uraged Chinese immigration at this point to do the work that few others would do. Once the railroad was finished however and the need for Chinese workers diminished the government passed the Chinese immigration act (1885). This act put a head tax of $50 a head on all Chinese wishing to enter the country. The opposition to Chinese immigration grew within the country and by 1903 the head tax was $500 a person. In 1923 a new act was put in place the forbid the entry of all Chinese with certain narrow exceptions, Chinese within Canada could not sponsor relatives born in China. This act had a great impact on Chinese immigration between 1923 and 1947 only 44 Chinese immigrants came to Canada legally. (Cohen: 1987)Another example of racist tendencies in immigration came with the Jews and Wartime Immigration policy. During the Second World War thousands of Jews sought refugee from Nazi persecution. Although the government did not actually pass a law not permitting Jews into the country they did execute policies designed to obstruct Jewish immigration. Many of these polices were executed on an informal basis. This memo from the department of External Affairs and Immigration in 1938 reveals such a policy.We do not want too many Jews, but in the present circumstances we do not want to say so. We do not want to legitimize the Aryan mythology by introducing any formal distinction for immigration purposes between Jews and non-Jews. The practical distinction, however, has to be made and should be drawn with discretion and sympathy by the competent authorities, without the need to lay down formal minute of policy. (Boyko 1998)These are just two of the examples of past discrimination against certain group there are many others including The Japanese War measures Act, and The East Indian and the Continuous passage rule. So what has Canada done to improve on these racist immigration laws?Until recently nothing, there were no legal protections against raci...
