Various public resources, publications, and articles on the topics of Asian Canadian and US History
The History: Chinese People in Canada (Infographic)
Infographic designed by the ACCT Foundation highlighting the history of Chinese Canadians. Key events such as the Gold Rush, Civil Rights, Chinese Immigration Act, Chinese Head Tax, Chinese Exclusion Act, citizenship, and apologies were summarized.
Author: ACCT Foundation
Demographics of Chinese Canadians (Infographic)
Infographic designed by the ACCT Foundation on the history and reasons for immigration of Chinese people into Canada. Data from the past is also compared to more contemporary data up until 2016.
Author: ACCT Foundation
Racism and Systemic Racial Discrimination (Infographic)
Infographic designed by the ACCT Foundation discussing the impact of historical racism and discrimination of Chinese Canadians and visible minorities. It extends to broadly define race, the Human Rights Code, Racism and Racial Discrimination. Contemporary data on the issue is also discussed.
Author: ACCT Foundation
Tracking Yellow Peril: Then and Now (Infographic)
Infographic by the ACCT defining what the term “Yellow Peril” refers to as well as a timeline documenting events which exemplify the notion of Yellow Peril throughout history and in present day. The graphic concludes with the fact that “Yellow Peril” has persisted in Canada.
Author: ACCT Foundation
From the archives: For Chinese-Canadians like me, coronavirus is just the latest strain of infectious fear we've faced (Article)
Opinion piece by Adrian Lee on how the ethnicity of Chinese-Canadians can get tied to a nationality that isn’t theirs, and warns against anti-Asian discrimination hardening into a cultural fact. The piece goes on to describe the history surrounding Chinese Canadians and how someone who is ethnically Chinese overrides the fact that they are Canadian.
Author:
Adrian Lee – The Globe and Mail
The SARS Outbreak
When SARS broke out in 2003, the media struggled to stay on top of a mysterious illness that caught the world’s attention and caught Toronto’s healthcare system off guard. Alarming headlines and images of masked Asian faces dominated the news cycle, obscuring the full story of the outbreak. Studying the media’s role in this unfolding crisis can help us think more critically about the news coverage we consume today.
Author: Historica Canada
Targeting Asians and Asian Americans will make it harder to stop covid-19 (Article)
Article discussing anti-Asian racism amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The article highlights how anti-Asian racism is not new and has been happening for years. It discusses the murder of Vincent Chin as a Chinese victim of a anti-Japanese racist attack in 1982 and how that sparked a national civil rights campaign. Similarities are drawn with the ongoing pandemic.
Author:
Helen Zia – The Washington Post
Anti-Chinese, Anti-Asian Racism: Unsurprising, Shocking, Infuriating (Essay)
Article discussing how Anti-Asian and Anti-Chinese racism has been prevalent for years. It discusses the author’s experience growing up as a first-generation son to an immigrant who came to America during the exclusion era. The author explains that regardless of how well-educated, smart, and hardworking “new” Chinese and Asian Americans are, they are still subject to racism, especially during the pandemic.
Author:
William Gee Wong – EastWind
Opinion: ' Yellow Peril' racism is back, and too little is being done (Article)
Opinion piece discussing the stigmatization of Chinese and Chinese-looking Canadians following the COVID-19 pandemic. The piece discusses how racism towards Asian Canadians is not new and highlights the mass hysteria about the “Yellow Peril” in the early 20th century. Connections are made regarding how the “Yellow Peril” has returned in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Author:
Fo Niemi – Montreal Gazette
The media needs to confront racism in Canada (Opinion)
Opinion piece discussing how Chinese-Canadians continue to be treated as foreigners. The article highlights historical events which have treated Chinese-Canadians as outsiders and how the pandemic brought deep-seated anti-Chinese racism in Canada to the forefront.
Author:
Avvy Go, Gary Yee – The Globe and Mail
Asian Canadians in Vancouver arise to battle COVID-19 prejudices (Opinion)
Opinion piece criticizing those who engage in anti-Asian attacks and how it does nothing to stop the COVID-19 pandemic. The piece also goes on to highlight how Asian Canadian communities have responded and what they have to offer amidst the pandemic.
Author:
Craig Takeuchi – The Georgia Straight
What you can do about Anti-Asian Violence (Article)
Article discussing recent attacks on Asian-Americans even 1 year after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The response from the Asian-American community was outlined as well as the concept of “yellow peril”. The article also discusses what people can do to support the Asian community.
