B.

Impact on the Chinese Canadian Community

The institutional racism that was created and perpetuated by the various forms of the Chinese
Immigration Act and other discriminatory legislative measures has had a profound and disruptive
impact on the Chinese Canadian community that continues to this day.

At the time the Chinese Immigration Act came into force, Chinese immigrants suffered from low
social standing in Canada due to widely held and actively propagated stereotypes that they were
an inferior race to Europeans. Because Chinese immigrants were singled out in law for exclusion
and segregation, these views were legally and authoritatively reinforced. “Over time, the social
stigma attached to the Chinese as undesirable citizens and unwelcome workers became their
defining characteristics.” Li Affidavit at para. 26.

While the tax itself was onerous ($500 was equivalent to two years of wages at the time), the
most devastating consequence of the various forms of the Act was the separation of families and
the resulting impediment to the growth of the Chinese Canadian community as a whole. As a
result of the restrictions and exclusions imposed by the Canadian government, the Chinese
Canadian family as an intact unit did not exist, except in very limited cases, prior to the repeal of
the Act in 1947. Most of the Chinese immigrants who came to Canada between 1885 and 1923
were adult men who came to find work. For those who were able to obtain sufficient funds to
pay the Head Tax for their entry, finding additional funds necessary to pay the Head Tax for
wives and children was virtually impossible. The imposition of the Head Tax created a boon for
human traffickers and forced immigrants into a predictable form of bondage in order to reunite
family members. And for the period of 1923 to 1947, regardless of resources, it was legally
impossible for wives or children in China to join their husbands in Canada due to the outright
exclusion of Chinese immigrants. (Li Affidavit at paras. 28-31.)

The separation of families meant that most Chinese males in Canada lived in a married bachelor
society. Many of these men were separated from their wives and children for decades, while
others lost contact with their families in China altogether. Many died in Canada without ever
being reunited with their wives and children. (Li Affidavit at paras. 28, 35.)

The gender imbalance created by the Act’s restrictions was so significant that even following the
repeal of the Act in 1947, and the repeal of other immigration restrictions in 1962, the number of
women in the Chinese Canadian community did not begin to approach equilibrium until 1981.
As a result, there was a significant delay in the creation of a second generation of Chinese
Canadians. As late as 1991, 73% of Chinese people living in Canada were not born in Canada.
The disproportionate number of foreign born persons among the Chinese Canadian population
has also hindered the development of the community’s political participation in Canada.

In 2001, several Head Tax payers, their spouses and descendents filed a class suit in Ontario
seeking redress from the Government of Canada for the harms resulting from the Chinese
Immigration Act and Exclusion Act. The trial judge acknowledged the discriminatory nature of
the legislation and the resulting deprivation to the immigrants who were forced to pay the Head
Tax. Despite these findings, the court felt unable to provide restitution to the claimants on the
basis that their claim of discrimination resulted predominantly from an act that had occurred
before the enactment of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and during an era when

4
there was insufficient evidence of existing customary international law prohibiting racial
discrimination. The claimants then appealed to the Ontario Court of Appeal. In a judgement
released on September 13, 2002 the Court of Appeal reiterated that the treatment of people of
Chinese origin under the legislation was a “notable stain on our minority rights tapestry.” (Mack
v. Canada (Attorney General) (2001) 55 OR (3d) 113 Moldaver and MacPherson JJ.A. at para 1)
The Court of Appeal otherwise upheld the trial decision dismissing the appeal. Having been
denied leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, all domestic legal remedies have been
effectively exhausted.