Mr. Speaker, it is truly a privilege to speak on my private member's motion, Motion No. 63.
I rise today on the unceded and traditional territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe nation on the eve of the 156th anniversary of Confederation. For most Canadians, July 1 is known as Canada Day, a time to celebrate our country with pride and joy in the company of family and friends. For Chinese Canadians, however, July 1 is also known as “humiliation day”, a day of shame on which Canada commenced the Chinese Immigration Act, 1923. More appropriately called the Chinese Exclusion Act, the legislation virtually prohibited all Chinese people from immigrating to Canada in an apparent and blatant act of racism. Unwanted and undesirable, the Chinese community was singled out and utterly humiliated. This brought an abrupt end to the hopes and dreams of family reunification for a generation of mostly Chinese men in Canada, despite their contributions to helping build the country.
The first documented Chinese immigrants arrived here in the late 1700s; between 1881 and 1884, over 17,000 Chinese workers came to construct the Canadian Pacific Railway. After the railroad was completed, however, Canada imposed a $50 head tax that steadily rose to $500 on every Chinese individual seeking to enter the country. In the ensuing decades, the Chinese in Canada were disenfranchised and systematically targeted through laws that prevented them from working certain jobs, owning property, voting and holding public office.
The tide turned after World War II, when Canada found its anti-Chinese legislation at odds with its support for a United Nations charter of human rights. On May 14, 1947, the Chinese Exclusion Act was finally repealed following the passing of the Canadian Citizenship Act, 1947. After an era of legislated anti-Chinese racism, Canada would open its doors and eventually embrace waves of Chinese immigrants.
Through influxes of immigrants from such places as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeast Asia and mainland China, Canada is now home to 1.7 million Chinese Canadians, who comprise approximately 5% of the country's population. Among the Chinese diaspora are people from all walks of life, with diverse beliefs, cultures and languages; they have broken through barriers in all aspects of society. Since the latter half of the last century, Canadians of Chinese descent have continued to help build the nation they are proud to call home.
The global outbreak of COVID-19 in March 2020, however, brought with it what the United Nations Secretary-General called the virus of hate. Chinese people were blamed for the coronavirus the world over. As racist hashtags trended on social media, and public commentators perpetuated anti-Chinese sentiment with such terminology as “yellow alert”, one major world leader went as far as referring to COVID-19 as “kung flu”.
It is no laughing matter that, over the past three years, racialized communities have increasingly suffered at the hands of racism, from disrespectful treatment to outright harassment and physical acts of violence. One hundred years after the enactment of the Chinese Exclusion Act, following decades of progress, society has taken one giant step back as new generations of Chinese Canadians fall victim to a new-found hate.
Since introducing Motion No. 63, I have heard from Asian communities from coast to coast to coast. In Montreal, traumatized shopkeepers in Chinatown witnessed a storefront vandalized with racist graffiti, but, out of fear and hopelessness, did not report it. In Calgary, a Filipino community leader is concerned that Asian professionals are hitting the bamboo ceiling, which is now lower than ever, in addition to facing tokenism and the unspoken “one is enough” rule. In Vancouver, a proud Canadian woman of Chinese descent is feeling the subtle but stinging threat of her loyalty to Canada being called into question, she says, because she was born in China.
These are, indeed, the racist realities faced by Asian Canadians, not a hundred years ago but today. That is why I implore the House to be bold and to take a stand. Let us send a strong message that Canada is no place for racism, racial discrimination or any other form of hatred.
On this 100th anniversary of the enactment of the Chinese Exclusion Act, let us acknowledge past mistakes and vow to never repeat them. We cannot escape a history that is stained by injustice, but we can use it to envision a future that engenders fairness.
