1. The Chinese Immigration [Exclusion] Act, 1923 and the Structure of Anti-Chinese Racism in Canada
- Author
-
Stanley, Timothy J.
- Subjects
Canada. House of Commons -- Powers and duties ,Immigration policy -- Forecasts and trends ,Racism -- Analysis -- Laws, regulations and rules ,Chinese -- Emigration and immigration ,Emigration and immigration -- Laws, regulations and rules ,Government regulation ,Market trend/market analysis ,Ethnic, cultural, racial issues/studies ,History ,Literature/writing ,Canada. Chinese Immigration Act 1923 - Abstract
The Chinese Immigration Act, 1923, also known as the Chinese Exclusion Act, banned the entry of Chinese people to Canada and required all Chinese in Canada, including the Canadian born, to register with the government. The act devastated Chinese Canadian lives and communities. This paper applies two of Hannah Arendt's insights into the social organization of totalitarianism to understand how anti-Chinese racism has been structured. Focusing on the discourse of Asian/Chinese exclusion in the Canadian House of Commons and Senate in 1922 and 1923, the paper shows that the idea of Chinese exclusion was closely linked to the white supremacist vision of Canada that its land and resources were and should be the monopoly of people of European origins. As such, anti-Chinese racism was not just an ideology, or individual prejudices or ignorance, but it was a social structure that was integral to the making of the country, and whose invention can be traced historically. The historical activity of the Chinese in trying to stop the passing of the act brings the functioning of this social structure into sharp relief. The consequences of this structure continue today. Keywords: Racism, Chinese Canadians, social organization, settler colonialism, white supremacy. La loi sur l'immigration chinoise, 1923, egalement connue sous le nom de Loi sur l'exclusion des Chinois, a interdit l'entree des Chinois au Canada et a exige que tous les Chinois au Canada, y compris les personnes nees au Canada, s'inscrivent aupres du gouvernement. Cette loi a devaste les vies et les communautes des Canadiens d'origine chinoise. Cet article applique deux des idees d'Hannah Arendt sur l'organisation sociale du totalitarisme pour comprendre comment le racisme antichinois a ete structure. En se concentrant sur le discours de l'exclusion des Asiatiques et des Chinois a la Chambre des communes et au Senat canadiens en 1922 et 1923, l'article montre que l'idee de l'exclusion des Chinois etait etroitement liee a la vision supremaciste blanche du Canada, selon laquelle ses terres et ses ressources etaient et devaient etre le monopole des personnes d'origine europeenne. Ainsi, le racisme antichinois n'etait pas seulement une ideologie, des prejuges individuels ou de l'ignorance, c'etait une structure sociale qui faisait partie integrante de la construction du pays et dont l'invention peut etre retracee historiquement. L'activite historique des Chinois qui ont tente d'empecher l'adoption de la loi met en evidence le fonctionnement de cette structure sociale. Les consequences de cette structure se font encore sentir aujourd'hui. Mots-cles: Racisme, Canadiens chinois, organisation sociale, colonialisme de peuplement, supre-macie blanche., INTRODUCTION To be effective in fighting racisms, we need to understand how they structure everyday human interactions, and how they insulate those in dominant positions from the human consequences of [...]
- Published
- 2024