43. MAY: ASIAN HERITAGE MONTH
May is Asian Heritage Month. Although this time “offers all Canadians an opportunity to learn more about the history of Asian Canadians” and has been around since 2002, I’ve only been aware of it for a couple of years. Now with the COVID-19 pandemic and physical distancing, even fewer recognitions this month are likely so this post is a nod to Asian heritage – Chinese heritage – in particular that of my parents and their legacy to me.
My father landed in Victoria, BC on December 23, 1918. The “General Register of Chinese Immigration” (January 22, 1919) lists him as Lee Tow Kin, age 14: travelling from his home village of Har Hung, District of Hoiping, China. Victoria, BC was his port of entry. He had travelled across the Pacific Ocean on the Suwa Maru. Toronto, ON was listed as his final destination.
The Register notes that my father – like other Chinese immigrants to Canada between the period 1885 to 1923 – paid an additional fee for being Chinese: more commonly known as the Chinese Head Tax. In my father’s case, his Head Tax payment was $500.
As a child, I recall seeing my father’s Head Tax certificate but when I reached that point in my adult years – when the past becomes of interest – the document could not be found.
Perhaps it was the death of my father in 1990 that propelled my interest. He was gone; I wanted to know more about his life but it was too late. I told my brother that I wanted the Head Tax certificate as a keepsake. He asked our mother. He searched the house but they concluded that the Head Tax certificate must have been among the papers that Father burned. He had believed the past was indeed that – done with.
In the early 2000s, work-related research first indirectly connected me with the Federal Immigration Detention Hospital (a.k.a. Immigration Building or “Piggery”) in Victoria, BC.
Although the information was generally interesting and personally relevant (I knew my father’s entry to Canada would have included retention in the Immigration Building), this was not the thread my research was following at the time. So, I filed it away in the back of my mind until more recently.
When my mother immigrated in 1948, her Canadian port of entry had been White Rock, BC. The Head Tax had been repealed in 1923 but was succeeded by the Exclusion Act: prohibiting entry of Chinese to Canada. The Exclusion Act had been repealed in 1947 and sponsorship of a wife and children by a Canadian citizen was permitted. However, to facilitate and assure her entry into Canada, she used a name and assumed an identity that were not hers. Her supporting documentation was likely purchased. (See “Paper Sons and Daughters” if you’re unfamiliar with this kind of arrangement.)
Much has been written about how the Chinese Head Tax and Exclusion Acts inflicted generational damage. My parents certainly never talked about it.
In 2006, Prime Minister Harper offered full apology for the Chinese Head Tax. By then my father was dead and my elderly mother who had never learned English was in care.
When I walk in James Bay – the neighbourhood of Victoria where I now live – I am free to pick where I go and how long I stay. Sometimes, I'll take the route past the former site of the Immigration Building. I can perceive it as the starting point of my family’s story in Canada: a story of adversity and/or a chapter of their legacy.
I've inherited my parents' resiliency founded on frugality, humility, determination, work ethic, resourcefulness, kindness, generosity, and esteem for education.
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