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. (Dr. Erika Paterson)
To answer this question, I decided to look at the Head Tax and Chinese Exclusion Act, legislation notorious for their racial controversy. One of the first things that caught my attention was the fact that these were enacted after the Canadian Pacific Railway was finished. Before, I have always assumed that these acts were enacted as a way to deter Chinese immigrants from “stealing” local railway jobs. Yet, I think the biggest effect of the Act was not taking away Chinese peoples’ intentions of working in Canada, but dividing families where fathers/husbands had worked on the CPR while mothers/wives and children had stayed behind in China, hoping to reunite someday (see details in hyperlinked sources).
While the head tax and Exclusion Act were clearly racist legislation, I can still sense the fear of infiltrating foreigners today. For example, many people grumble over foreign property purchases that are allegedly pushing up Vancouver housing prices (which—as a family dinner conversation brought up—may or may not be true). For a (rather controversial) list of reasons why the head tax was justified, read this. You can then make up your own interpretation…
But there’s a big difference here: most people today would lament immigration in general (if they would even lament) without targeting any specific origins. Indeed, I feel that any type of fear today is about lack of homogeneity in Vancouver society rather than a dislike for specific types of people. Metro Vancouver has so many cultural enclaves sometimes it’s hard to remember you’re in the same city. There’s a specificity in the Chinese Exclusion Act that strikes a nerve. In other words, an “Immigration Exclusion Act” would be more acceptable than a “Chinese Exclusion Act.” (Of course, there are problems with that too, but you see my point).
Incidentally, while researching, I stumbled on a rather incredible but forgotten story: that of 150 years of amiable shared relations between BC’s First Nations and BC’s first Chinese. United in their shared experience of second-class members of society and discrimination, this is a forgotten story in the Canadian lexicon, one that has perhaps been dwarfed by the “white civility” (qtd. in Paterson) Coleman mentions.
Cedar and Bamboo Teaser: Chinese and Aboriginal Relations since 1788 from MacRae Multimedia on Vimeo.
Journalist Justine Hunter calls this a “symbiotic relationship.” Her article is quite revealing: for example, the Sto:lo have named hills across the Coquihalla River as “Lexwpopeleqwith’aim” or “always screech owls,” a reference to the belief that ghosts of Chinese workers still haunt after their being killed in a blast. Here’s another insightful article about this forgotten history of Chinese and Indigenous co-operation.
I had heard of this relationship very briefly—maybe one line, or a phrase, spoken in a long-forgotten social studies class. So why is this story forgotten? Indeed, it feels like it is on the “periphery” of the rest of Canadian history. One may even ask why we should care: surely, nothing “productive” came out of this relationship of two rather powerless minorities—no laws, no big protest movement even, maybe a few mixed-heritage families at most.
Maybe it’s been forgotten because no colonists were involved, except perhaps in the context of a “common enemy” figure in the story. This is “1) the fictive element of nation building, and 2) the necessary forgetfulness required to hold that fiction together” Dr. Paterson mentions in her latest lesson (summarizing Coleman). Chinese people quite literally built an integral part of this country, and Indigenous peoples have been part of this country for millennia; yet, the contributions of these people and their partnership seem to have been forgotten in favour of the colonial story. As if Canada didn’t officially “start” until settlers moved in.
Works Cited
“Chinese & First Nations.” Chinese Canadian Stories. Chinese Canadian Stories, n.d. Web. 24 June 2015.
Chinese Canadians and First Nations: 150 Years of Shared Experience. Chinese Canadian Historical Society of BC, n.d. Web. 24 June 2015.
“Chinese Head Tax and Exclusion Act.” Chinese Canadian National Council. Chinese Canadian National Council, n.d. Web. 24 June 2015.
Hunter, Justine. “A Forgotten History: Tracing the Ties between B.C.’s First Nations and Chinese Workers.” The Globe and Mail. The Globe and Mail, 9 May 2015. Web. 24 June 2015.
Jang, Brent. “Foreign Buyers Are Not Driving up Housing Prices, B.C. Group Says.” The Globe and Mail. The Globe and Mail, 10 June 2015. Web. 24 June 2015.
