2023 marks 100 years since the introduction of the Chinese Immigration Act, better known as the Chinese Exclusion Act.
This website serves as a hub for individuals and organizations interested in commemorating the Exclusion Act. It features a range of events and activities happening across Canada, with the goal to provide opportunities for learning, reflection and dialogue.
We invite you to submit your events and resources so we can help amplify the efforts that are raised to recognize this important milestone in Canadian history.
A Brief Timeline
The Chinese Canadian community dates back continuously to the arrival of several thousand Chinese prospectors during the 1858 Fraser River Gold Rush.
Between 1885 and 1923 Chinese workers and their families had to pay one of several head taxes to immigrate to Canada. The tax did not apply to any other immigrants.
The Chinese Immigration Act, 1923, also known as the “Chinese Exclusion Act”, was a Canadian Act of Parliament passed by the government of Liberal Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, banning most forms of Chinese immigration to Canada. This required all people of Chinese ‘race’ living in Canada, including the Canadian-born, to register with the federal government in order to stay in the country.
Under pressure from the international community, which was in the process of adopting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, lobbying by the Chinese Canadian community including war veterans, and in line with the newly adopted Canadian Citizenship Act, the Canadian Parliament repealed the exclusion act on 14 May 1947.
The new immigration regulations introduced in 1962 eliminated overt racial discrimination from Canadian immigration policy. Skill became the main criteria for determining admissibility rather than race or national origin. The classes of sponsored immigrants were expanded so that all Canadian citizens and permanent residents could sponsor relatives for immigration. However, an element of discrimination remained as only Canadian immigrants from preferred nations in Europe, the Americas and select countries in the Middle East were permitted to sponsor children over the age of 21, married children and other members of their extended family.