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Chinese Head Tax
This event started in 1885 but, ended in 1923, under the Chinese Immigration Act of 1885. Later, when the tax was removed from the act it was not allowed for Chinese people to immigrate to Canada, until 1947. The tax started at 50$ but rose as the years went by. Also there were certificates that the Chinese immigrants had was proof of the tax and it also had the name, place and date of arrival, and amounts that were paid. -
The Chinese Immigration Act
This act made it mandatory for Chinese migrants to pay tax to come to Canada. There were also many restriction such as, for every 50 tons of a ships total weight it can only have 1 Chinese passenger. Amendments were also made throughout the years. For instance, a Chinese woman married to a non-Chinese man did not have to pay the tax. -
Komagata Maru Incident
The Komagata Maru was a steamship that had carried 376 passengers wanting to become immigrants of Canada. Sadly, 352 people were not able to become immigrants of Canada, meaning that on 24 of the passengers were accepted into Canada. The 352 people that were left had to return to India. These people were 3 different groups of people. They were the Sikhs, muslims, and Hindus. There were several other incidents like this that excluded immigrants from Asia from entering Canada using exclusion laws. -
Internment of Ukrainian Canadians
The Ukrainian Canadian people were put in internment camps because of the War Measures Act being put in place. These people were considered "enemy aliens" because they were citizens of the Ukraine and Canada was legally at war with the Ukraine. In addition, some of the people were kept in the internment camps for about 2 years post the war. Although many of the people were hired by private companies. These people still had to report to the police officials on a regular basis. -
Internment of Italian Canadians
There were about 700 Italian Canadian men that were arrested. Some of these men were kept for 5 years while some were released, but those released had to check in with the RCMP monthly. These people were only issued an apology from the former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. They were not given compensation. -
Interment of Japanese Canadian
There had always been racism and prejudice against the Japanese Canadians ever since immigration begun. When the country Japan declared war on the US it caused fear in caucasian Canadians towards the Japanese immigrants. Racism became more evident in the Japanese peoples lives. As, this racism escalated the government decided to place the most of Japanese people to internment camps. Also all of the possessions of these people owned were not returned to them. -
Refugees Being Added to Immigrant Category
Refugees were added to the immigrant categories in order protect those in harms way and are in need of somewhere safe. Becoming one of the groups in the Immigration act helped to accept more refugees more consistently, rather than on when in a crisis. Before the Immigration Act, only when there were specific world crises Canada gave shelter to refugees during the 1950s to 60s. -
Immigration Act
This act focused on who could immigrant to Canada based on points such as, qualifications, age, living situation ect. Also it had regulations that gave provinces a chance to set there own laws about people coming into their province. People who were became a problem on the social welfare or health services were denied to keep Canada safe. -
Singh Decision
This historical point occurred when Mr. Santam Singh came to Canada wanting to become a refugee under the Immigration Act but, was rejected. Mr. Singh was not permitted to appeal to the courts in person about the decision of his case. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms was already in place at this time so, the Supreme court saw this to be against Mr. Singh's right that "Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of except in accordnce with the principles of fundamental justice." -
The Canadian Multiculturalism Act
The purpose of this act was to preserve and enhance all of the different cultures in Canada. Former Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau wanted Canada to be a place where all languages, beliefs, ect. were respected in society. Although, also former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney was the one who enacted this act. This act recognizes points such as, heritage and how heritage must be protected and, english and french being the official languages, but other languages are still allowed to be spoken. -
Immigration and Refugee Protection Act
The act is basically guidelines that the government put in place in regards to the benefit of the foreign people immigrating to the country. This act has the following as one of the objectives; Save lives and offer protection to people who are displaced and persecuted. The Immigration Act of 1967 later replaced this act. -
Creation of Immigration Categories
There are four immigration groups in Canada. Economic immigrants are the best educated and skilled people, being about 55% of the immigrants each year. The family class is 28% of the immigrants and are the family of already existing immigrants in Canada. This is a category because the government want the people to have a happy life in Canada. Refugees are the next group being 13% of the immigrants. These are people who are escaping horrible lives. The last group would be other having only 4%.
