By Terence Ho | Foundation of HKPLTW
Terence is a Research Coordinator for the Foundation of HKPLTW with interests in history & traditions, social organization & inter-group relations, culture & religion, and economics & politics of Canadian Indigenous People and Visible Minorities. Follow him on Twitter: @hkpltw
Terence is a Research Coordinator for the Foundation of HKPLTW with interests in history & traditions, social organization & inter-group relations, culture & religion, and economics & politics of Canadian Indigenous People and Visible Minorities. Follow him on Twitter: @hkpltw
The relationship between the First Nation peoples living in British Columbia and early Chinese Canadians was an essential part of our history in Canada. Yet this relationship has been neglected; little-known records of the history that they shared are left. In this commentary, I want to bring awareness to this relationship briefly.
Chinese Workers and Harsh Conditions
I first learned about the Chinese railway workers in a social study lesson on the history of the Pacific Railway. As a Chinese Canadian, I was interested to learn more about Chinese Labour on the Railway. The more I researched, I learned how the discrimination and racist exclusion that early immigrants faced. Many Chinese workers came for the Gam Saan or Gold Rush without knowing the rising Anti-Chinese sentiment in Canada during the 1870s to 1880s. Canadian politicians were using “all the legitimate means” to expel the Chinese.
Despite the harsh conditions, many Chinese workers remained for the construction of the British Columbia parts of the railway while being paid at half the rate of white workers. Many Chinese workers signed up for dangerous tasks, like blast through the mountain, because they would get paid exploitative wages. Many workers died for their completion of the Pacific Railway that accelerated the economic growth in BC and linked BC with the Eastern provinces. However, the Chinese workers were alienated and disenfranchised by the Canadian government and society.
First Nation People’s Aid to Early Chinese Canadians
During this time, many injured workers were left to die beside the railroad. Many injured workers got taken to safe place and received aid from the First Nation communities, who also were discriminated against by the mainstream white society. The First Nation peoples nurtured the injured workers back to health, helped the survivors to settle down, and gave the dead workers proper burials. Some Chinese men also married First Nation women. Thrown together by circumstances and repression, these two ethnic groups turned to each other, giving them opportunities to establish relationships.
Prejudices and Conflicts that Neglected Their Relationships
However, there was prejudice between the two ethnic groups. Chinese Canadians’ relationship with the First Nation communities has not always been smooth. The following events and regulations affected them and caused their relationships to go downhill. The mainstream white journalists reported that the liquor sold by the Chinese Canadian had caused insanity and deaths to a few First Nation peoples, which created distrust among the Indigenous communities towards the Chinese. Furthermore, there were discords over land preemptions. In the Native settlements under James Douglas, no one was allowed to preempt land that Indigenous peoples had already preempted. However, the Chinese Canadian residents preempted lands that belonged to the First Nation communities and generated discords among the two groups. Last, the dispute over water rights. The waiting period for the First Nation people was long, while the Chinese Canadians could get water rights faster had caused a sense of unfairness among the Indigenous communities. They directed their resentment towards the Chinese Canadians.
The prejudices caused by regulations impacted their relationships. On top of that, a lack of communication by later generations gradually thinned out the once-close bond between the two ethnic groups, which eventually fading away and being forgotten in historical records.
This is an opinion article; the views expressed by me.
Bibliography
Lavallé, Omer. “Canadian Pacific Railway”. The Canadian Encyclopedia, 15 July 2021, Historica Canada. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/canadian-pacific-railway. Accessed 2 September 2021.
Chow, Lily S. The Forgotten Ties : Relationships between First Nations People and Early Chinese Immigrants in British Columbia, Canada (1858-1947), 2012.
Burney, Shehla. Coming to Gum San: The Story of Chinese Canadians. Toronto: Multicultural History Society of Ontario, 1995.
Mittelstedt, Meg. “Touring BC’s ‘Hidden’ History Shared by Chinese and Indigenous People”. The TYEE. 13 October 2014. Accessed 1 September 2021. https://thetyee.ca/News/2014/10/13/Shared-Chinese-Indigenous-History/.
Foundation of HKPLTW (Canada) 