Chinese Canadians

Kristen Kreuk Patrick Chan Andrea Jung Jim Chu Mira Leung Adrienne Clarkson
Total population
1,346,510 (2006)[1] 3.9% of the Canadian population
Regions with significant populations
Toronto • Vancouver • Montreal • Edmonton • Calgary • Ottawa
Languages
Canadian English • Quebec French Cantonese • Mandarin • Min Chinese • Hakka various other Chinese dialects
Religion
Buddhism • Taoism • Christianity non-religious and others[2]
Related ethnic groups
Hong Kong Canadians • Taiwanese Canadians Overseas Chinese

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Chinese Canadians are Canadians of Chinese descent. They constitute the second-largest visible minority group in Canada, after South Asian Canadians. Canada contains one of the largest populations of overseas Chinese, and has the second largest population of Chinese people outside of Asia, after the United States.

People of Chinese descent, including mixed Chinese and other ethnic origin, make up about four percent of the Canadian population, or about 1.3 million people. Most of them are concentrated within the provinces of British Columbia and Ontario. The five metropolitan areas with the largest Chinese Canadian populations are the Greater Toronto Area (537,060), Metro Vancouver (402,000), Greater Montreal (120,000)^[3], Calgary Region (75,410), and the Edmonton Capital Region (53,670).

History

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The gate to Montreal's Chinatown

The first record of Chinese in what is known as Canada today can be dated back to 1788. The renegade British Captain James Meares hired a group of roughly 70 Chinese carpenters from Macau and employed them to build a ship the North West America, at Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, then an increasingly important European outpost on the Pacific coast. When the shipbuilding was done, Meares relocated the Chinese to San Blas, Mexico,

The first substantial wave of Chinese immigrants into the British colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia began in 1858 with the onset of the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush and a mass migration from the California gold fields. Most of these Chinese were "sojourners" in a sense, in that most of them planned on returning to their homeland after working in British North America for a period of time. Many came to British Columbia as common labourers and most were paid only in vouchers and mats of rice^[4] so they were captives of the Chinese-owned firms that imported them. Gold rushes elsewhere in the British Columbia Interior also attracted a significant number of miners, many of them defectors from the railway camps, many of whom engaged in ranching and farming as well as mercantile pursuits. Chinese ranchers and farmers controlled large amounts of land in the BC Interior, and were the dominant ownership of the region's gold mines after the initial gold rushes waned. Chinese freight companies were also notable in all the gold rushes, as well as merchants of all kinds.

Many workers from Guangdong Province arrived to help build the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 19th century as did Chinese veterans of the gold rushes. These workers accepted the terms offered by the Chinese labour contractors who were engaged by the railway construction company to hire them - low pay, long hours, lower wages than non-Chinese workers and dangerous working conditions, in order to support their families that stayed in China. Their willingness to endure hardship for low wages enraged fellow non-Chinese workers who thought they were unnecessarily complicating the labour market situations. From the passage of the Chinese Immigration Act in 1885, the Canadian government began to charge a substantial Head Tax for each Chinese person trying to immigrate to Canada. The Chinese were the only ethnic group that had to pay such a tax.

In 1923, the federal Liberal government of William Lyon Mackenzie King banned Chinese immigration with the passage of the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923, although numerous exemptions for businessmen, clergy, students and others did not end immigration entirely.^[5] With this act, the Chinese received similar legal treatment to blacks before them who Canada also had specifically excluded from immigration on the basis of race. (This was formalised in 1911 by Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier who in Sub-section (c) of Section 38 of the Immigration Act called blacks "unsuitable" for Canada.) During the next 25 years, more and more laws against the Chinese were passed. Most jobs were closed to Chinese men and women,^{[citation needed]}. Many Chinese opened their own restaurants and laundry businesses. In British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Ontario, Chinese employers were not allowed to hire white females, so most Chinese businesses became Chinese-only.^[6]

Some of those Chinese Canadian workers settled in Canada after the railway was constructed. Most could not bring the rest of their families, including immediate relatives, due to government restrictions and enormous processing fees. They established Chinatowns and societies in undesirable sections of the cities, such as Dupont Street (now East Pender) in Vancouver, which had been the focus of the early city's red-light district until Chinese merchants took over the area from the 1890s onwards.

