PAG"
THE NEW CANADIAN
riie慕(lay, June18,1974
ans of escapeぉoih the severe economic aiHlsocialconditions which existed at.that crucialtime in ーhich Ja(^aa! was undergoing ft he chaivg^ from a poぉcy of isolation to intenrntion^lism, from柳aisn^Tian culture to an indt^triaUzed nation. Similar to theぞffect ojf thelnduatrial voKit ionひpon Britain and Euro^ pe,itw貼thゃi)0a8aaU class
ior th^ were 'thゃconservatives, clingihg'ぉ(hゃol<i wayんresisting change ' and 'progress. In —daI Jao[>an, the ,peasant cla; '-抑es ':,rふ':situ ate<i: maiiUy:,:in faまnぉvillages in the 8011沐-w幼tet"n ijart of the 1slaiids,ー(i these inliabitants dれさuch jm^-fectur扭as Hiroshima, Ok多yか ma,ICuinamdto, Yamaguchi, Wakayam汰,,Okinawa: were 'a-m onお''the: poorest, mo?t. ov erpopulated in the Jap—ese Empire に Fr om these prefectures c a-me the first immigrants tひCanada. Those fropiui'b"11areas V/ere ノ.hiainly 'shopkeepers, and children: of sh.bpkeep^ers.
Jobs for .this labotir. :foi'ce we-plentぱul at first in thefish-ing, cannery, and boat-building industries along the southern B.C. CO 幼t, in mining andlogging, but inevitably organized •labour, 'Which .suffered from the' 〗mpacぃof t;his cheapla]xmr source, forme<lanaiiti-AsMe Le-afiT^e in1907, and sought tolimit and.controlJapanese- hnmi-'gration, .As early,as.1891,:,'an attempぃh" been made in the Bi.C.' Legislature ,tolimit J.apa^■ n然e immigration by angmen-dment to a motion to increase theCWilese Head Taxむひm多50 to多200 and to extend it to in-clude-JゅaTiese,. but 'the amendment 邻as with<:lrawn. After18-95,':m.any 'laws 'of. 'a restrictiye '.natm.e '、vere' en acted-.to .prevent further immigration, with the resii:t國.th&t - after1900, 'Japaavese immigration tひCanada came, to a )standさtiU. A contributing factor was the ini^>eiiding wa?" with -Russia, for which Japatv 'さtoゎped allimmigration until 1905. HQwevもr, inやhe yeai::f :llowmg .the epd Qf ■: the :crisiさ,: 2000 jnorゃJai^nもse entered Canada; in1907, 2042; in1908 o' yer 7,()00 arrivedゅdthe situation .bewaille oiice' agkin ^ute, in that the totalぉpan6se popu-laiionnumtoed10,513. Th6 Vi-go ro us •きおtat ion of the A^^ti-A?iatic Iiea抑もculminated in a riot 一 Septemberケ,1907:
on Chinatown where they inflicted much prbperty <i^iiiag6,一 were jirevents from ゅ, same to tJie where Jaド-
neseiWed. A Roj^lCommissi)rt formed to investigateれe si-tuat—, .and. various- ■ in "Vest igat-ioiis were also made, the. result being;幼imdcrstanding known a5 'Gentlemen's メgreemeiit,, in whichJajxaiiagreed to vo« luntarily restrict erai^i^tion. It wjEis an o^ure, confusing幼d
(cont. from pagel,)
lはtle understoodagi^ement, ho-w eye IV and it was not until that the 'Genもlemen,s Agreement, w站niodidiedtogiveCana-daicontrol of the entry of Japar nese into the Pojninion.:'
Thさ:First World WみVヌllevia-ted thもplight of the Japanese only temporarily: the shortage of .la'It)our:which ..was,'れe&ted wlien the white population enlist ed all 6wed Japanese to gain exi)ei:ien/ceネn many fields pi>evi-oUsly closed to thぉm and to pr<H fit: fields' in. which .'the:y.:.we-: >*e \V0i'king, sucKas:lumbざv, mi-n':ng, :fぉhing,. aibeit inlimited nii rubers: The f狄t that. Jゆan was肌vally of Great Britain .)?isseiVBd :the—..hatred.: of the' .whi-tes.取t immediately the War ended a;nd w)iites returned to a depressed ecQnomy wiゃiihigh imemゅyment and slow busim-ess, discriminatory voices weve agまvaised in resentfnent against the. Jia'p^'iiese whoノ'hさd..'ta-:kenノ over ..their: joもs, :while'. they, 、v'ere zaway fighting, 'foi:thek country, •
Inthe fishing industiyinig-19; for example, the Japanese accounted for 3,267 fishinglie: enees,::neairly onも-haぱノthe totkl issued ihat '.year. 'Acting on. the eo|mplaint that the Japanese th-,reatenもd. to drive .the whites' and :the'Indiansノout of' the fishing indi?stry, in1920ゅd1921,the Dominion. Department —of Fishe-:ries .directed the Vancouver .fish-ei'y 6ompiisioners:tolimit the 'number-'oflicences' to. J抑anese fishemen -to the same number as that in1919. The resiU"f this and furtherlegislation wa^ to driye many Japanese out of the fishing industry and transfer them to other' industries^
