Perspective: Chinese Labourers
The treatment of migrant labour in Canada reveals the limited extent to which immigration was actually open to all. Chinese labourers had long been attracted to British Columbia, previously working in the fur trade and joining mine workers by the time of the Gold Rush of 1859. After Confederation and following the beginning of railway construction, larger numbers of Chinese migrants, first from California, later from Hong Kong, arrived in British Columbia. When an American contractor began building the B.C. section of the CPR, the numbers of Chinese labourers significantly increased. Between 1881 and 1884, some 15,701 Chinese males came to British Columbia, many to work on the railway.
Local prejudice grew against these newcomers who were characterized as "unassimilable" migrants. Negative stereotypes of Chinese males circulated in local press editorials
and in B.C.'s legislature. Local complaints against Chinese and Japanese labour consistently ebbed and flowed with the province's economic booms and busts, and usually intensified in periods when locals believed that poorly paid Asian labourers were taking jobs from Euro-Canadians. During more difficult economic periods, fears rose that the "Yellow Peril" would "inundate" the British race.
Such local fears became a powerful political rallying point for members of B.C.'s political community, who demanded immigration restrictions from the federal government. Patricia Roy's study of B.C. politicians and their policies towards Chinese and Japanese immigrants suggests that racial and economic fears prompted local political action. The B.C. government introduced a series of acts to limit and restrict Asian immigration as early as 1878. The federal government disallowed almost all of them. Macdonald's federal government would not "close" the door to Chinese labour because business interests, mostly in Montreal, saw the benefits of this work force. Poorly paid and exposed to the deadly hazards of mountain valley blasting and construction work - many Chinese labourers died through disease and injury in this treacherous terrain -- the Chinese labourer was understood as integral to the railway's completion.
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法官
2006-01-30 23:16
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Who have been misleading/appealing new immigrants to vote for the Liberals? the one who belongs to the Liberal interested groups. How can new immigrants get benefits from more and more competitors in their career? Ignore what Liberals say, watch the result of their action.
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TelltheTruth
2006-01-30 23:02
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If no immigrants is flooding into Canada, how the some employers can hire cheaper labours ? also, for some immigrants
lawyer/consultants, where they can earn their easy-money?
I believe for these kind of peoples, they will definitely vote for
Liberals, because they belong to interested group.
技术移民及父母团聚的申请时间将加长