New documentary marks 100 years since the Chinese Exclusion Act
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Posted June 20, 2023 6:04 pm.
Families torn apart, dreams left unfulfilled and the feeling of being an “other.” Next week marks a somber 100-year anniversary for Chinese Canadians.
Canada Day 1923 marks the day the Chinese Immigration Act, or Chinese Exclusion Act, was passed.
It’s a law that for 24 years completely halted Chinese immigration to Canada and the only discriminatory law against any ethnic group in the country’s history.
I refuse to call it the Chinese Immigration Act because everybody knew it at the time … It was designed to be an exclusionary end of immigration from China,” said Henry Yu, a historian at the University of British Columbia.
Though the federal government has apologized for indignities toward the Chinese community, the remnants of the act and the Chinese Head Tax before it, are, for some, still felt generations later.
Brandon Lee is a sixth generation Chinese-Canadian. “Growing up … [at] no point, in my home and … at least the high school period on to adulthood, have we ever not had to be aware of the fact that we are different in some regards to a lot of the local people.”
Those who were born and raised in Canada have seen how racism has impacted every generation in a different way.
As recently as 2020, anti-Asian hate has resurfaced in a loud and ugly way. In Toronto, police reported a surge in anti-Asian hate crimes in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“‘They were taking our jobs, taking our women, they’re drug users.’ Those three phrases can be were used back in the day to to substantiate the Chinese Exclusion Act [and] are very much similar phrases are being used today,” said Michael Tan of the Vancouver Chinatown Chu Luen Society.
“The way we forward to changing cycles is through education, by actually committing to dealing with some of the most difficult times,” said Lee.
OMNI TV will be airing a special documentary “A Century of Resilience,” chronicles the struggles and triumphs of the Chinese Canadian community in the face of the Chinese Exclusion Act over the last 100 years.
It will explore the lasting impacts of the Act and examines contemporary anti-Asian hate crimes and looks a healing commemoration and the efforts to promote inclusion.
The documentary will air on June 27 at 6:30 p.m.