The Head Tax: Objective Conditions
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Figure Two: A head tax certificate
The head tax was created after the Canadian Pacific Railway was completed, in the year 1885. The need for cheap labour was over, and Canada began to worry that the Chinese were taking work away for non-Chinese workers, and that the Chinese would become the majority of the population in Canada and Canada would no longer be a white man's land.
It was enforced on all Chinese people coming in to Canada. It was 50 dollars at the time.
This did not deter the Chinese from immigrating to Canada, and so, in 1900, the government raised the tax to a 100 dollars and three years later, in 1903, the head tax became 500 dollars. The head tax was abolished in 1923, and the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923, forbidding all Chinese immigration into Canada.
The above is a head tax certificate for Lee Duck, arriving at Victoria, British Columbia on June 28, 1912. This piece of paper cost 500 dollars, and was his only right to stay in Canada. He was required to carry it around at all times. He was approximately 20 years old when he arrived in Canada. He ended up opening a dry cleaning business in Lethbridge, Alberta.
Even though the head tax was at its most expensive, five hundred dollars, he still paid the fee. There are many Chinese who immigrated during this time. This head tax certificate proves that the head tax certainly existed.
It was enforced on all Chinese people coming in to Canada. It was 50 dollars at the time.
This did not deter the Chinese from immigrating to Canada, and so, in 1900, the government raised the tax to a 100 dollars and three years later, in 1903, the head tax became 500 dollars. The head tax was abolished in 1923, and the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923, forbidding all Chinese immigration into Canada.
The above is a head tax certificate for Lee Duck, arriving at Victoria, British Columbia on June 28, 1912. This piece of paper cost 500 dollars, and was his only right to stay in Canada. He was required to carry it around at all times. He was approximately 20 years old when he arrived in Canada. He ended up opening a dry cleaning business in Lethbridge, Alberta.
Even though the head tax was at its most expensive, five hundred dollars, he still paid the fee. There are many Chinese who immigrated during this time. This head tax certificate proves that the head tax certainly existed.
To the right is a newspaper article from the New York Times newspaper, published in July 11, 1885, informing people of the newly passed bill, concerning the new head tax for Chinese immigrants immigrating to Canada. It informs the Chinese looking to immigrate to Canada through America will still have to pay the head tax anyways. There is also the restriction of Chinese immigration by one Chinaman to every 50 tons of a vessel.
In my opinion there is not much room for the Chinaman in Canada. He displaces a good Canadian, or a good British subject. Increase of the tax from $50 to $100 will be totally inadequate...not only are they monopolizing the laundry business and the growing of vegetables in British Columbia, but they are driving skilled miners out of employment in the coal mines. ~Wilfred Laurier
7th Prime Minister of Canada |
The above is a picture taken on June 8, 1919, in Toronto, Ontario. They are a generation of Chinese Canadians born and raised in Canada. As they were being discriminated against, they created parallels of Canadian society. There were Chinese-Canadian sports teams, beauty pageants, and the above appears to be a gathering of Chinese-Canadian Boy Scouts. There are drums in the front, and a three visible flags. The one on the left appears to be the flag of the United Kingdom. One man appears to be holding a cane. All of people in the photograph are male, and the younger boys sitting in front are in matching uniforms of jackets and hats, there are men in white tank tops and pants, and older men in suits and ties.
It is a group photo of the Chinese Canadian Boy Scouts.
It is a group photo of the Chinese Canadian Boy Scouts.
The figure beside is a chart showing the number of Chinese in Canada. It shows that even though the head tax was implemented, the number of Chinese immigrating to Canada grew.
The picture below is of Chinese immigrant workers working on the railway. Even before the Head Tax, the Chinese had been discriminated against. They were originally brought in for cheap labour. They were paid $1.00 per day, and from there, costs for meals, rent and clothing was subtracted, along with $40 for the ship ticket from China to Canada. White men were given $2.50 per day. The Chinese were given the most dangerous of jobs.
They dynamited tunnels in solid rock, climbed to the top of mountains and chopped down century old trees. Many Chinese workers died on the job, far away from home and with no way to inform their families, back in China. The Chinese workers were mainly used in British Columbia, where its mountainous terrain made the work difficult and dangerous. It is said that one Chinese man died for every mile of track laid down. The section of the railway worked on by the Chinese was 382 miles (615 kilometres) long. With Chinese workers, the railway took five years to build. The chief contractor on the railway told the Prime Minister that if Chinese workers were not used, then the railroad would have taken an additional fifteen years to complete. |
After the railway was finished, in 1885, the Canadians were afraid that the overwhelming number of Chinese would take over their economy with cheap labour, and took jobs away from white people. In response, the government issued the head tax of $50. And it rose from there.