ethnicity” that emphasizes “a British model of civility,” occupying British whiteness into a place of privilege (7). However, I think that with war, any positive progress is halted, while negative energy is exacerbated. Three Day Road is one of my favourite books, and it depicts two Native hunters becoming expert snipers, and gaining the respect of those fighting alongside them. Therefore, they are accepted by whites in a way they never were before. But with the reality of war, and the animosity arising from it, any unity is short-lived. One returns home, and it is just as isolating as it was when they left.
Also, as a Psychology major, I am disappointed by how mental illness was linked to criminality, because the vast majority of mentally ill people are not violent. It’s like how people jumped to the conclusion that the Charleston shooter is mentally ill, as if they’re deflecting blame on mentally ill people in general.
We often think about eugenics and relate it the Nazi’s Final Solution, but Canada used forced sterilizations in British Columbia and Alberta in an attempt to curb the spread of mental illness.
Works Cited
CanLit Guides. “Reading and Writing in Canada, A Classroom Guide to Nationalism.” Canadian Literature. 4 Apr. 2013. Web. 27 Jun. 2015.
Coleman, Daniel. White Civility: The Literary Project of English Canada. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2006. Print.
Kathryn. “How and When Were Bacteria Discovered?” Types of Bacteria. 12 Oct. 2014. Web. 30 Apr. 2015.
“Apology to Japanese Canadians- September 22, 1988.” Youtube. PrObamaAntiTeaParty, 5 Sept. 2010. Web. 30 Jun. 2015.
“Canada apologizes for residential school systems.” Youtube. Canuck Poltics, 12 Jun. 2008. Web. 30 Jun. 2015.
“Canadian nationalism.” Canada History. N.d. Web. 30 Jun. 2015.
“Dr Snow’s Cholera Dot Map of London” from The History Channel’s Mankind the Story of All of Us. Youtube. 5 Jan. 2013. Web. 29 Jun. 2015.
“Three Day Road.” Amazon. N.d. Web. 30 Jun. 2015.
“Immigration Act, 1910.” Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21. N.d. Web. 29 Jun. 2015.
“Immigration Acts (1866-2001).” Canada in the Making. N.d. Web. 29 Jun. 2015.
“Chinese Exclusion Act.” Road to Justice. N.d. Web. 29 Jun. 2015.
“American Isolationism in the 1930s.” Office of the Historian. N.d. Web. 30 Jun. 2015.
“Japanese Internment.” CBClearning. N.d. Web. 29 Jun. 2015.
“PM offers apology for the Chinese Head Tax.” Youtube. Prime Minister of Canada, 21 Mar. 2013. Web. 30 Jun. 2015.
“Facts About Mental Health and Violence.” Mental Health Reporting. N.d. Web. 30 Jun. 2015.
“Eugenics.” The Canadian Encyclopedia. N.d. Web. 29 Jun. 2015.