Open Door Policy In Canada

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Canada has generally seen immigration as a positive chance and an important tool to expand the country and construct the economy. It has built a status throughout the years for being a massively diverse nation. However, the historical backdrop of Canada’s immigration strategies through the years has been one of rejection and prejudice. Even today, the nation keeps on welcoming some, yet not others. Nevertheless, immigration is essential to the improvement of Canada’s society, economy, and culture. Thus, immigration policies and primacies have changed notably, from an “open door” approach in Canada’s ancient history, to a strategy that could be portrayed as unequivocally biased, to an economically centered methodology. The government in…show more content…
The government was overt in their decisions to exclude them of Canada’s citizenship. The only reason they were allowed to reside in Canada is that the Canadian Pacific Railway Company needed labour that was docile, cheap, and obedient, and that is how Chinese were perceived. They were seen as homogenies, all of them are the same, and because of these perceptions, they were easily exploited. The CPR needed to construct a railway connecting B.C. with eastern Canada, after the decision of BC to join the Confederation in 1871. As a result, thousands of Chinese labourers were brought in using the contract labour system. The Chinese were often allocated the most dangerous jobs, usually involving explosives, with lower pays compared to other White workers. After the completion of the CPR, many Chinese became unemployed and useless to both the Canadian government and the CPR, therefore; the government passed a bill to limit and regulate Chinese migration to Canada. The Chinese Immigration Act of 1885 imposed a head tax on all Chinese immigrants seeking entry into Canada, forcing them to pay a $50 entry fee. Rejecting immigrants because of their ethnic basis was the first policy of the Canadian legislation. However, more strict regulations against the escalated numbers of Chinese immigrants were required. The…show more content…
They were at disadvantage because they did not benefit from the Nation building in Canada at that time. They were prohibited from even landing or entering Canadian soil. In 1908, the Canadian government amended the Immigration Act, which required immigrants to make a “continuous journey” from their place of origin to Canada. This policy targeted immigrants from India and Japan because immigration from those countries did not offer direct passage to Canada. However, due to the status of Indian immigrants as British subjects, the Canadian government fount it impractical to exclude them based on their origin. Hence, the “continuous journey regulation” was formed, which allowed the government to restrict and limit immigrants from both India and Japan without excluding them based on race or ethnicity. This policy was challenged and confronted in 1914 when a wealthy Sikh merchant, Gurdit Singh, commissioned the Komagata Maru, a Japanese ship, carrying 376 Indian immigrants to sail to Vancouver. The ship arrived at the Vancouver harbour and stayed there for two continuous months. Singh hired a lawyer to verify the legitimacy of the continuous journey regulation in the provincial court. However, the Supreme Court of British Columbia sustained the legislation and refused to let them land, eventually the ship was escorted out of the

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