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“Therein lies the joy of being an immigrant, even a “doubleimmigrant.” There is hardship, there is rejection, there are frequent challenges to one’s identity, citizenship and even one’s right to walk the streets.” (Globe and Mail, Monday December 22, 2003, My New Canada: Part One by Raywat Deonandan). This essay will present a brief history of Canada’s immigration practices and how these practices have been influenced by racism. This essay will also illustrate how the fear generated by hostilities in both World Wars I and II resulted in injustices toward both immigrants and Canadian citizens especially when they were non-white. In addition this essay will also document how Canada need to guard against this tendency toward racism in light of the most recent events following the tragedy of September 11th, 2001. Racism is defined as a prejudice or discrimination based on the belief that race is the primary factor determining human traits and abilities. Racism includes the belief that genetic or inherited differences produce the inherent superiority or inferiority of one race over another. The main point of research in this essay focuses on Immigration in Canada and how racism greatly influences it. Reviewing the immigration history of Canada there appears to be two major factors that influenced immigration. The first was economic, the need for workers in various sectors whether this be Chinese labourers for laying the railway in the 1880’s or the influx of Eastern Europeans who inhabited the Prairies in the 1890’s. Aside from the economic influence on immigration one doesn’t need to look very hard to see the influence of racism and prejudice on immigration practices. What follows is a brief overview of this racism. In 1770 the United Empire Loyalists encouraged to settle in Canada to counter the French domination in Lower Canada. From 1881 to 1884 nearly 16,000 Chinese immigrants were brought to Canada to work on the railways. In 1885 the Chinese Act is introduced to “restrict and regulate Chinese immigration.” A Head tax of $50 was imposed on every Chinese entering the country. In 1900 the head tax was doubled to $100 and in 1903 to $500. Note that the Chinese were the only people that had to pay a head tax. In 1896 to 1914 three million immigrants arrived in Canada. Very few of those were Chinese. In 1910 $200 was required as a landing tax fee for any Asian immigrant.
Approximate Word count = 1549
Approximate Pages = 6.2
(250 words per page double spaced)
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