Prejudice and discrimination against the chinese canadians:
the head tax
![Picture](/uploads/1/1/0/2/11020844/155261805.jpg?359)
Figure One: Chinese men working on the CPR
Canada has a startling history of racial discrimination. One of the races discriminated against were the Chinese Canadians. China first heard of Canada in the late 1800s, during a famine. At that time, in China, men could only earn 7 cents a day, which was not enough to feed their families. At the same time, Canada was looking for cheap labour to build the Canadian Pacific Railway. The Chinese heard that they could earn one dollar a day there, and to them, that was a lot. Villages got together, and sent men over to Canada to work on the railroad, and whatever the men could spare was sent back to China to feed the village. Unfortunately, even then, they were already being discriminated against.
From their one dollar a day, the Canadians took the price of transportation, clothing and food. For the white workers on the railway, not only did they not have these small fees deducted, they were also given more money. There, the Chinese also were given the most dangerous jobs of climbing up mountain tops, or dynamiting rock.
In 1885, the railway was finished. It had only taken them five years to build the railway. Many men lost their lives and their limbs. Canada, seeing the large amount of Chinese men now inhabiting the country, grew afraid of the Chinese men taking over the country, and so, a head tax was created. For every Chinese person entering Canada, they had to pay 50 dollars, and the price kept increasing. The head tax in 1903 was 500 dollars, 2 years labour, or enough to buy a house. From head tax payers, Canada collected nearly enough money to pay for the cost of the Canadian Pacific Railroad! The head tax was abolished in 1923, for a much darker legislation: the Chinese Exclusion Act. For more information on that, go to http://chineseimmigrationacts.weebly.com
From their one dollar a day, the Canadians took the price of transportation, clothing and food. For the white workers on the railway, not only did they not have these small fees deducted, they were also given more money. There, the Chinese also were given the most dangerous jobs of climbing up mountain tops, or dynamiting rock.
In 1885, the railway was finished. It had only taken them five years to build the railway. Many men lost their lives and their limbs. Canada, seeing the large amount of Chinese men now inhabiting the country, grew afraid of the Chinese men taking over the country, and so, a head tax was created. For every Chinese person entering Canada, they had to pay 50 dollars, and the price kept increasing. The head tax in 1903 was 500 dollars, 2 years labour, or enough to buy a house. From head tax payers, Canada collected nearly enough money to pay for the cost of the Canadian Pacific Railroad! The head tax was abolished in 1923, for a much darker legislation: the Chinese Exclusion Act. For more information on that, go to http://chineseimmigrationacts.weebly.com