When did Canada begin to accept Chinese workers?

188 1 year, the population of British Columbia in western Canada is about 35,000. At that time, about 9,000 China workers built the last section of the Canadian Pacific Railway here. In order to restrict the entry of Chinese, the Canadian government made a decision to levy a poll tax on Chinese. The Canadian government levied a poll tax of 500 Canadian dollars on these Chinese, which was equivalent to their wages for two years at that time. Moreover, this tax is only levied on China immigrants from various countries entering Canada. From 1886 to 1923, the Canadian government made a profit of 23 million Canadian dollars, equivalent to1200 million Canadian dollars in 2006. Taxpayers need to work for three to five years to repay.

1923, the Canadian federal government decided to cancel the poll tax, and passed the Chinese Exclusion Act through the Chinese Immigration Act 1923, which was implemented on July 1 day of the same year. This bill stipulates that all China people are not allowed to enter Canada except the following examples. 1923 China people allowed to enter Canada in the Immigration Act of China are:

1. Merchant

2. Diplomatic officials

3. International students

4. "Special case" (this example was used when the family of former Canadian Governor Wu immigrated to Canada during the war)

This bill is not limited to China citizens, even China people with British citizenship are prohibited from entering Canada. After the bill came into effect, almost all Chinese can't immigrate to Canada, including relatives of Chinese workers who have already lived in Canada. During the 24 years since the implementation of the Act, only more than 20 China people immigrated to Canada. 193 1 year, there are about 46,000 Chinese in Canada, and the ratio of male to female is 13 1.

Because the implementation date of the Chinese Exclusion Law was the same as Canada's National Day, Chinese in Canada at that time called the National Day "shame day" and refused to celebrate Canada's National Day.

During World War II, many people in China joined the army and donated money. In view of the contribution of Chinese Canadians to Canada in the Second World War and the pressure of public opinion in the international community, the Canadian federal government abolished the Chinese Exclusion Act on May 1947. Canada only opened its immigration policy on 1967, allowing Chinese to immigrate to Canada as "independent immigrants".