Inlumbering, by1900, the' Japanese ..weTe. employed hv all branches of the industry to such anextenぃれaぃhere too, they Were, considered a threatぉ.the white labourers- The RoyalCo~ mi nisi pn, which investigated thも coiTip lain ts at this timもreports thatthejfapanese werきもm, ployed in the m illさin the prppo* tion |0J^ one to four. MaTiy attempts wei:e命ade toかiye t;hem out of this indusぉy: Operators on :prひvinciallands . would lose. -the.ir ■licences if 'they: employed Japknese; J&panese operators were, uriable to,.i:etain:-or. .get ne\v.llci?nces; —the.law .on':mi-. nim"ni'\vage$,i>asse<lin1926 by the B.C. Legislature sehred to limit, and,diSCOurage.. Japanese, einpkiymenぃ':in'title,lumb—er and niin.hVg 'industry —as .weil:..tlfiei:e .vms iib-Test-riction ..on the erhplo-yer regarding: the nationality of his workers dr ratぉofpみy,.but in' actualfact,, th—i^ -\vhite —worker
te oi- p?^y than the 。rieriぉi be^ causさof 'his greater efficiency,, Therefoめi^.theemploぉ:wきre foTc^to Jwiyhぉかienta1workers cents p hour, his whi, te workers must receive more; alteiniatively, he could decrease
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CUISINE 544 Wd柳$t" Otto wo R柳rvation For Ozoshiki Cdl 233.1850 Y。kitori R,stcwronts Umittd
the number of Oriertt^Is'&iid hire whites instead. Later, due to the .protests ■<>f ■■■ employers,: ■ the lキW modified so that about 25% oftjie woricers ii;^ the industry could g;et the previous wage of郎cents anliour, and thb 25% includるd Oi;ieiitals.Stt-ゅpolicies ofijontinuedi^e^tric-tions drove J邻叫ese out of t))e luniberUldustry to such ai)战t' ent that whereat in1925, 44,$0 % 0ぇemploy鄉wer^Orien"ls, in1926, thetotalnumber" of Jai>aTiese was dropped to 34.30 % iyiUiin & year afteri>ai^g& ofもhe:】Aw. As a i;扭uit,thゃJキ panese who were driven onit of fjshii)g加dlumberinglater turned tosnuillfruはand(ve多etable farming orぉ;ind enipljoy-menぃ.ina3mgmg. or,.womug .:i.n ■restaurants, boarがng ::110uses,】laundries, :barbきr:shゥps, 'in':'多mall sliops or in households as dQnie> sUc.s.: From the ...basicluinbei"iiig, mmpg, anaimninginausmes m 'thケ':early■■■ years' of. '"settlement, their economic activHies exぉn-ded to:'iivelude over 60: occupations Jn the 20's.
■ 'PoliUcaPi.ly/ they' Avere stymied in whichever direction they1:ur-Tied (itwasれotuntU1934 that Natiiralization was even possible fひr Japanese)、 Pi'ovincial'legislation in1902 had barred all Japanese including Issei and ^Ji-sei from voting rights. In fact, ■it disさirfranchised :all..British' citizens, of Asi&tie origins ..in B.C. Iir all.other .provi—ncies, Japane, ■se' were: allowed, "ta. :vote. '.T.herも-foi^,. they .were 'ineligible to. re-gisteir and vote in federal''Actions'as. well;:tiius,.. they,.wei'e eだectiyもly blocked from participation in city or schoolboard elections, election to provincial 'lもgisl欲tiu'e, for jury, service, ior applying forlicences in hand-lc|g'ging, in1a、y ':and p}^aTmacy', ■ wherie ...1imited ■ enrollment €xc.hided Japanese and any sjyhere of activity which required that one be. alegal'voter on the vo.-ter,slist.-
In this manner,■■化e' standard of Uvirig was. kept :iorcitly .low,. tontributipg' more, ammunition to the 、argunwivt' J)ut forward :by the. whites that.the J.apar^ese be totally segregated 'and immigra-' tion be severely Hmit^4 bec糾-'さ'e 'ーy were— a ':threat' to progi脚of the then-developing West:': the completion 'of: i^he C.P..R. .hadled to 、ゅe. Wrgeoin-: ing developmeiit oflumberii>g and fishing; ba^もmeta! rpining was being <ievek>i)e<lin thb inte" rioi" r^ぉons. The threat was not to prぉrciss, 一 to,the position of the whites, who did加t want •theぉreVenice i)f aftりrientalrace >iv|io deさ,red' to raise. themsel: v^s'—to—.the. "me .levelof.cpmf" at id security as《heWWtes eゅ oyed.
