Pop: 25,000 Main Community: Chinatown
In 1858 the first Chinese workers entered British Columbia to build the CPR. White workers weren?t receptive to the Orientals who were paid less. Skilled Chinese workers on the CPR were paid the same as unskilled white workers. In 1885 the CPR was completed and new Chinese immigrants had to pay a tax of $50 to enter Canada. This infamous Head tax was soon raised to $500 and it still only applied to Chinese immigrants. When Canada removed the Head tax in 1923 it imposed huge restrictions on who could enter the country, which virtually ended growth in the Chinese community. Once the CPR was completed many of the Chinese workers moved east. They had little choice and Montreal was Canada?s biggest city so many settled there. In 1901 there were 1,033 Chinese men in Montreal and 4 women, even by 1951 the ratio was still 3:1. Despite many hardships Montreal?s Chinese community slowly evolved but was still mistrusted until the bombing at pearl harbor when Canada suddenly found a new ally in China and overnight Chinese Canadians were no longer aliens. |