00 Chinese head tax. For the Japanese, the government made a gentlemans agreement to limit Japanese immigration to 400 people per year which was eventually reduced to 150 Japanese people per year in 1923. These policies practically ended Asian immigration.On July 1st, 1923, federal legislation was passed, suspending Chinese immigration entirely in the Exclusion Act. Although the chances of stopping the bill from passing through parliament were very slim, the Chinese pulled together and a committee was set up to stop the Act. It was a good effort, but the bill was introduced and passed quickly and the Chinese had little time to prepare and plan. Ironically, the Act came into effect on July 1st, Canada Dominion Day. Rather than a day of celebration for Chinese Canadian, July 1st became known as Humiliation Day. It wasnt until after World War II, in 1947, that the Chinese were once again allowed to immigrate to Canada. Chinese women were not allowed to join their husbands and many of the pioneer men were left bachelors in Canada for the next 20 or more years. It was almost 20 years later before the Japanese were excluded from entry into Canada, but the nature of that exclusion is also one of the most tragic events in Canadian history.On December 7th, 1941, Japan suddenly attacked Pearl Harbor and Hong Kong. This started the final racial outburst, more intense, more widespread, and more alarming than ever before. It initiated the worst time in history for the Japanese in Canada. The Japanese from that point on were seen as enemy aliens. In just a few days after the attack, around 1200 Japanese Canadian fishing ships were taken away, putting about 2000 Japanese fishermen out of work. By early 1942, the Canadian government ordered the relocation of all Japanese living along the Coast to towns and camps further inland. Soon after, at the urging of racist BC politicians, the Canadian Parliament used the War Measures Act to orde...