Ma, Suzanne. “A Tour Of The Deep Relationship Between B.C. Chinese Immigrants, First Nations.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 23 Sept. 2012. Web. 24 June 2015.
MacRae Multimedia. “Cedar and Bamboo Teaser: Chinese and Aboriginal Relations since 1788.” Vimeo. Vimeo, 2009. Video. 24 June 2015.
“No More Chinese!” Road to Justice. MTCSALTC, n.d. Web. 24 June 2015.
“Our History.” Canadian Pacific Railway. Canadian Pacific, n.d. Web. 24 June 2015.
Paterson, Erika. “Lesson 3:1.” ENGL 470A Canadian Studies Canadian Literary Genres May 2015. University of British Columbia Department of English, n.d. Web. 24 June 2015.
“Some Politically Incorrect Conclusions About The Chinese Head Tax and Chinese Exclusion Laws.” IWC. Immigration Watch Canada, 5 April 2006. Web (press release). 24 June 2015.
“Taxing the Chinese.” Road to Justice. MTCSALTC, n.d. Web. 24 June 2015.
Hi Charmine!
I just finished reading Debra Goei’s blog for this week and its so interesting that both of you thought to bring up the recent controversies in Vancouver surrounding foreign investors and the rising housing markets. Heres a link to her blog if you want to check it out, I thought both of you brought up some great points! https://blogs.ubc.ca/debragoei470/2015/06/26/changing-roles-and-perspectives/#comment-27. Although you suggest that this example is more of a”fear of infiltrating foreigners”, opposed to the more outright racist legislative “Head Tax” and “Exclusion acts” that you mentioned, I wonder if perhaps the form its in today is even more harmful. The project of white civility seems to have continued, but in more discreet and disguised ways that almost give people a way to discriminate and exclude other races without being called out for their blatant wrongdoing. Would you agree or suggest we’ve come further than that?
That’s a good question, Freda! I like to think we’ve come a long way. At least “systemic” racism has been eradicated and the opposite espoused thanks to the Multiculturalism Act. However, you’re right, societal and cultural racism still exists.
I’m optimistic, though. I think Canada has become pretty progressive in terms of tolerance and acceptance of its immigrants. In my experiences of going abroad, many people in the “old world” (Europe and Asia) still believe race = nationality, and as an Asian-looking traveller, many people in these places are surprised to hear me identify as Canadian. However, in Canadian cities, I’ve never had my “Canadian-ness” questioned.
That being said, it probably has to do with how I act. Being born and raised here, I act, speak, and dress like a “typical Canadian/Vancouverite” (whatever that means). I walk around the city and everyone knows I’m local. I’ve even been on the Amtrak and had an American identify me correctly as a “from up North” because of my “accent.”
I can’t speak the same for newly-inducted citizens, new immigrants, or anyone who has moved to Canada, become a citizen, and contributed to Canada at a later age, who perhaps doesn’t act/dress/speak “Canadian.”
TL;DR we still have a definition of “what it means to be Canadian” and it’s a status quo immigrants are pressured to assimilate to.
Hi Charmaine. Thank you for calling attention to Indigenous-Chinese relations in Canada; I was very surprised to read about just how good they were and continue to be. This makes me wonder again about exactly how and why Indigenous-European (and European-Chinese) relations in Canada went so wrong. Is it because Europeans became the dominant force in Canada (and thus became power hungry), or because their mindset made them discriminate in a way that the Indigenous and Chinese (or at least Canadian settler Chinese) mindsets did not? Did Indigenous-Chinese relations go so well because they had a common oppressor and/or because their cultures were highly compatible? What would have happened had the Chinese been the first to make contact with the Natives?
Wondering aside, the progression of Indigenous-Chinese relations in Canada shows a contact story done right, perhaps, in that it appears to have been both peaceful and mutually beneficial throughout. It therefore seems to me that studying and learning from it is a worthwhile endeavor.
Hey Kevin, thanks for the comment! I think what differentiates the early Chinese immigrants from the European ones was that they had less of a settler mindset. If you read the other parts of the sites I linked to above, to see the motivation behind the first Chinese immigrants, I believe it was more to visit, make money, and send it back to the family. Travel restrictions enacted by the government and the financial burden of the head tax probably made going home or bringing family over tremendously difficult.
