How did the Chinese Exclusion Act separate Calgary families?

A project in Calgary is trying to collect the stories of Chinese Canadian families who were separated by the Chinese Immigration Act.

July 1 is the 100-year commemoration of the racist legislation which effectively stopped immigration from China for 24 years in Canada.

Fred Wong’s dad Dan came to Canada in June 1922 at the age of 18 paying the $500 head tax that was required of Chinese immigrants.

Dan Wong worked at a CPR work camp in Brooks and then worked in cafes in Saskatchewan and Manitoba before settling in Queenstown, Alta. in 1927. He then opened a cafe which he turned into a general store.

In 1933, he returned to China to marry Fred’s mother but came back to Canada alone because of the Chinese Immigration Act.

“My dad was fortunate in the sense he lived in a community where he appeared to be well supported in the sense that he made a lot of lifelong friends,” Wong said.

Wong’s oldest brother Gene was born in 1934 in China. Gene never met his father until he was a teenager and was finally allowed to come to Canada after the Exclusion Act was repealed in 1947.

“It’s a troubling part of Canada’s past,” Wong said.

Fred Wong was born in Alberta and has spent most of his life in Calgary.  The former director of Calgary Transit appreciates the opportunities living in Canada has provided his family, but the country’s previous treatment of Chinese immigrants was made painfully clear in a letter written by his mother to his father when she was still living in China.

“In the letter, it talks about the fact that it’s been 10 years since I saw you.  It must’ve been very difficult for not only my father here in Canada but for my mother in China,” Wong said.

“To be married to someone for a short period of time and then that person leaving and not knowing when you’re going to be reunited, must have been very very difficult,”

Wong is sharing his story as part of a Calgary project called Stories of Exclusion. Over the past week people impacted by the Exclusion Act have been sharing their stories with local artists but it hasn’t been easy getting people to speak out.

“It’s kind of a cultural thing that older Chinese who didn’t want to rock the boat don’t want their story to be saved,” said Dale Lee Kwong, the Calgary poet, playwright and essayist behind Stories of Exclusion.

“They are embarrassed by their story and humiliated by the story and they would rather forget about it and the generations coming up are more activists,” Kwong said.

Those sharing their stories say the Exclusion Act created an imbalance in the male and female ratio within the Chinese community and a culture of silence.

“It’s something that was ingrained in me as a child. You stay out of trouble. Don’t raise attention to yourself – just continue on and move forward,” Wong said.

Wong’s reason for coming forward is to protect all marginalized people from discrimination.

“I want to see things change for the better for my children, who are adults now, and being a new grandfather, I think about my grandson and how will things be for him,” Wong said.

On Canada Day, there will be an alternative celebration at cSpace Eau Claire Neighbourhood Hub. Stories of Exclusion will honour the hidden histories of the Chinese community as a result of the Chinese Immigration Act. Lion dancers will be part of the event and artists will share how the project affected them