Author:
Rosalie Cabison, Tim Chan – Rolling Stone
Anti-Asian Violence Spiked During COVID-19, Here's What You Should Know (Article)
Article discussing the anti-Asian hate occuring in Canada and how this racism has always existed. The article details recent data collected regarding incidents that have occurred in Canada, the history of anti-Asian racism, its effects on the community, and how governments and the Asian-Canadian community has responded to these acts.
Author:
Isabelle Docto – Chatelaine
Anti-Asian violence has surged in the US since COVID-19. But it didn't start there (Article)
Article discussing the rise in anti-Asian racism, but more importantly how this sentiment has existed long before the pandemic. The article goes on to discuss the history of Chinese settlement in America and the history of the yellow peril fear/anti-Asian discrimination.
Author:
Maura Hohman – Today
'Shang-Chi' Star Simu Liu: 'Anti-Asian Racism Is Very Real' (Guest Column - Opinion)
A personal piece in which Simu Liu explains his concern for his parents’ safety because of the hate crimes being committed against Asian people that has spiked over the past year. He speaks out on the numerous microaggressions against Asians in the past years, as well as the bystanders and witnesses who do not speak up or even believe racism against Asian people exists.
Author:
Simu Liu – Variety
Anti-Asian racism is real in Canada and I will no longer hide (Opinion)
Opinion piece in which the author recounts a racist incident that occurred on a streetcar she was riding. The author discusses how as a child, she wanted to suppress her Chinese identity and culture. The author mentions the shooting in Atlanta and how it is not an isolated incident; that Canada has a deep history of anti-Asian racism.
Author:
Anna Zhang – The Star
Tackling racism against Asian-Canadians as multiculturalism turns 50 (Article)
Article discussing multiculturalism in Canada. The author discusses her experience with anti-Asian racism during the COVID-19 pandemic and the overall spike in which Asian women are being disproportionately targeted. The author discusses the history that highlights how Canada is not immune to anti-Asian racism, despite the celebrated history of multiculturalism.
Author:
Tina J. Park – Policy Options
Corky Lee's Photographs Helped Generations of Asian-Americans See Themselves (Biography)
A biography on the late Corky Lee, whose life’s work was photographing Asian Pacific Americans. His work was paramount in documenting what it meant to be Asian-American throughout history.
Author:
Hua Hsu – The New Yorker
Pacific arts movement founder speaks up against xenophobia towards Asian Americans because of coronavirus (Article)
Article on the founder of Pacific Arts Movement, Lee Ann Kim, speaking out against xenophobia towards Asian Americans and Trump’s use of “Chinese Virus”. Made parallels to the “Yellow Peril Era” and the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882.
Author:
Carl Samson – NextShark
Sinophobia: How a virus reveals the many ways China is feared (Article)
Article on the rise of virus-related racism and xenophobia towards Asian minorities. It discusses how this Sinophobia reveals the complex relationship the world has with China. This exists not only where Asians are minorities (where sinophobia is due to unfamiliarity) but also in Asia itself (due to too much familiarity, mainland dominance/immigration, etc.). Mentions the Chinese Exclusion Act.
Author:
Tessa Wong – BBC
Directions - Research and Studies on Race Relations in Canada Winter 2020 Vol. 8(Book)
Book introducing the CRRF as well as a collection of articles spanning topics of immigration and nationalism, hate crime and inequality, and reconciliation.
Author:
Canadian Race Relations Foundation
Access Book
The White Man in that Photo (Article)
Article discussing the white man (Peter Norman) in a historic photo during the 1968 Summer Olympics where two black medalists bowed and raised their fists in the air while the US Anthem played. Peter believed in their fight for human rights and face repercussions for his association in his home country of Australia. This article discusses his untold story.
Author:
Riccardo Gazzaniga – Films for Action
The Yellow Peril Revisited: The Impact of SARS on Chinese and Southeast Asian Communities (Article)
Article discussing an exerpt of the 2004 report on the impact of SARS on Chinese and Southeast Asian Communities, coordinated by the Chinese Canadian National Council (CCNC) and Solutions Research. Originally a public health crisis, the report outlined that a social crisis co-existed where members of the Chinese and Southeast Asian communities were subject to racism.
Author:
Carrianne Leung
Racism: A Hidden Curriculum (Article)
An article from Education Canada Vol. 48 discussing racism in Canada’s past. Specifically, the article discusses related concepts of racism and how they manifest into a hidden curriculum in educational settings to maintain a discriminatory learning environment.
Author:
Ratna Ghosh
Canadian Human Rights Act (Policy)
Official document by the Government of Canada on the Canadian Human Rights Act.
