1920’s Injustices

Veterans

Upon return to Canada, veterans expected a comfortable life back home, filled with many benefits toward
their health and livelihood. They were sorely mistaken, and missed out on many perks that were owed to
them. Though the Canadian government had developed a new system designed to provide a pension and
other benefits, the system was flawed and many ex-soldiers didn’t receive their deserved rewards. It was
hard to refuse soldiers applying for the plan who were missing limbs or had other noticeable injuries, but
others had a much more difficult path to get accepted into the veteran program. Soldiers with concealed
diseases, mental trauma, psychological disorders and other illnesses were often denied access into the
program, and were forced to suffer with little compensation.

First Nations

Life for First Nations peoples around the 1920s took a turn for the worse. On top of the racial
discrimination they faced day to day, residential schools were implemented in a government attempt to
further the process of cultural genocide. Newly built churches and schools were used as centers to
assimilate First Nations children to a standard Christian European, and attendance was mandatory. These
new buildings were strategically built far away from First Nations people’s homes, to add yet another
layer of disconnect between them and their home culture. While attending the schools, children were
separated from their culture in every way possible. Their traditional clothes were replaced with European
dress wear, First Nations hairstyles were cut short, and their home languages were forbidden within the
walls of the school. Abuse, both sexual and physical was also very prevalent at these schools, sometimes
even leading to death. Through all the years of suffering the students faced, some were able to graduate.
Though this may seem like a positive, enabling them to escape these terrible schools, it was also a final
way of separating them from their culture. Once they graduated, students were required to become
enfranchised. The things they gained with this sounded appealing, like citizenship and the right to vote.
But upon enfranchisement, their “Indian” status was taken away. Though their status was wrongly named,
graduation was the final step in detaching First Nations people from their culture.

African Canadians

During the great immigration period into Canada, the integration of people of African descent was a
grossly unpopular idea within racist Canada. The idea was shared by the general population and
government officials alike, and they did nothing to hide it. The few immigrants that did that did settle into
Canada were immediately faced with blatant and remorseless racism from the start. Right before the
1920s, the Education Act of 1918 passed, creating different schools for “blacks” and “Europeans,” staying
in effect until the mid 1950s. Segregation was also practiced at many other public places, including
swimming pools, theatres, and more.
Asian Immigrants

Immigrants travelling from Asia during the 1920s faced some of the harshest restrictions of all , created
with the intent of stopping their immigration altogether. For many years prior to the 20s, Chinese
immigrants dealt with head tax, a system from the Canadian government that charged up to $500 per
entry into the country. By the 20s, the government decided that the head tax wasn’t fulfilling their needs,
and went as far as to completely ban the immigration of Chinese people. The Chinese Immigration Act
was passed in 1923, and during that time an estimated 50 chinese people moved to Canada. This seemed
like a success to Canadians at the time, but in reality was an unforgivable mistake yet to be forgotten.
Japanese immigrants faced discrimination as well, and during the 1920s, many lost their fishing liscences
without good reason. Many people born in Canada with Japanese ancestry also found difficulty getting
employed, and were denied the right to vote. The only Japanese Canadians who eventually had access to
voting were veterans of the First World War, and it was only granted in the early 1930s. Indian
immigrants similar discrimination upon arrival to Canada, especially BC. British Columbia was a hub for
immigration at the time due to the widespread coastline, and Indians in BC had to conquer many
restrictions upon arrival. This meant they could not be elected to office, take part in a jury, vote, and even
work in many different areas such as education or public works. The discrimination they faced was
similar to that of the Chinese and Japanese immigrants, and sadly didn’t change until many years later.

Should the Government Apologize?

I believe that during the time of these horrible events happening to immigrants and veterans, the Canadian
government should have released a series of apology statements to each affected group, along with some
sort of financial compensation. Sadly, a public apology during this time would have been extremely
unlikely, and the present day is the time when many apology statements have come out about past events.
I believe that though a formal apology from today’s government is encouraged and would be a solid
attempt at cutting ties with the racist system that used to run Canada, I don’t believe an apology is
required or that there should be pressure on the National leaders to release one. The people that separated
citizens based on race, and banned the immigration of certain groups are a completely different set of
people than the ones in our system today. The national leader or other people in power are free to send
their condolences and publicly apologize to the target groups of past injustices, but ultimately, I believe
they shouldn’t be held accountable for the discriminatory system that was in place years before they were
even born.

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/japanese-canadians#
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/africans
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/residential-schools
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/chinese-canadians