Asian Minorities in Canada: Focusing on Chinese and Japanese People Jeong Mi Lee A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Graduate Department of East Asian Studies University of Toronto O Copyright by Jeong Mi Lee 1999 National Library Bibliothèque nationale du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington OnawaON K1AW OnawaON K1AW Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing tk exclusive permettant a la National Lïbrary of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfichelfilm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or othenvise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. Asian Minorities in Canada: Focusing on Chinese and Japanese People Master of Arts, 1999 Jeong Mi Lee Department of East Asian Studies University of Toronto Abstract Canada consists of immigrants from al1 over the world - and it creates diverse cultures in one society. Arnong them, Asian immigrants from China and Japan have especially experienced many difficulties in the early period. However, they overcame those obstacles andarenowspendtheirlivesinthenewland. HowChinese and Japanese minorities created their lives from the early period to present interests me because 1 am also a member of a minority, as a Korean resident in Japan. Also, 1 would like to examine how the policyofmulticulturalisrnhas contributedtothelives of those minorities in Canada. This thesis looks at the period of the early immigrants from China and Japan before World War 11, and how they have created a new life in a new land far from their home countries. 1 also look brieflyatthehistoryofmulticulturalismandhowmulticulturalism functions in Canada. iii Table of Contents Introduction Canadafs Diverse Ethnic Groups .......................................................... 1 1 . Early rmiaigrants from China and Japan Worldwide situation of migration ...................................................... Situation in Canada: active recruitment of immigrants ...... Asian values ...............................-..................................................................... 11 . Chinese Inmigrants Situation in China in the Late 17~~Century .. .................-.....-.... Hard work and discrimination in Canada ....... -.-.-...-.. .... ............-.. The struggle against unfair t reatment ..-.......-......- .......-.. .........- .. III . Japanese Immigrants 1 . Reasons to emigrate ..................................-..........-.-..................... .. .......... 29 2 . The Japanese society in Canada .....-... .............-.-..... ............................... 33 3 . The Vancouver Riot in 1907 and its aftermath ................................... 36 4 a As enemies of Canada ..........................-.-.......-... ... ............. .............. 4 0 5 . Fighting back against the unfairness ...........-................. ...............-. 4 7 IV . To the New Era 1 . Chinese minorities after World War II ........-.......... -.......-.-.-....-.. 51 2 . Generation changes among Chinese community ..-.............-.-.............. 52 3 . Chinatowns in Canada ..-.-.........................-.......-.................. ..................... 55 4 . Japanese minorities after World War II: obstacles ...........-.. 58 5 . Generation Change among Japanese minorit ies ..............-.-....-.-..... 61 V . Multiculturalism in Canada 1 . What is multiculturalism? ...............................-.-.......... "... ....................... 64 2 . Coexistence of English and French .....-.-.......-.-....-.-.-.- .-. ... .. .-......... 68 3 . Multiculturalism: as off icial policies ..-.......... -.-.-....... - ................. 69 4 . Mult iculturalism: education .............. .. .. 72 Conclusion To the Future .............................. .. -.....-. ........... 7 5 Bibliography ................-...........-....-...-.................-....-.-.-...-.........-....-.... -...-.-.-. -...-.- . 8 1 Introduction Canada's Diverse Ethnic Groups Canada is regarded as one of the most ethnically diverse countries intheworldandhas been calledthe nation of "the ethnic mosaic". Another country in North America, the United States, whose population also consists of immigrants from many countries, is called "the nation of the racial melting pot". The difference betweer, the two nations in terms of the relationship of various ethnic groups and the government is that the Canadian government more positively allows people in the country to maintain and live in their own cultures brought from their home countries. In order to distinguish them further, Canada's 1971 multiculturalismpolicyinitiatedbythe Trudeau governmentcannot be ignored. The policytolerates people possessingmanydifferent cultures, even though it may face some serious issues on accepting "othsr things". There are many ethnic groups around this country and many particular communities. Take the city of Toronto, said to be "Little Canadaf', for example. Many ethnic villages exist evexywhere in the city, and many different languages can be heard on every street. Toronto would never stand out without those villages, whlch double the attractiveness of the city. According to Ramsey Cook, one of the CO-authors of Canada: A-, A-, ".-.Instead hard work, careful thought, and tolerance were the ingredients that went into the building of the country. "' Indeed, the Canadian government has accepted many immigrants from the world over, but at the same tirne, the government met many conflicts between those rnembers. In other words, the history of Canada can be said to be a history of both toleration and conflicts between majority and minority. The members were called "immigrants"inthe firstplace; theyhavebecome"minorities"after the firstgenerationenteredthe countrydespitenumerousbarriers. The government of Canada started to accept more immigrants from 211 over the world in 1896 when Sir Wilfrid Laurier from the Liberal Party became the Prime Minister in the same year. At that time, the Laurier government wanted to reclaim the western land, and the governmentneededto havemorepeopletodo so. Sincethen, immigrants fromBritain and France as wellas manyotherirnrnigrants fromeverycountry, includinga numberofimmigrants fromEastAsian countries, have corne to Canada and set up their communities to seek a new and better life. 1 am very interested in the history of Asian minorities in Cook, Ramsey and et al. Canada:tory. Toronto: Clarke, Irwin & Company Limited, 1963. Preface Canada because 1 amalso a minority, thethird generation (strictly speaking 2.5 generation) of a Korean resident in Japan. My father went £rom the northern part of Korea when he was in his 20s to attend a Japanese university, and my rnother was born in Japan and grew upthereherentirelife. Myfathersetuphis ownbusinessinTokyo, and my mother worked as one of the assistant accountants in a Korean-owned office in Tokyo. From my parents' youth, f oreigners in Japan have experienced much inconvenience in daily life. In the TV interview I saw one day, one of the foreign students from Thailand accused a local landlordof discrimination. Whenhetriedto rendanapartmentnear his school and talk to a landlord, he was denied a room (1 believe the landlord denied him was because he was from Asian country). Afteranargument,thelandlordaskedhimwhathewasdoing inJapan. He replied he was a graduate student at the University of Tokyo, one of the best universities in Japan. After that, the landlord suddenly changed his mind and said "Oh, 1 think there is only one room available". The government of Japan, proudly claiming itself a "racially homogeneous nation", enforces unjusttreatmentof foreigners. For instance, thegovernmentofJapanneverallows students fromforeign high schools in Japan, such as Korean schools and international schools, to take the entrance exans of the national universities although their curriculums are equal to Japanese high schools. Moreover, those students never get an ordinaxy student discount cornmuter pass, but have to pay a higher rate. It seems that the government still treats foreign systems as a cause for exclusion. However, the government of Japan has gradually become more open to "outsiders" (non-Japanese), and its policies towards foreigners have slowly tended to loosen. A few years ago, the notorious fingerprintingonthe certificate ofalien registration, which must be carried al1 the time, was abolished only for Korean residents who were born and brought up in Japan. However, al1 foreigners of temporary residence still need to fingerprint (left forefinger) it. Even though there are some improvements towards foreigners, many issues still confront them. Unlike the goverment of Japan, the government of Canada has actually been facing many issues of minorities for more than decades; therefore, Canada's policies towards minorities are one of the best examples of how to accept those new members, systems,