History of ’s Chinatown

Chinese miners arrive in British Columbia upon hearing that gold has been discovered in the Fraser Valley. Canadian census lists 4383 Chinese in . 4350 in BC, 22 in Ontario, 7 in Fearing that the CPR would not be completed on uebec, 4 in Manitoba. time, Prime Minister John A. MacDonald repeals the prohibition against imported Chinese labour. By the end of 1882 6500 Chinese men were employed in to complete the Rocky Mountain leg of the railway. It is estimated that 1 Chinese man died per mile The Chinese Immigration Act of 1885 requires that of track built through British Columbia. virtually all Chinese entering Canada pay a Head Tax of $50 per person. Chinese immigrants come mainly from 8 counties on the western side of the Pearl River The rst Chinese man arrives in Edmonton Delta in Guangdong Province; most come by stagecoach. “John Kee” comes from labouring or farming backgrounds. from Calgary with his brother to This pattern persists until the 1960s. set up a laundry. His brother returns to Calgary shortly aferwards leaving him the only Chinese person in a town of 600 people. The federal government raises the Head Tax to $100. Edmonton’s rst Chinatown consists of 13 men, 1 restaurant and 2 laundries clustered around Namayo Avenue (97 Street) and Rice Street (101A Avenue). The federal government raises the Head Tax to $500. This is the equivalent of 2 years wages for a labourer. Between 1885 and 1923 the Canadian government earns the modern equivalent of $1.5 billion from the Head Tax. Chinese population consists of 154 – 150 men and 4 women. Chinatown had spread north and east to cover 3 city blocks, and consists of 9 laundries, 1 barbershop, 2 restaurants and 6 Chinese population of Edmonton is 518 grocery and import businesses. (501 men, 17 women). They make up 1% of the city’s population. Chinatown expands eastward along Jasper Avenue from 98th The Chinese Immigration Act of 1923 (also Street to 95th Street. known as the Chinese Exclusion Act) nearly bans Chinese immigration to Canada. During the 24 years the Act is in place, only 44 Chinese are allowed to live in Canada. Some estimates place the China and Canada are allies during the number as low as 14 Chinese people. Second World War. Chinese ght with the Canadian armed forces and Chinese Canadian communities raise funds for the war efort. Chinese Canadians enlist despite the fact that Canadian Census reported that about 47% of the Chinese Immigration Act Canada's 35,000 Chinese lived in 5 deprived them of citizenship. metropolitan cities: Vancouver (7,880), Victoria (3,435), Toronto (2,559), Montreal (1,865), and Winnipeg (762). Over 90% of the metropolitan Chinese The Chinese Exclusion Act is population resided in and near Chinatowns. repealed afer the Second World War. However, restrictions on Chinese immigration to Canada remained, limiting new Chinese immigrants to family reunication The federal government revises the and only minor children. Immigration Act issuing one set of rules for all applicants from all countries. Immigration to Canada starts to increase. Only 260 residents remain in Edmonton’s Chinatown; 1/3 are seniors. There are 27 businesses in Chinatown concentrated on the west side of 97 Street between Jasper Avenue and 102 Avenue. Chinese Elders Mansion is built on 102 Avenue, between 96 and 95 Street. Support for this development comes from all levels of government. Chinatown plan is approved by Edmonton city council. It recommends that Chinatown be demolished and a ‘Replaced Chinatown’ be created in a 4 block area along 102 Avenue, between 95 and 96 Street. Edmonton’s historic Chinatown is bulldozed and replaced with Canada Place, the headquarters for the federal government’s regional oces. Chinatown North emerges as a new commercial district operating along 97 Street, between 105 and 108 Avenue. It consists of 25 businesses, including 6 restaurants, 5 grocery stores and 14 other businesses. The majority of these businesses are Harbin Gate is unveiled as a symbolic operated by Vietnamese Chinese or newly entrance to the Replaced Chinatown. immigrated Chinese from Hong Kong. Spanning 102 Avenue (Harbin Road) at 97 Street, the city of Harbin (Edmonton’s sister city in the People’s Republic of China) designed the gate and Chinatown North has 126 businesses, donated the decorative materials. ranging from restaurants and supermarkets, to beauty salons, women’s and children’s clothing stores and enterprises such as goldsmith The City of Edmonton constructs The and jewellery shops, serving primarily Gate of Happy Arrival across 97 Street Vietnamese-Chinese customers. close to the Avenue of Nations (107A Avenue). It was built to commemorate the arrival of the many Internal census reports that nearly 86% of Vietnamese and other the 1,346,510 Chinese Canadians live in 5 immigrants to the area. cities: Toronto (537,060), Vancouver Next to the arch is a circular (402,000), Montreal (82,665), mound with twelve decoration Calgary (75,410) and Edmonton columns, each depicting animals (53,670). Less than 40% of of the Asian zodiac. The lantern at the Chinese in Canada have come centre of the circle was later donated from the traditional counties on the Pearl by the Vietnamese-Canadian owner River Delta. The majority come from other of Lucky 97 Supermarket. provinces in China, from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam and other parts of the world.

唐人街發展協會 - Chinatown Transformation Collaborative Society o Edmonton -