Author:
Government of Canada
Canadian Multiculturalism Act (Policy)
Official document by the Government of Canada on the Canadian Multiculturalism Act.
Author:
Government of Canada
Reno accused of whitewashing Chinatown history (Article)
Article describing Reno’s Chinatown in Nevada and how it was burned down twice in the past. A 2021 Facebook post from the city was accused of “whitewashing” history, as it brushed off the events as the Chinese community being pressured to relocate.
Author:
Randall – AsAmNews
Talking to our children about racism (Brochure)
A brochure by the ACCT Foundation that describes what racism and microaggressions are, the history of racism in Canada, its impact on mental health, and how to start the conversation with children.
Author:
ACCT Foundation, ACT2EndRacism
Call It What It Is - Racism Against Asian Americans (Video)
Video describing racism against Asian Americans. The video discusses biases, history of anti-Asian racism, civil rights and the model minority myth, and how people and organizations can help.
Author:
1990 Institute
As a Chinese Canadian, I'm joining hands with Indigenous communities to speak up about this nation's history of violent oppression (Opinion)
An opinion piece in which the author, a Chinese Canadian, stands with Indigenous communities to speak up about Canada’s history of violent oppression. It details the spike in racism and hate crime against Black, Muslim, and Asians, as well as the history of anti-Asian racism. The author calls for everyone to be in solidarity with fellow racialized Canadians.
Author:
Diamond Yao – The Star
The rise of the Ku Klux Klan in Canada - and why its lasting impact still matters (Article)
Article on an interview with political scientist and historian Allan Bartley, who researched the Ku Klux Klan and found the organization’s long history in Canada. The article discusses the history of the supremacist organization in Canada.
Author:
Althea Manasan – CBC Radio
Ottawa to apologize for racist treatment of all-Black First World War battalion in 2022 (Policy)
An article discussing a formal apology from the federal government of Canada meant to address the racist treatment of members of Canada’s only Black military unit that served in the First World War.
Author:
Aya Al-Hakim – Global News
Chinese Canadians (Post)
Facebook post that shows Lewis Chow, a Canadian undercover agent during the Second World War.
Author:
Historica Canada
New exhibit uses fiction to talk about Chinese community's history in Calgary (Article)
Article discussing how a group of artists are using fiction to describe the history of the Chinese community in Calgary. Specifically, it discusses the history of Calgary’s Chinatown.
Author:
Sarah Moore – CBC News
'No Asians': Two Words I've Faced My Entire Life That I'm Finally Confronting Today (Opinion)
Piece on an the struggles of being an AAPI who is also part of the LGBTQ+ community. The author discusses how dating platforms have failed the AAPI community and other marginalized communities. History surround the Hoa People of Vietnam was provided to provide an example of rejection within one’s own community. The author describes what it means to be a gay Asian American, the intersectionality of oppression and calls for unity and inclusion.
Author:
Jason Ve – Mens Health
Chinese Canadian Stories (2010-2012)
The “Chinese Canadian Stories: Uncommon Histories from a Common Past” web portal is a collaborative, multi-disciplinary project led by the University of British Columbia Library and Simon Fraser University Library. Funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s Community Historical Recognition Program (CHRP), the project will serve as a valuable mechanism of communication and collaboration between UBC, SFU, community partners and students. This project will reshape the way all of us understand Canada, and reclaim the forgotten histories of peoples who have long been ignored in Canadian history.
Register of Chinese Immigrants to Canada, 1886-1949
This is an electronic copy of the Register of Chinese Immigrants to Canada preserved at Library and Archives Canada (LAC) in Ottawa. It was created between 2005 and 2008 as part of a research project on immigration from China to Canada directed by Professors Peter Ward and Henry Yu of the Department of History at the University of British Columbia.
Asian Americans: PBS documentary series | KQED
Asian Americans is a five-part PBS documentary series that delivers a fresh perspective on a history that matters today, more than ever. As America becomes more diverse, and more divided while facing unimaginable challenges, how do we move forward together? Told through intimate personal stories, the series will cast a new lens on U.S. history and the ongoing role that Asian Americans have played.
The War Between Us
Two Canadian families run into conflict when the Japanese one is interned as official enemy aliens during World War II.
Japanese Canadian Internment | Narrated by David Suzuki
To remember the 75th Anniversary of Japanese Canadian Internment during the Second World War, Legion Magazine and David Suzuki tell the story of the injustices and atrocities done towards Japanese-Canadians across the country, and in particular, British Columbia.