During the Great Depression, life was even tougher for the Chinese than it was for other Canadians.^{[citation needed]} In Alberta, for example, Chinese-Canadians received relief payments of less than half the amount paid to other Canadians. And because The Chinese Exclusion Act prohibited any additional immigration from China, the Chinese men who had arrived earlier had to face these hardships alone, without the companionship of their wives and children.

Census data from 1931 shows that there were 1,240 men to every 100 women in Chinese-Canadian communities. To protest The Chinese Exclusion Act, Chinese-Canadians closed their businesses and boycotted Dominion Day celebrations every July 1, which became known as “Humiliation Day” by the Chinese-Canadians.^[7]

Chinese-Canadian soldiers from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, serving in the Second World War

Canada was slow to lift the restrictions against the Chinese-Canadians and grant them full rights as Canadian citizens. Because Canada signed the United Nations' Charter of Human Rights at the conclusion of the Second World War, the Canadian government had to repeal the Chinese Exclusion Act, which contravened the UN Charter. The same year, 1947, Chinese-Canadians were finally granted the right to vote in federal elections. But it took another 20 years, until the points system was adopted for selecting immigrants, that the Chinese began to be admitted under the same criteria as any other applicants.

After many years of organized calls for an official Canadian government public apology and redress to the historic Head tax, the minority Conservative government of Stephen Harper announced as part of their pre-election campaign, an official apology. On June 22, 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivered a message of redress in the House of Commons, calling it a "grave injustice".

Some educated Chinese arrived in Canada during the war as refugees. Since the mid-20th century, most new Chinese Canadians come from university-educated families, one of whose most essential values is still quality education. These newcomers are a major part of the "Brain gain" the inverse of the infamous "Brain drain", i.e., Canadians leaving to the United States of America, of which Chinese have also been a part.

Chinese Indonesians and Chinese Malaysians first arrived in Canada in 1960s during anti-Chinese riots in their respective home countries. From 1970s – 1999, many more Indonesians and Malaysians of Chinese origin settled in Canada. Many Chinese from Vietnam, Laos and Kampuchea came to Canada as refugees in the aftermath of the Vietnam War.

Many Chinese from Latin America also came in large numbers, especially those from Nicaragua who fled from the dictatorial Somoza rule and following the 1972 earthquake. Chinese-Peruvians fled Peru for political reasons. They mostly settled in Canada's large cities.

From the late 1980s, an influx of Taiwanese people immigrated to Canada forming a group of Taiwanese Canadians. The settled in areas such as Vancouver, British Columbia and to the adjacent cities of Burnaby, Richmond and Coquitlam.

There was a significant influx of wealthy Chinese from Hong Kong in the early and mid-1990s before the handover of Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China (PRC). Canada was a preferred location, in part because investment visas were significantly easier to obtain than visas to the United States. Vancouver, Richmond and Toronto were the major destinations of these Chinese. During those years, immigrants from Hong Kong alone made up to 46% of all Chinese immigrants to Canada.^{[citation needed]} After 1997, a significant portion of Chinese immigrants chose to move back to Hong Kong, some of a more permanent nature, after the dust of the handover was settled and fears of a "Communist takeover" turned out to be unnecessary.

In the 21st century, Chinese immigration from Hong Kong has dropped sharply and the largest source of Chinese immigration is from the mainland China. A smaller number have arrived from Taiwan and very small numbers from Fiji, French Polynesia, and New Zealand.^[8]

Demography

In 2001, 25% of Chinese in Canada were Canadian-born.^[9]

Chinese population by province/territory

Toronto, Ontario has the largest Chinese Canadian population in Canada.

Vancouver, British Columbia is home to the second largest Chinese Canadian community in Canada.

In Richmond (part of the Greater Vancouver metropolitan area in Canada), 44% of the population is Chinese.^[10] .

