As part of the Exclusion Act, Chinese immigrants and Canadian-born Chinese people were required to carry immigration certificates, also known as C.I. (Chinese Canadian Museum)
“When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the native-born among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
Leviticus 19: 33-34 NRSVue
Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’
Matthew 25:34-36 NRSVue
I don't know whether Olivia Chow will make a decent mayor of Toronto, although she has an impressive resume in politics from the local to the national. Truth be told, I'm delighted Chow was elected simply because Premier Doug Ford labelled her a "leftie" -- horrors -- and declared the possibility an "unmitigated disaster." I imagine Dougie standing in front of the mirror for hours practicing his pronunciation of the multi-syllabic "unmitigated."
Chow is remarkable in that she came to Canada as a teen from Hong Kong, which is now part of China. Her parents were educated professionals but worked in jobs which did not reflect their skills and in those early years the family lived with very little.
How fitting that her election as an immigrant of Chinese background came just before the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Immigrant Act, or the Chinese Exclusion Act. This act came into law on Dominion Day, now Canada Day, in 1923. When the Canadian Pacific Railway was being built in the west 6,500 of the 9,000 labourers in British Columbia were Chinese and they were paid less to do highly dangerous work. In total about 17,000 Chinese men were involved in the construction. Due to the harsh conditions they faced, hundreds of Chinese Canadians working on the railway died from accidents, winter cold, illness and malnutrition. Yet when the "photo-op of the driving of the last spike of the railroad took place Chinese workers were removed from the scene.
A cartoon encouraging the exclusion of Chinese immigrants appeared in the B.C. Saturday Sunset newspaper on August 24, 1907. (Vancouver Public Library)
The Exclusion Act was a racist and cruelly pragmatic recognition that these workers were expendable and that they were not considered Canadians in any real sense. Chinese immigrants already had to pay an exorbitant $500 "head tax" yet they were denied the right to vote, hold public office, own land and work certain jobs. They were required to carry special papers and if those documents were lost they could be expelled. For decades Chinese men were separated from their families back home, unable to bring their loved ones in Canada and either reluctant or unable to return to China.
In 2006 the Canadian government issued a formal apology to the to the Chinese Canadian community in the House of Commons. Ralph Kung Kee Lee, witnessed the ceremony and at the age of 106 years old at the time, and only one of six living head-tax payers left. Despite this apology many of the 1.7 million Canadians of Chinese background still refer to July 1st as Humiliation Day.
There are self-described patriots in Canada who are nostalgic for the "good old days" of a Christian nation. Yet we know that Anti-Asian racism in Canada surged during the COVID-19 pandemic with "go back where you came from" taunts aimed at third and fourth generation Chinese-Canadians.
I prefer to live in a country where as a Christian I'm free to practice my religion and where others are as well. I want to be a citizen of a nation where respect is shown to those who were here before any settlers, and where we humbly acknowlege the sins of the past as we seek a better present and future.
Oh yes, I am impressed that Olivia Chow is an everyday cyclist (she doesn't have a driver's license.) I do hope that her election is an unmitigated success.
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