Head Taxes And The Exclusion Act

In 1885 the Canadian government created a head tax against the Chinese. This meant that any Chinese person wanting to come to Canada had to pay $50.00 to the government. In 1900, Canadians felt that there was still too many Chinese people coming to Canada, and the head tax was increased to $100.00. It went up to $500.00 in 1903. In 1923, the Chinese Immigration Act was passed also known as the Exclusion Act. For the next 24 years, anyone who was Chinese was not allowed to come to Canada. Canada was not alone in it`s discrimination against the Chinese people. In the 1850`s the Australian colonies were also limiting the number of Chinese immigrants. In 1882, the USA also passed an act to exclude the Chinese. For the Chinese workers that moved to Canada before the head taxes came into effect and the Exclusion Act, it made it nearly impossible for many of them to ever see their families again!