Author: Legion Magazine
Heritage Minutes: Vancouver Asahi
From 1914-1941, the Vancouver Asahi were one of city’s most dominant amateur baseball teams, winning multiple league titles in Vancouver and along the Northwest Coast.
Author: Historica Canada
Japanese-American Internment During WWII | History
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Government issued executive order 9066, which empowered the military to round up anyone of Japanese ancestry and place them in internment camps.
Author: HISTORY Channel
Moving the Mountain
Author: William Ging Wee Dere and Malcolm Guy
Canadian Steel, Chinese Grit
This documentary, released for distribution in November 2000, delves into the history of the Chinese workers without whom Canada’s national railway could never have been realized. In a climate of racial tension, 17,000 Chinese workers were hired so the railway could be completed on time. Assigned the dirtiest, most dangerous tasks, they received half the wages of white labourers, and were denied the food and lodging provided to their white counterparts. Hundreds of Chinese labourers lost their lives as construction pushed through the treacherous mountains of British Columbia. For those who survived, prospects did not improve after the railroad’s completion in 1885 due to poverty and the introduction of the head tax which kept families apart. This film includes interviews with Chinese-Canadians whose parents and grandparents built the railroad – and indeed the nation – give life to this poignant documentary that retells and rethinks a vital chapter in Canada’s history.
Being Chinese in Quebec: A Road Movie
How do young Chinese living in Québec feel about themselves, their community and their place here? What do they know about the history of Sino-Québec? These are some of the issues explored by this film, which follows two young Quebeckers of Chinese origins, Bethany Or and Parker Mah on a road trip around the province in the search of other Chinese-Quebeckers.
Authors: Malcolm Guy and William Ging Wee Dere
Lost Years: A People's Struggle for Justice
The acclaimed LOST YEARS: A PEOPLE’S STRUGGLE FOR JUSTICE is an epic documentary touching upon 150 years of the Chinese diaspora in Canada, USA, New Zealand and Australia, covering four generations of racism as revealed through the journey and family story of Kenda Gee.
Kenda, a Chinese Canadian, travels with his father to China to retrace the steps of his great-grandfather, exactly a century ago. For thousands of Chinese immigrants that year, it was a journey of hope that turned into a nightmare when they were confronted with racism and the head tax, depriving them of their rights as citizens.
Featuring: Kenda Gee, Took Gee, Hanson Lau, Sean Gunn, Grant Din, Larry Kwong, Bettie Luke, Donnie Chin, Gim Wong, Constance Backhouse, Bingo Ernst, Wallace Chan, Grace Chi, May Chiu, Jack Chong, William Dere, David Fung, Esther Fung, Norman Kwong, Arthur Loo, Roderick Macdonald, Emmy Mah, Sid Tan, Walter Tom, Kirsten Wong, Loong Wong.
Iron Road
A tale of forbidden love set against the building of the Canadian railway in the 1880s, Iron Road tells the story of a Chinese woman (Li) who disguises herself as a man and persuades the son of a railroad tycoon (Macfarlane) to hire her onto the explosives crew.
Soon, though, she finds herself falling in love with him, and as the physical terrain becomes more dangerous, so does the landscape of the heart. Beautifully shot and featuring screen legend Peter O’Toole in one of his last roles, Iron Road revisits an important and controversial time in Canadian history.
Director: David Wu
Continuous Journey
In 1914, Gurdit Singh, a Sikh entrepreneur based in Singapore, chartered a Japanese ship, the Komagata Maru, to carry Indian immigrants to Canada. On May 23, 1914, the ship arrived in Vancouver Harbour with 376 passengers aboard: 340 Sikhs; 24 Muslims and 12 Hindus. Many of the men on-board were veterans of the British Indian Army and believed that it was their right as British subjects to settle anywhere in the Empire they had fought to defend and expand. They were wrong… Continuous Journey is an inquiry into the largely ignored history of Canada’s exclusion of the South Asians by a little known immigration policy called the Continuous Journey Regulation of 1908. Unlike the Chinese and the Japanese, people from British India were excluded by a regulation that appeared fair, but in reality, was an effective way of keeping people from India out of Canada until 1948. As a direct result, only a half-mile from Canadian shores, the Komagata Maru was surrounded by immigration boats and the passengers were held in communicado virtual prisoners on the ship. Thus began a dramatic stand-off which would escalate over the course of two months, becoming one of the most infamous incidents in Canadian history. By examining the global context and repercussions of a Canadian event, Continuous Journey challenges us to reflect on contemporary events, and raises critical questions about how the past shapes the present.
Director: Ali Kazimi
