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1861 - Aliens
Act is passed - Chinese obtain the right to own property
and are given the opportunity to pledge their allegiance
and become British subjects after three years of residence.
1875 - Chinese
and First Nations in British Columbia lose their right
to vote in provincial elections. Chinese British Columbians didn’t receive
the right to vote in provincial elections again until 1949.
1878 - Formation
of the Workingmen’s Protective Association - An anti-Chinese
association that established itself to defend the rights
of labourers of European descent against the competing
labour of immigrants from non-European countries. Among
other acts, the WPA formed an employment agency exclusively
for white workers as well as boycotted any businesses that
employed Chinese.
1878 - A
head tax of ten dollars every three months was imposed
on Chinese residents of BC?Victoria?. The Chinese of Victoria went on strike, closing
down all their businesses and refusing to work elsewhere. The strike lasted five days and ended in success. The
tax was lifted.
1879 - The
Workingmen’s Protective Association changes name and leader. The
Anti-Chinese Association form under the leadership of Noah
Shakespeare, a prominent citizen of Victoria. Noah
Shakespeare was vocal about his opposition to non-white
labour and was responsible for much of the anti-Chinese
legislation passed by numerous levels of government during
this period.
1884 - British
Columbia legislature attempts to pass three Acts prohibiting
the immigration of Chinese to the province and requiring
those Chinese over the age of 14 already living in the
province to pay an annual tax of ten dollars. The
three acts, including one disallowing Chinese ownership
of Crown lands, were not passed, but their suggestion offers
a startling insight into the mentality of some politicians
of the decade.
1885 - Chinese
Immigrant Act is passed - Every
Chinese person entering Canada is required to pay a fifty
dollar head tax. When the head tax failed to discourage the migration of Chinese
to the Dominion, the federal increased the head tax to
one hundred dollars in 1901 and to five hundred dollars
in 1904.
1923 - Chinese
Immigration Act - Popularly referred to as the Exclusion
Act, this Act prohibited all Chinese from entering Canada. Between
1925 and 1947, only twelve Chinese persons were given permission
to enter Canada. In 1947, the wives and children of Chinese
men in the province were given permission to enter the
country.
1967 - Chinese
are finally given the same access to Canada as other nationalities.
*Information
for timeline drawn from multiple sources.
To view the Bibliography for
these sites below, click here.
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