The Chinese Canadian Population according to Statistics Canada in the 2006 census in the 10 Canadian Provinces and 3 territories:^[11]

Province	Chinese
Ontario	644,465[12]
British Columbia	432,435[13]
Alberta	137,600[14]
Quebec	91,900[15]
Manitoba	17,930[16]
Saskatchewan	11,100[17]
Nova Scotia	5,140[18]
New Brunswick	2,895[19]
Newfoundland and Labrador	1,650[20]
Yukon	545[21]
Northwest Territories	470[22]
Prince Edward Island	300[23]
Nunavut	80[20]
Canada	1,346,510

Canadian cities with large Chinese Populations:^[24]

Language

In 2001, 87% of Chinese reported having a conversational knowledge of at least one official language, while 15% reported that they could speak neither English nor French. Of those who could not speak an official language, 50% immigrated to Canada in the 1990s, while 22% immigrated in the 1980s. These immigrants tended to be in the older age groups. Of prime working-age Chinese immigrants, 89% reported knowing at least one official language.^[9]

In 2001, collectively, Chinese languages are the third-most common reported mother tongue, after English and French. 3% of the Canadian population, or 872,000 people, reported the Chinese language as their mother tongue — the language that they learned as a child and still understand. The most common Chinese mother tongue is Cantonese. Of these people, 44% were born in Hong Kong, 27% were born in Guangdong Province in China, and 18% were Canadian-born. The second-most common reported Chinese mother tongue was Mandarin. Of these people, 85% were born in either Mainland China or Taiwan, 7% were Canadian-born, and 2% were born in Malaysia. There is some evidence that fewer young Chinese-Canadians are speaking their parents' and grandparents' first language.

However, only about 790,500 people reported speaking a Chinese language at home on a regular basis, 81,900 fewer than those who reported having a Chinese mother tongue. This suggests some language loss has occurred, mainly among the Canadian-born who learned Chinese as a child, but who may not speak it regularly or do not use it as their main language at home. ^[9]

Immigration

As of 2001, almost 75% of the Chinese population in Canada lived in either Toronto or Vancouver. The Chinese population was 17% in Vancouver and 9% in Toronto.^[9] More than 50% of the Chinese immigrants who just arrived in 2000/2001 reported that their reason for settling in a given region was because their family and friends already lived there.

Socieconomics

Education

Chinese Canadians make up upwards of 25% of graduates of some of the most top notch, prestigious universities in Canada. For instance, at the University of British Columbia, Canadians of Chinese origin account for 40% of the undergraduate student body as of 2010, over four times the proportion of Chinese Canadians in British Columbia (9.5%).^[25][26][27]

In a 2010 MacLeans Report citing that many Canadian Universities have simply become "Too Asian" citing

Chinese people historically had a high respect for formal education. Many scholars believe that the educational systems of East-Asian countries have contributed to the rapid economic growth in that part of the world. In particular, cultural values, beliefs and attitudes towards education play an important role in students' educational performance. These can be summarized in three aspects: (1) academic achievement as the central goal of Japanese and Chinese education, (2) group orientation towards learning and (3) parents' and teachers' high expectations of the child, with emphasis on the child's personal efforts.^[29]

Children's scholastic achievement occupies a more central position in Chinese schools than in the United States or in Canada. For North-American adults, success is generally measured by the ability to hold a good job with good pay and a good chance for promotion. In China, personal achievement has traditionally been measured by academic achievement. In North American societies more recent educational philosophies stress the process rather than the product, and educators (and parents) value experiences that stimulate the child's thinking and establish an extensive basis of general knowledge, regardless of whether or not the child actually masters a certain body of knowledge or a specific skill. Canadian mothers are more likely to be satisfied with their children's school performance than Asian mothers, and American teachers tend to agree that students should be evaluated against their own abilities rather than against pre-established performance criteria or standards.^[29]

Reflecting the high value traditionally put on education by Chinese culture and education as the top priority for Chinese immigrant parents and with academic achievement is viewed as one of greatest hallmarks of Chinese civilization, Chinese-Canadians tend to be better educated and earn a higher income more than Canadians as a whole.^[30]

In 1986, the Canadian census shows that as many as 45 percent of foreign-born Chinese Canadians and 57 percent of the Canadian-born have had some post-secondary instruction. Undoubtedly, the emphasis of Canadian immigration policy since the 1960s on educational and occupational qualifications favoured those with professional and technical training. The large percentage of native-born Chinese Canadians with university education probably reflects the assistance provided to them by their immigrant parents and the aspirations of Chinese-Canadian families.^[31]

According to Multicultural Canada, Chinese-Canadians were more than twice as likely as other Canadians (7.9 percent) to have completed university. Data from the 1986 census confirm that over 17 per cent of Chinese Canadians had done so and that the foreign- and native-born Chinese with university education were equally likely to have reached that educational level.^[31]

