Racism in Canada

After the Holocaust, when Adolf Hitler killed over six million Jews, and even before that, people have been racist toward Jewish people. Although, it is not as bad as it was in the 1930's and 1940's, some people are still racist to Jews. One example of discrimination of Jews was when the Jewish Europeans were stranded on the S.S. St. Louis. When Adolf Hitler's National Social Party, the Nazi's, came into power in the year 1933, they wanted to kill all Jews from Europe. They took away their human rights, employment and educational opportunities. On May 15th, 907 German Jews with their visas headed for Cuba from Hamburg. They did this to escape the discrimination. They boarded the S.S. St. Louis. On May 27th, 1939, when the ship reached Havana, Cuba, the Cuban government would not allow them to enter the country. Nine days later, the Cubans would only let them enter their country if the paid them $443,000 within 24 hours. The Jews could not get that much money in 24 hours. Tania, Argentina, Chile, Columbia and Paraguay also would not let them enter their countries. Then, The Americans sent their coastguard to escort the ship northward. This story touched very few Canadians.

Those few Canadians sent a telegram to Prime Minister Mackenzie King asking him to offer Canada's exile's sanctuary. Immigration Minister F.C. Blair said, “No county could open its doors wide open enough to take in the hundreds of thousands of Jewish people who went to leave Europe; the line must be drawn somewhere.” A delegation of Jews went to Ottawa to ask the government how many Jewish people Canada would take in. “None is too many” was the answer. The S.S. St. Louis had no choice but to return to Europe. Those who got off in England were safe. Whoever got of in Belgium, France and Holland were found and murdered in the Holocaust by the Nazi's. That is one example of how the Canadian government were racist to Jews.

Americans were experienced with slavery. Canada also participated in this intolerable activity. Slavery touched Canada when the first Europeans arrived. Portuguese explorer, Gasper Corte-Real, enslaved 50 First Nation Canadians in the year 1500 in Newfoundland. In 1608, the French introduced black slaves to Canada. The slaves were transported to Canada directly from Africa in 1629. In 1689 to 1709, slavery was legal in New France. There were 3604 registered slaves. One-third of them were African. When the Revolutionary War ended in1783, many Americans who were loyal to England, moved to Canada. They also brought their slaves with them. Unfortunately, Canada's businesses and farms didn't produce the kinds of products that were required in extremely large numbers. The practice of Slavery in Canada didn't take root as it did in America. The slaves who settled in Nova Scotia were set free after the American Revolution. The end of slavery closed a very shameful chapter in Canada's history. This will hopefully never happen again in Canada.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many people believed that Canada “belonged” to the white people who lived there. The people believed people who live in such countries as Japan and China should not enter and live in Canada. They would take jobs and businesses away because they would work for lower pay. Many Americans believed the same thing.

An Anti-Oriental movement was formed in 1905. They were known ad the Asiatic Exclusion League. Their goal was to remove all Asians from North America. In 1907, this group moved north to Vancouver, Canada. About 9,000 white people who were protestors attacked Asian businesses. Destroying signs and smashing windows. The next morning, many Asian store-owners bought guns and lots of ammo for protection. Five days later, after the group formed in Vancouver, it disbanded. The ideas that created it still remain in talk in some places in Canadian society. Even today, some people still talk about limiting immigration, so that there are enough jobs for “real Canadians”. This was only one of the protests of Asians.

Here is a list of racist acts that happened in Canada from the 1950's to the 1980's:

• A Black carpenter and veteran of WWII was hated until he was eventually forced to leave Dresden, Ontario because of his leadership to unite local restaurants and barbershops
• In the 1950's, Joe Drummond, a Black resident of Saint John, New Brunswick, could not get a haircut anywhere in his own city.
• In 1954, the Prime Minister of Barbados, Grantly Adams, was denied a room in a Montreal hotel due to "policy".
• First Nations children were regularly taken from their families and put into residential schools to "unlearn" their culture and language.
• In the 1960's, anti Semitic slogans were painted on buildings in Montreal and carved on objects at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto
• In the spring of 1975, a 15 year old black child was shot to death by a white attacker. The shooting itself was not necessarily racially-motivated, but the words "no more nigger meetings" were written on a wall at the church funeral.
• The Federal Government continued to refuse to provide equivalent compensation to Chinese-Canadians for the Head Tax their ancestors were obliged to pay to enter Canada as cheap labour earlier in the century.
• In 1984, in a small town near Toronto, swastikas were painted on windows and the front door of a synagogue and posters of Hitler were attached to utility poles.
• Early in 1977, a young man from Guyana was knocked down by several white men who called him a "Paki". They responded violently when he attempted to explain that he was not from Pakistan. This also occurred in Toronto.