Yet, the Canadian policies enacted to deter Chinese were precisely to deter them from settling, so maybe early Chinese Canadians wanted to colonize as well. We may never know what contact would have been like if it’d been the Chinese coming first to the West Coast rather than the Europeans…perhaps it would have been a similar story with characters switched. I would imagine, however, that many of the Chinese workers were desperate people needing money for their families and willing to move to a strange land and be separated from them in order to do so. I think if I were one of them, my biggest desire would be to go home.
Thanks for sharing this, Charmaine! I had no idea there was such a connection between Chinese and Aboriginal people in B.C.
You raise the question (rhetorically, I imagine!) of why we should care about this connection between cultures, but what ARE your thoughts about why it matters? I definitely think it does: I think it important to have a connection between societies, and maybe especially one that isn’t directly concerned with colonists, not necessarily for the purpose of having a “common enemy”, but also just to show how people from different backgrounds can come together and find other common threads.
Have you had the chance to watch Cedar and Bamboo? What were your thoughts, if so?
I completely agree with you, Whitney. Of course it matters! As Melissa said, it’s the colonists that record our history, and I feel like that’s the realm where it doesn’t matter enough.
But of course, it’s an awesome success story of two peoples co-existing, and in my opinion the world needs more success stories 🙂
I especially think newer Chinese immigrants should know more about this chapter in history so they can have a more intimate understanding of the original peoples that inhabit the land they wish to immigrate to. I think that would foster more appreciation, neighbourliness, and, well, love on both sides.
Unfortunately, I haven’t had the chance to watch Cedar and Bamboo…but I’ll try.
Thanks for visiting!
Char
Hi Charmaine,
I really enjoyed this. I’ve seen Cedar & Bamboo a couple of times and I remember first being quite surprised by the relationships between Indigenous and Chinese folks in Vancouver. It does make sense: both were shunned from the white-washed city. Also, if you’ve spent much time in Chinatown, you notice that a lot of the Native and Chinese folks coexist peacefully together. There’s clearly a lot of history that is penetrating through the gentrification of those streets.
I’m not sure if you’ve seen the film, but it touches upon the fact that many First Nations people weren’t able to work in White-owned restaurants, shops, and businesses, so they would be hired by Chinese business owners (and vice-versa I would imagine). The film tells us that many people met their partners in this way, which is why there are many mixed Chinese-Native people in the city. Musqueam Elder Larry Grant, whose brother is actually featured in Cedar & Bamboo, is part Chinese and part Musqueam. Here’s a neat video of him speaking about “not belonging”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsoPvOnB9sA. I think you hit the nail on the head when you say that this history is forgotten because it didn’t involve colonizers… As we know, white settlers write our history books.
I’m happy to see that you’ve touched upon foreign investment because that is a topic that seriously frustrates me. There are so many stats that prove the theory wrong and yet people still buy into the idea that foreign investment is driving up real estate prices in the city. I talk about it a bit in the comment section of this post: https://blogs.ubc.ca/melissakuipers/2015/05/21/bridging-the-digital-divide/#comments.
Thanks for reading!
Glad you enjoyed the post, Melissa 🙂 I should really give that short film a view… It sounds like something newer Chinese immigrants should be exposed to in order to learn more about the rather deep relationship they have with the original peoples of the place they’d like to immigrate to.
I’ll give your post a visit. Thanks again for stopping by!
Charmaine
Great article! Just thought I might share a story with you about my church (a Chinese Alliance church) that sends missionaries to Hazelton, a community with a significant Aboriginal community. Many of the people who visit there remark the friendliness and the camaraderie of the Natives who welcome the Chinese in a way that they would not with Caucasian missionaries. I certainly agree that Vancouver might serve itself better to resist promoting segregation of the city as Chinatown or little Italian if we really want true multi-culturalism with true democracy. We can’t wait until we have a common enemy before we band together.
Acceptance is always great to see. Glad to hear your community feels welcomed. Thanks for reading!
Charmaine