In 2001, 40% of second-generation and 31% (overall for first and second generation) Chinese Canadians received a bachelor's degree compared with just 18% of the Canadian national average.^[32]

StatCan reported in 2001 that 27.1% of Canadians of Chinese origin aged 15 and over had either a bachelor's or post-graduate degree, compared with 15% of the overall adult population.^[33]

Canadians of Chinese origin are particularly likely to have a post-graduate degree than other Canadians. In 2001, adults of Chinese origin made up 3% of the overall Canadian population, but represented 9% of all those with a Doctorate and 7% of those with a Master’s degree. Canadians of Chinese origin also represent a high proportion of those with degrees in highly technical fields. In the same year, people of Chinese origin made up 6% of all university graduates in Canada, while they represented 12% of those with degrees in mathematics, physics or computer science, and 11% of those in engineering or applied science. As in the overall population, men of Chinese origin have somewhat more education than women of Chinese origin. For example, 31% of men of Chinese origin had a university degree in 2001, compared to 24% of their female counterparts ^[34]

However, women of Chinese origin are considerably more likely than other women to have a university degree. In 2001, 24% of women of Chinese origin were university graduates, compared to 15% of all Canadian women. Young people of Chinese origin are more likely than other young Canadians to be attending university.^[33]

In 2002, the Ethnic Diversity Survey Study conducted by the University of Alberta, cited that 59.4% of Chinese Canadians completed a bachelor's degree compared with just 37.6% for the general Canadian population conducted among the various ethnic groups in the study.^[35]

In 2006, 2nd generation visible minority Chinese immigrants are getting much more education than other ethnic groups in Canada as 60.3 per cent of Chinese immigrants possessed a University certificate, the second highest after Korean immigrants. 44.7% of second-generation Chinese Canadians between the ages of 25-44 completed a bachelors degree and 15.6% of adult Chinese Canadians possess a master’s, doctorate or other professional degree compared with just 32.6% and 13.5% for all visible minorities.^[30]

Employment

Canadians of Chinese origin make up a high proportion of all Canadians employed in scientific and technical occupations. In 2001, people who reported Chinese origins made up 3% of all workers, while they represented 7% of people employed in the natural and applied sciences despite comprising a mere 3% of the Canadian population at the time. People of Chinese origin also represent a relatively moderately higher proportion of those employed in business, financial and administrative positions, as well as in manufacturing. At the same time, their representation in other occupational groups such as health and education was proportionately lower.^[36]

Among second-generation Canadians between the ages of 20 and 29, 34% of Canadians of Chinese descent worked in high-skilled occupations (white collar professions those requiring a university degree).^[37]

According to a SSTA Research Center Report conducted by Naijian Chen, there are three times as many Chinese-Canadians in Calgary had obtained university degrees than would be expected from their total number in the population. Chen also stated that most Chinese-Canadian graduates of the University of Calgary had majored in engineering, physics, and the life sciences. Chen cites this as the children of minority immigrants tend to align their career aspirations to demands of the Canadian labor market and their visible minority status. To avoid competing with the Canadian mainstream society, 2nd generation Chinese Canadian children of immigrants are encouraged to excel in math and science subjects so as to take up professions in engineering, medicine, computer science and other technical fields.^[38]

At the University of British Columbia, Canadians of Chinese origin make upwards 15.4% of the faculty and staff, almost four times the proportion of Chinese Canadians in Canada (3.9%) as of 2010.^[26]

Canadians of Chinese origin are also about as likely as those in the overall workforce to be self-employed with an incorporated business. In 2001, people of Chinese, who represented 3% of the total Canadian workforce, made up 4% of self-employed people who owned an incorporated business. In contrast, the representation of Canadians of Chinese origin among unincorporated self-employed workers was relatively low.^[33]

Income

Because of the their high educational attainment rates and large presence in many white collar professions, Chinese Canadians tend to have a higher average income than most Canadians. The 2007 Canadian Chinese Media Monitor report released on behalf of Fairchild TV in the Metropolitan Toronto area shows that 68% of Chinese Canadians have an annual household income over $45,000 CAD with 27% of Chinese Canadian families reporting a household income of over $100,000. 14% of Chinese Canadian families have household income of less than $25,000 CAD annually.^[39]

