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History

Challenges

Discrimination

Many Canadians discriminated against the Chinese. The Chinese looked different, spoke a different language, and brought their own ways of life with them from China. Many Canadians had never met a Chinese person and formed false opinions out of fear. If each group had known the other better perhaps there wouldn't have been as much prejudice.

Source
Article warning of the arrival of Chinese people in Port Moody, British Columbia

Some Canadians thought that the Chinese would take jobs away from them. Others had wrong or exaggerated ideas about the way the Chinese lived. They were accused of being dirty and disease carriers because of their crowded living conditions. Chinese workers were paid less than white workers because many people believed that the Chinese needed less to live on. They thought that the Chinese were content to live with less and would settle for food that lacked variety and quality. Because most early Chinese immigrants were men, people assumed they had no families to support. Many Chinese were called names and were victims of physical assault. Chinese could not even be buried in public cemeteries with non-Chinese.

Source		Source
Caricature, "The Heathen Chinee in British Columbia" from the Canadian Illustrated News, April 26, 1879		Newspaper article, "No Chinese Wanted Here," from the Whitehorse Star, June 28, 1902