Have you ever wondered about the Chinese immigrant experience in North America? Why they left their homeland? Where they settled? What they did for a living? Discover your ancestors and their story in these unique immigration records!
History of Chinese Immigration to Canada
Depending on the year and place, Chinese immigrants have had different experiences as they settled in North America. Many of the first Chinese immigrants who arrived in Canada in 1788 were artisans. From 1858 to 1885, a large number of Chinese immigrants settled in the Vancouver area because of the gold rush of 1858. Between 1881 to 1885, many came to work on the Canadian Pacific Railway.
By the 1900s, there were government policies in place that greatly impacted Chinese immigration to Canada as a whole and affected the individual lives of many Chinese Canadians. The Chinese Immigration Act of 1885 imposed a head tax on Chinese immigrants, which started out at $50 but increased over the years.
This legislation was replaced by the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923, which abolished the head tax, but it is often referred to as the Chinese Exclusion Act because it greatly limited Chinese immigration to Canada until it was repealed in 1947.
A paper trail of records from these legislative acts led to the creation of the Chinese Immigration or C.I. certificates, which started with C.I. 5 from 1885–1911 and went through several iterations and changes over the years. These records are dated and contain pictures of the person. Many of these C.I. certificates can still be found in archives or are owned privately, but the majority have been lost over the years.
Why Did Chinese Immigrants Come to Canada?
War, rebellion, unemployment, and rural poverty during the First Opium War (1839–1942) and the Taiping rebellion (1850-1864) contributed to an increase in Chinese immigration to Canada and North America over the years. The 1857 Canadian Gold Rush in the Fraser Valley, job opportunities with the Canadian Pacific Railway, and other economic possibilities also encouraged immigrants to make the journey from China to Canada.
In many records, we find that by the 1920s, many Chinese immigrants were cafe owners, journalists and printers, school teachers and school masters, clerks, farmers, and miners.
There were instances of men who had more specific occupations, such as working as a jeweler, druggist or pharmacist, matchmaker, credit manager, court interpreter, Methodist missionary, professional boxer, rancher, silk merchant, teamster, dentist, and doctor.
Chinese Canadian women, like other women of that era, helped in many ways to contribute to the family income as housewives, waitresses, cashiers, dressmakers, secretaries, teachers, storekeepers, stenographers, nurses, domestic servants, clerks, and actresses.
In many cases, men immigrated without their families and sent money home because the earning potential was higher in Canada. In some cases, they were able to bring their families with them, but in other cases, they were often distanced from their family for many years.
Where Did Chinese Immigrants Settle in Canada?
Most Chinese immigrants settled in Vancouver and Toronto to mine gold, work on the railroad, and then to pursue the various occupation opportunities listed above. Similar to Chinatown, San Francisco (in the United States), Canada eventually became home to its own Chinese communities in Victoria, Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. These communities were home to many Chinese Canadians, giving them a space to continue practicing their culture.
Chinese Canadians and the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923
The most significant part of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923 was section 18, which required “every person of Chinese origin or descent in Canada” to register with the government within a year. This applied to both Chinese immigrants and Chinese Canadians who were born in Canada.
Initially, around 56,000 Chinese Canadians registered, with a little over a thousand absentees doing so when they returned to Canada. Those 56,000 even included children like Evelyn Hoy (age 6) who was born April 20, 1918 in Quesnel, British Columbia.
Evelyn's registration records give great details about her birthplace, age, and residency. They even help locate her mother’s form and father’s form, which also include the name of her siblings: May (age 5) and Annie (age 3).
Many other children are present in these records, which is a truly unique thing for early 1900 records. Sometimes early 1900s records just contain a child listed in a record with parents and other family members. However, many of the Chinese Canadian immigration records, and the C.I. 44 records in particular, have a record for the child containing personal information and a picture of the child.
In a lot of cases, the children's forms are found next to their parents', as they most likely registered at the same time. This kind of detailed information is a great way to find families among these records.
The Chinese Exclusion Act was passed on July 1, 1923. A hundred years later, FamilySearch joined in the efforts to help make these unique records available online for free. This project both commemorates the act and celebrates the lives of the Chinese immigrants who came to Canada and made a life for themselves and their descendants.
What Can You Find in These Records?
Many of these registration records for Chinese Canadians contain a wealth of knowledge about the individual and their family members and lead to other records. They also tell a story of the individual and the group as a whole. The records have recently been indexed and published by FamilySearch and Library and Archives Canada, and they are known as the Chinese Immigration Registration records or C.I. 44.
These records are rich with information about the individuals, including details such as names, aliases, birth date, birthplace, occupation, address at the time of registration, year of immigration, original port of arrival, arrival date, physical markings, sometimes family information, and a picture of the individual.
In these records, many names have multiple spellings across forms. In the case above for Evelyn Hoy’s family, her father's name is listed as Charles Dang Hoy, Chow Hen, Chow Dong Hoy, and C.D. Hoy. At one point, one of Evelyn's sisters has Hay typed as the surname on her form. Look carefully at the C.I. numbers and registration numbers to help with name inconsistencies.
Keep Discovering Your Chinese Canadian Ancestors
If you have Chinese Canadian ancestors, you might find them in any of the record collections listed below. When you find your ancestor, be sure to attach the record to your FamilySearch tree! If you don't have a tree yet, go ahead and start building yours so that you can keep track of all your record discoveries.
Hopefully, all these records help you find your Chinese Canadian ancestors, learn their stories, and celebrate the lives they created as we commemorate this significant date in Chinese Canadian immigration history.
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