100th Anniversary Project
The Paper Trail to the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act.
This project, for which our Military Museum led the development, commemorated the 100th anniversary of the 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act with the creation of a major, national exhibition which opened in Vancouver July 1, 2023 at the Chinese Canadian Museum; a new community archive of private, exclusion-related identity documents; as well as a book.
The 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act (known formally at the Chinese Immigration Sct, 1923) was an unprecedented law which led to the darkest and, for some, the most despairing period for Chinese in Canada.
The Exclusion Act was a last-ditch effort to block all immigration from China after four decades of charging ever-increasing head taxes failed to stop the flow of Chinese into Canada.
The 1923 Act also resulted in Canadian-born Chinese children being issued an “immigration card” containing the words “this certificate does not establish legal status in Canada.” Through this card, a form of exclusion was symbolically passed on to the next generation of Chinese born on Canadian soil.
These children would become the generation that enlisted in Canada’s war effort despite the lack of full status in this country. Some even lost their lives in combat, such as Quan Louie of Vancouver who died in bomber command over the skies of Germany.
Learn more about this national crowdsourced project here.