Early Chinese Resistance in Alberta

Chinese pioneers were undoubtedly treated as second-class citizens in Alberta. They were subjected to mob violence, schoolboy taunts, and vicious attacks by the local press. They were further oppressed by discriminatory policies that curtailed their life choices and eliminated their right to citizenship, to vote and to enter certain occupations. They were not helpless victims, however. On various occasions, early Chinese Albertans challenged and sometimes triumphed over unfair practices and racist acts of aggression.

In 1904, for example, Calgary’s city council tried to pass a by-law making it illegal for Chinese laundries to operate from downtown business streets. However, the council dismissed the proposal when the Chinese voiced objections.

Several years later Chinese Albertans opposed another racist plan and won. In 1910, several Chinese merchants bought land on Centre Street and Second Avenue South East to build a new Chinatown. A group of angry landholders, with property near the proposed area, called for another site to be chosen. Alderman James Short supported the landowners, stating: “The Chinese when they come to reside in a place ought to be treated the same as an infectious disease.” The Calgary Herald also hurled abuse at the Chinese calling them “undesirable” and likening them to a “festering sore.” [48]

In possibly the first Letter to the Editor by a Chinese Albertan, Merchant Louie Kheong wrote back a snappy retort.

I take your newspaper and see that some people in Calgary are saying some bad things about my countrymen here. This is not right. The Canadian government has given us the right to live here and pay our debts. We want to do honest business in Calgary, same as all men, and, Canada’s law will protect us. You send missionaries to our homes in China, and we use them good; also English businessmen. If my people are not good to live here, what good trying to make them go to heaven? Perhaps there will be only my people there.

After much deliberation and input form several prominent Chinese community members, the city planners decided to let the construction of the new Chinatown proceed as planned. [49]

In 1913, members of the Chinese community scored another victory. That year a group of Calgarians suggested that all Chinese residents be fingerprinted and photographed for easy identification. The outraged Chinese community held meetings and denounced the plan as undemocratic. The proposal was eventually dropped. [50]

The Chinese community was not so fortunate however in its efforts to repeal the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act, which prohibited immigration to Canada. Nevertheless, Chinese across the country sent telegrams to the Chinese Minister in London and the Consul General in Ottawa asking both to protest. A Chinese Association in Canada was soon organized to fight back. The Association sent a delegation to Parliament and later to the Senate to contest the bill. They argued that “the exclusion of wives and children of those Chinese already in Canada was unreasonable, unjust, and against the morality and well-being of society.” [51] Among the delegation was Ho Lem, a well-known Calgary merchant and activist. Though the campaign failed, it reveals the budding activism of the Chinese community.

In 1936 and 1937 Chinese Albertans helped organize another protest. During the Depression relief payments for unemployed Chinese were $1.12 per week while their white counterparts received $2.50 per week. With the help of the Communist Party of Canada, the Chinese picketed government offices to demand more aid and organized peaceful sit-down protests. The government eventually increased their payments to $2.12 per week –– still less than what unemployed whites received, but nevertheless a small triumph.[52]

Although Chinese activism has continued since then, these early examples demonstrate the fighting spirit of Alberta’s Chinese pioneers despite extreme subjugation.

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