In the same study done for Chinese Canadians living in the Metro Vancouver area shows that 57% of Chinese Canadians have an annual household income over $45,000 CAD with 17% of Chinese Canadian families in Metro Vancouver area reporting a household income of over $100,000. 21% of Chinese Canadian families have household income of less than $25,000 CAD annually.^[40]

Out of the ten visible minority subgroups, Chinese Canadians have the second highest average income for full-time, full-year employment in 2000. However, their earnings were below those of the non-visible minority population. At an average income of $40,817, their earnings were equivalent to 93% of the non-visible minority earnings.^[41]

Canadian-born and cultural expectations

The majority of Canadian-born Chinese during the 1970s and 1980s were descended from immigrants of Hong Kong and Southern China, and more recently from mainland Chinese immigrants. Canadian-born Chinese, also known as Chinese-Canadians identify themselves as primarily Canadian, primarily Chinese, or a combination of the both. In Canada, strong feelings of ethnic heritage is bolstered by the clustering of Chinese communities in large urban centers like Toronto and Vancouver, as many Chinese-Canadians associate nearly exclusively with their ethnic compatriots. However, many Chinese-Canadians also choose to seek associates outside the Chinese community, toward more multicultural groups of friends and associates.

Culturally, many Chinese-born Canadians are brought up with a more Confucianist-style upbringing, emphasizing filial piety, emphasis on education and academic achievement, strong family values, self-reliance (such as the importance of savings and investing), taking care of the parents when they're old and other "traditional Chinese values", which may conflicts, integrate or mix with the liberal Canadian society and education system in general.

High educational expectations as a cultural phenomenon and the essence of Confucian philosophy. With this cultural pride, they frequently referred to classical Confucian tenets to justify their parenting beliefs and practice. High Chinese parental expectations and children striving for excellence are not only individually and psychologically driven, but largely a collective function of their family, community, and society at large. Chinese cultural expectations hold both the authority of tradition and hope for the future. In a context where everyone respects education, Chinese parents regard achievement as a family honor, and view success as a source of happiness.

Notable Chinese Canadians

See List of Chinese Canadians.

Media

List of Chinese language media outlets in Canada:

• CHKG-FM
• CHMB (AM)
• CJVB (AM)
• Cathay International Television
• Chinavision Canada
• The Epoch Times
• Fairchild Group
• Fairchild TV
• CHKT (AM)
• Ming Pao Daily News (Canada)
• Sing Tao Daily (Canada)
• Talentvision
• Today Daily News (Canada)
• World Journal (Canada)

See also

	Canada portal
	China portal

• Asian Canadian
• Chinese American
• Chinese emigration
• Jook-sing
• Overseas Chinese
• Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Ottawa

References

Sources

• Pon, Gordon. "Antiracism in the Cosmopolis: Race, Class, and Gender in the Lives of Elite Chinese Canadian Women", Social Justice, vol. 32 (4): pp. 161–179 (2005)
• Lindsay, Colin. The Chinese Community in Canada, Profiles of Ethnic Communities in Canada, 2001, Social and Aboriginal Statistics Division, Statistics Canada, Catalog #89-621-XIE (ISBN 0-662-43444-7)
• Li, Peter S. "Chinese". Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples (Toronto: Multicultural History Society of Ontario, 1999).

Library resources

• Chinese Canadian Genealogy at the Vancouver Public Library
• Chinese-Canadians: Profiles from a Community - Vancouver Public Library wiki
• Historic Chinese Language Materials in British Columbia (加華文獻聚珍)
• Multicultural Canada website

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Canadians of Chinese descent

• Asian Canadian Community-Chinese
• Chinese Canadian National Council
• Chinese Canadian Historical Society of British Columbia
• History of Chinese in Canada
• History of the Chinese Head Tax & Exclusion Act
• National Film Board - Documentary "In The Shadow of Gold Mountain", detailing the history of abuse against Chinese Canadians
• CBC Digital Archives - A Tale of Perseverance: Chinese Immigration to Canada
• Timeline of Important Events in the History of the Chinese in Canada
• 100 influential Chinese Canadians in British Columbia (October 2006)
• Alphabetical List of Persons: A to L, Alphabetical List of Persons: L to S Alphabetical List of Persons, S to Z

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