How did the Chinese Exclusion Act separate Calgary families? – Calgary | 24CA News
A mission in Calgary is making an attempt to gather the tales of Chinese Canadian households who had been separated by the Chinese Immigration Act.
July 1 is the 100-year commemoration of the racist laws which successfully stopped immigration from China for twenty-four years in Canada.
Fred Wong’s dad Dan got here to Canada in June 1922 on the age of 18 paying the $500 head tax that was required of Chinese immigrants.
Dan Wong labored at a CPR work camp in Brooks after which labored in cafes in Saskatchewan and Manitoba earlier than settling in Queenstown, Alta. in 1927. He then opened a restaurant which he changed into a common retailer.
In 1933, he returned to China to marry Fred’s mom however got here again to Canada alone due to the Chinese Immigration Act.
“My dad was fortunate in the sense he lived in a community where he appeared to be well supported in the sense that he made a lot of lifelong friends,” Wong stated.
Wong’s oldest brother Gene was born in 1934 in China. Gene by no means met his father till he was a young person and was lastly allowed to return to Canada after the Exclusion Act was repealed in 1947.
“It’s a troubling part of Canada’s past,” Wong stated.
Fred Wong was born in Alberta and has spent most of his life in Calgary. The former director of Calgary Transit appreciates the alternatives residing in Canada has supplied his household, however the nation’s earlier remedy of Chinese immigrants was made painfully clear in a letter written by his mom to his father when she was nonetheless residing in China.
“In the letter, it talks about the fact that it’s been 10 years since I saw you. It must’ve been very difficult for not only my father here in Canada but for my mother in China,” Wong stated.
“To be married to someone for a short period of time and then that person leaving and not knowing when you’re going to be reunited, must have been very very difficult,”
Wong is sharing his story as a part of a Calgary mission known as Stories of Exclusion. Over the previous week folks impacted by the Exclusion Act have been sharing their tales with native artists however it hasn’t been straightforward getting folks to talk out.
“It’s kind of a cultural thing that older Chinese who didn’t want to rock the boat don’t want their story to be saved,” stated Dale Lee Kwong, the Calgary poet, playwright and essayist behind Stories of Exclusion.
“They are embarrassed by their story and humiliated by the story and they would rather forget about it and the generations coming up are more activists,” Kwong stated.
Those sharing their tales say the Exclusion Act created an imbalance within the female and male ratio throughout the Chinese neighborhood and a tradition of silence.
“It’s something that was ingrained in me as a child. You stay out of trouble. Don’t raise attention to yourself – just continue on and move forward,” Wong stated.
Wong’s motive for coming ahead is to guard all marginalized folks from discrimination.
“I want to see things change for the better for my children, who are adults now, and being a new grandfather, I think about my grandson and how will things be for him,” Wong stated.
On Canada Day, there might be an alternate celebration at cSpace Eau Claire Neighbourhood Hub. Stories of Exclusion will honour the hidden histories of the Chinese neighborhood on account of the Chinese Immigration Act. Lion dancers might be a part of the occasion and artists will share how the mission affected them
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