-lhe.:iTiain :cause f々r.:the—.worry iwid hatred of the white一 pulatkm against the Japanese iay in t)ie fact that the ]bulkやえ them were concentrated in British Columbia/ Twenty-odd thousand Japanese in & population of all11m肌OTi wouW be of relatively.リnnoticably significance were -H not for the fact that 95*:^ oMhemlived in a few sections of one province. Of the totalJapanese population of 23,149, 22,096lived in B.C. and 21,175 of these〗ived in Vancouver and coastalareas.
Why B.C.? The most important reason seems to be thatは was the first point reached with A minim urn outl&y of money: in thoseぉy8, steerage from
Japan to. VancouVer cost 400 yei), a smallfortune fひvぉpii-nese' equiyゅnt to冬50. Many immigrants had no money to go any ifarther t.hー B.C. and it ,can…i).き.supぉsed .that the aさi'ee-ajt)le cOf^Stal「dim4te\yitli ~^ts moiinta;ns and green valleys, a bundaiit rivers and streams foi' fishingbroughtbad; nostalgic memo由s of their homeland, re-inforゃingtheh' drive to 、voik hard saveせnough mppey to retui^ri or to cネlltheh'faniili(is over.
The imんigmti(Jひ、ゅiclvhaci begun .:irv the''first.years.of - jifeiji :in thi^:fひrm' of..: seasonaligration of Tnainかbacfvelors gi'ivdu-a':ly.-もul'ned .into :.'ノp!(iture-b.ride,. wiまe,みrt<if in ally immigration of wholefamilieさandclanき,The seamingly、i\dless influx of Ja-'panese :'.coupled, with':,the rising birth r".te of settlc<i 'immignm-—ts 'striving:t(x malce.a'liv〗ng a-mong <the 、vhiteslきd to theac-.cUsation that,the «J.a:paiies.c..、vei'e ,(bi'eedingtheselves into pQSse-:ssioii: of. & Hch 'share of the business ofB.C.".
Th.e. undei'lying .cause for t.his wallof <iiscrimination and prejudice .whicii faced all'immigrant,'had. been laid years earlier by. the: economic impact of the Chines画e,.ノ、vhひhad been :i'mm.igrating steadi〗y. tひ'.the .west, cojvst of N^rth Americalured by the GoldRusiiひf1849. Seenむrst as aIMtless .source of cheap'' labour, the Oriental,through im;. flagging'でffoi't -and...'energy :■ under., the worst conditions gradu-. .ally came to be regarded as a threat 'to the whitelabourer. This fact,'only 'set.ved,.to add .fuel to 'the seemiiigly endemic ■ prejudice., :of.. white .North Ameri-.cans~ against nひn-whites, and the やmm on knowledge 'of Japan's •military: ■ ■ successes' ノh! .Asia- all sきrved to heigh'ten:t)ie' ah'eady. hostile attitude' .towards .Orientals.
■.At "the time: of the outbreak of World War II in1939, the .status of-the Japane—se in Canada: .was a still.dゅi'ess.iiig: one. The NISEI, in SIiit6 of tliさfact that thぉy .were bom in ..Canおa .and. .ぬou.ld. by .birthright,-.have ali' the .privil.eges due 'to: 'the .citizen, 'werelumped tog"hei' 'with—, the Issej, both, naturealized ■ and' J apanese.-'nationals,: as., se-' ..con!l-class - citizens,..'國discouraged 'むom.improvintheirby ao •live whiteleがslation, discriminated a gainst, socially, econo-Tj^cally at id politically. XDf the totalJapanおe : population of 23,512 oifficiaUy registered by the R.C.M.P. in19", Japanese nationals numbered;,75き,Naturalized 1sぉ加n;ibered7';101, —the NISEI t;omprised 6/727. (The remaining16 tvereUぶ.citizens).
The New Canadi即
A me加ber o《Ethれic Pi6« Association of Ontario Second Class maU No. J)-0366
PUB us BED ON EVERtTU幼DA, AND rBID AY
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豕7.00 for SはMonths 多i1.00 a Year
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$画WEEKLY DRAW
JUNE12th. WINNER
MR. KEV HORI, SCARBOROrGH, ONT. NO.137
Jしヽ'E 22 JILY 1st.
METRO CARAVAヽ-TOKYO PAVILIOヽ-
JAPANESE CANADIAN CULTURAL CENTRE
123 WYNFORD DRIVE DON MILLS. ONT.