Chinese Canadian Touchpoints to Indigenous Issues

 [Even while there have been corrections about the specific incident being identified with “mass graves,” the following shall not be retracted for relevance]

Given the recent discussions surrounding National Indigenous History Month and reports about the discovery of mass graves at residential schools, I’ve been coming to terms with my identity as a settler (correction addendum: as of 2022, the discovery of mass graves has been disputed [7]). Immigrating to the Greater Toronto Area as a school age child in the mid-90s, I had not paid much attention to the Indigenous peoples of Canada. Part of the immigrant experience is to continually be under the pressure of fitting in, of which the awareness of Indigenous issues was not understood as particularly important. Learning about commonalities between Chinese Canadians and the Indigenous peoples has been helpful in my growing awareness.

There have been calls within the Chinese Canadian community to stir up awareness and allyship to Indigenous issues, including a recent Chinese article for Radio Canada International. As the article states, every Canadian has a responsibility to voice out and support the Indigenous peoples towards truth and reconciliation. Chinese Canadians in particular have responsibility when drawing from our own parallel experiences of racism under Canada. For instance, residential schools began in the era of Sir John Alexander Macdonald, coinciding with the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway by cheaply-paid Chinese laborers. In addition, the exclusionary Chinese head tax also began during the Macdonald era. The same article also mentioned the significant impact of the construction of the railway on Indigenous peoples, causing them to be chased out of their ancestral lands [1]. The deployment of advanced transport technologies also occurred in China around the same time, with the example of deployment of British gunboats being used for the purpose of military coercion. As such, it can be said that there has been comparable and similar impact on the people, property, and land of the Indigenous persons and for persons of Chinese origin. The deployment of colonial transport technologies in this era had more impact than the bolstering of economies, as they were simultaneously acts of aggression. The Canadian Pacific Railway is still seen as a conduit for exploitation by some Indigenous peoples [2].

I may perhaps extend the reasons stated in the article by discussing additional historical touchpoints. Treaties were negotiated between the Crown and the Indigenous peoples concerning land, beginning with the British and continued by the Canadian federal government [3]. These treaties have been understood as pacts between independent nations. Around this timeline of the 19th century, the Crown was making treaties with China, with notable treaties such as the Treaty of Chuenpi which resulted in the cession of Hong Kong. It is notable that these treaties made with the Qing Empire are now seen as “unequal treaties,” accompanied with British gunboats and military coercion. The Imperial Old Summer Palace was burned down in 1860 under the command of a former governor general of Canada, the Earl of Elgin James Bruce, resulting in additional treaties with the Crown. Immigrants from Hong Kong might feel a connection to the dissatisfaction that came with these treaties, which in their case had ceded Hong Kong to the British.

Another touchpoint is in the friendly relations between early Chinese settlers and the Indigenous peoples, evidenced in stories told in the documentary of the mixed Chinese and Indigenous heritage Grant siblings, All Our Father’s Relations [4]. A recent Toronto Star opinion piece told a story of how the Indigenous peoples have protected the graves of Chinese laborers [5]. Indigenous communities not only accepted the marginalized Chinese settlers in their midst, the groups even intermarried and formed families. I am of the opinion that some of the more recent ethnic Chinese immigrants may carry racist sentiments to be opposed marriage with Indigenous peoples. I additionally think that Chinese heritage has more resonances with Indigenous cultures than mainstream Canadians, be it in Chinese spiritualities or in their relationship with nature. Something recently marking our common experience is in the attacks against Indigenous peoples who have been mistaken as Chinese, due to the rise of anti-Chinese sentiment in the COVID-19 pandemic [6].

Even as I have found the above to be helpful in my process towards awareness of Indigenous issues, I am sure there are yet more touchpoints for us Chinese Canadians to empathize with. We haven’t dug into the push and pull factors as a result of British colonialism which motivated for the Chinese to migrate. This kind of reflection can be used for building solidarities between Chinese Canadians and Indigenous peoples in Canada, as both communities may undergo struggles and inequitable treatment in various ways.

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[1] ICI.Radio-Canada.ca, Zone Société-. “為什么華裔此刻應該與原住民團結在一起，又能做些什么？.” Radio-Canada.ca, https://ici.radio-canada.ca/rci/zh-hans/%E6%96%B0%E9%97%BB/1798553/%E4%B8%BA%E4%BB%80%E4%B9%88%E5%8D%8E%E8%A3%94%E6%AD%A4%E5%88%BB%E5%BA%94%E8%AF%A5%E4%B8%8E%E5%8E%9F%E4%BD%8F%E6%B0%91%E5%9B%A2%E7%BB%93%E5%9C%A8%E4%B8%80%E8%B5%B7-%E5%8F%88%E8%83%BD%E5%81%9A%E4%BA%9B%E4%BB%80%E4%B9%88-. Accessed 4 July 2021.

[2] “‘The Railways Got Very Wealthy on Our Land’: How Rail’s Colonial Past Made It a Target for Blockades.” The Globe and Mail, 3 Mar. 2020, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-the-railways-got-very-wealthy-on-our-land-how-rails-colonial-past/.

[3] Hall, Anthony J. “Treaties with Indigenous Peoples in Canada.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, 11 Sept. 2017, https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/aboriginal-treaties.

[4] Yoshizawa, Alejandro. All Our Father’s Relations. Right Relations, 2016.

[5] Yao, Diamond. “As a Chinese Canadian, I’m Joining Hands with Indigenous Communities to Speak up about This Nation’s History of Violent Oppression.” Toronto Star Opinion, 30 June 2021, https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2021/06/30/as-a-chinese-canadian-im-joining-hands-with-indigenous-communities-to-speak-up-about-this-nations-history-of-violent-oppression.html.

[6] “Go Back to China, Attacker Told Indigenous Vancouver Woman Who Sneezed.” South China Morning Post, 20 May 2020, https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3085148/coronavirus-racism-go-back-china-attacker-said-he.

[7] Glavin, Terry. “The Year of the Graves: How the World’s Media Got It Wrong on Residential School Graves.” National Post, May 27, 2022. https://nationalpost.com/opinion/the-year-of-the-graves-how-the-worlds-media-got-it-wrong-on-residential-school-graves.