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Chinese Head Tax
The Chinese Head Tax was put into affect in 1885 and ended in 1923. It followed the Chinese Immigration Act. The Chinese Head Tax required all Chinese wanting to come to Canada to pay a $50 fine, which was later raised to $100, then to $500. The reason that the tax was put into Canada's immigration system is because over 15,000 Chinese immigrant came to Canada to help build the Canadian Pacific Railway. When the tax ended in 1923, Chinese immigration was banned until 1947 -
Komagata Maru Incident
The Komagata Maru was a Japanese ship carrying mainly Indians in the attempt to immigrate them into Canada. However, when they got to Canada, only 24 were admitted out of 376. The other 352 people were forced to return to India. Later, they were all allowed into Canada -
Internment of Ukrainian Canadians
In 1914, Canada was at war with Austria-Hungary. About 4000 Ukrainian Canadians were kept in internment camps. About 80,000 were not kept in these camps, however they were still considered "Enemy Aliens" and often had been reported to the police. In 1917, they were able to leave the camps to become paid workers, but only the jobs no one else wanted, such as farms, mines, and railways. -
Internment of Italian Canadians
Italian-Canadian internment started when Italy declared war on Canada, June 10th 1940. Soon after they declared war, Ernest Lapointe, the Minister of Justice, labeled thousands of Italian Canadians as "Enemy Aliens". About 500 people were interned as a result, and they also took away their homes and sold it to the RCMP. Many Italian Canadians were in a fascist organization, which Canada deemed illegal at the time. -
Internment of Japanese Canadians
Japanese Canadian internment happened during the invasion of Hong Kong and Malaya, and the attack on Pearl Harbor. They forced Japanese Canadians to have government set curfews and interrogations, along with job and property losses. The Canadian Government shut down all Japanese news papers, and took possession of businesses and personal property, such as boats, vehicles, and other personal items belonged to the Japanese. -
Creation of Immigration Categories
The Immigration Act 1976 created the four categories of immigrants. It focused on letting people into Canada, instead of keeping them out. The categories included: Refugees, Family, Assisted Relatives, and Independent Immigrants. Every class had to pass criminal, security, and health checks. However, the Independent Immigrant class was the only one to require the point system in order to get into Canada. -
Immigration Act
The Immigration Act was made in 1976, but came into affect in 1978. It made sure that instead of keeping people out of Canada, they focused on letting people in. Instead of judging people on their race, religion, sexuality, etc, they judged them on if they were a burden to society. This act also created four new classes of immigrants: Refugees, Family, Assisted Relatives, and Independent Immigrants. -
Refugees being added as an immigration category
The Immigration Act in 1976 was the first to recognize refugees as an immigration category. It came into effect 2 years later, April 1st 1978. The act also entrenched the definition of refugee. By mid 1979, nearly 1.5 million refugees fled their homes to come to Canada. -
Singh decision
Satnam Singh was an Indian man seeking refuge in Canada, but they refused to let him in or allow him to state his case to the Canadian government. However, he took this case to court and the Supreme Court of Canada states that this violated section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It says "Everyone has the right to live, liberty and security of the person, and the right not to be deprived..." They say that everyone means everyone- every person physically present in Canada. -
Immigration and Refugee Protection Act
This act establishes categories of who can come to Canada from countries to make permanent homes in Canada. These categories include refugees, family class, and economic immigrants. When making this act, the objectives were to pursue cultural and economic benefits for Canadians, support developement of minority official language communities, reunite families, and other important objectives.
