Indian Chiefs in full support for Chinese Canadian quest to protect historic sites
Left to right: Stewart Phillip, (unidentified), Bill Chu, Edward John, and Robert Shintah. (Ming Pao Photo)
The effort of the Chinese Canadian community to preserve and restore pioneers’ history has made a monumental gain today when the Union of BC Indian Chiefs threw its unequivocal support behind the “brothers and sisters” of the aboriginal peoples.
The UBCIC is holding its annual convention in Vancouver this week. Rarely would the UBCIC invite non-aboriginal to speak or even participate in the convention, it did invite Bill Chu, the man behind the current community effort to save Chinese Canadian historic sites that have been left attended and exposed for over a century, to make a speech today.
Chu talked about the historic close ties between Chinese pioneers and the native peoples in early settlement history. Chu also presented an account of his recent six trips to the Fraser Canyon in search for historic sites. (Please read CIV’s previous accounts on these trips in here, and here.)
Chief Stewart Phillip, chair of the UBCIC, urged everyone on the floor of the convention to stand up behind Chu and provide all the help he needs to do the dauntingly huge task.
Phillip described both the Chinese Canadians and the Natives being victims of racism of white settlers. When BC’s lands could be granted to individuals through a process called “pre-emption”, he said, only “Chinamen” and “Indians” were outlawed to do so.
Check out the Chinese-Canadian Genealogy website of the Vancouver Public Library:
B.C. Crown Land could be granted to an individual through pre-emption, a process similar to homesteading. The pre-emptor could acquire a piece of land from the government at a discounted price, or at no charge, if he made certain improvements on it. Land could also be acquired from the Crown by outright purchase, auction, or other means.
In the decades after B.C. joined Confederation in 1871, few Chinese people acquired Crown land. Initially, they had the right to do so, despite other discriminatory measures imposed on people of Chinese origin. But many Chinese immigrants had come to Canada to escape poverty in China and were very poor. Although pre-emption offered a means of obtaining Crown Land at little or no cost, it required the pre-emptor to make improvements to the property, which cost money.
The transient nature of the community also did not encourage the acquisition of land. The majority of immigrants were male — single or, if married, unaccompanied by their wives. There was a great deal of migration within B.C. and to and from the U.S. as people went to places where they could find work. Many went back to China, sometimes to stay, often to return to Canada with a family member.
In 1884, a legislative barrier to the acquisition of Crown land emerged in the form of a provincial ” Act to Prevent Chinese from Acquiring Crown Lands” (S.B.C. 1884, Chapter 2). The legislation was not repealed until 1950 (S.B.C. 1950 Chapter 37, Section 19).
It’s well known that there were a lot of cross-marriages between Chinese pioneers and the Natives. Phillip recalled in a friendship meeting between Chinese Canadian and the Natives that he asked those who carry Chinese genes in their blood to stand up. He said over 100 out of the 600 participants stood up. Phillip thus urged all aboriginal peoples to “stand behind our brothers and sisters” to search for history.
Robert Shintah, vice chair of UBCIC, said the sites Bill Chu had visited represented only a very small amount. There are many, many more out there waiting to be protected.
Grand Chief Edward John of the First Nations Summit, who wasn’t scheduled to speak, requested to add a few words. He said not only were the Chinese and Natives closely connected in history, they are good friends too, in present term.
John said he and a group of Native representatives visited four cities in China last summer, promoting economic cooperation. He visited China again in November and went to Sichuan to visit the earthquake victims.
John indicated that the Native peoples are planning to give earthquake victims a totem as a way to comfort them. They are working with the Chinese consulate general on this.
READ ALSO:
5 points suggested to deal with NW school development
B.C. group warns school development could disturb former Chinese cemetery
Bones of our ancestors – Past and Future
Indian Chiefs in full support for Chinese Canadian quest to protect historic sites
Exposing historic sites left exposed, neglected
Premier promises to protect historic Chinese pioneers’ sites
Tags: archaeology, BC, Chinese Canadian history, Indian Chiefs, pioneers, UBCICRelated posts
Short URL: http://www.chineseinvancouver.ca/?p=8976
i hope this important meeting will provide effective ammunitions for bill chu and all of us to push the government to do something concrete.
No, it won’t.
guess what? we can do it if we, as a group, have the determination to do so…. in unity
i’m missing chinktalk now…. where’s he lately?
The ghost of the past might have got HK boy. In the former colony of HK , the colonial government removed the post-1838 colonial assaults on China from high school history curriculum. So we grew up not knowing the colonial injustice like the Opium War, the Treaty of Nanking and a host of unfair treaties eight foreign countries extracted from China. To make up for the lack of voting rights and the right to self determination within the colony, we were given the right to make money. So while most in the colony think ignorance of history is a bliss, others like HK boy need to realize he is no longer held captive in the former colony. The fact that we are now fully enfranchised individuals within BC should exorcised us from the ghosts of the past, and enable us to challenge the lack of public acknowledgment of our history within the “colony” of BC.
hi bc, in my days, i did learn about the opium war, treaty of nanking in high school history. the major thing that i found missing was teaching us how to be a citizen…. such as speaking up for ourselves, independent thinking etc.
bc,
Are you Bill Chu?
I still have my Hong Kong secondary school textbooks (both Chinese and English) from pre-1997 that describe everything about Western history and Chinese history.
Topics include the Congress of Vienna, Rise of Nation States in Europe, Independence of theb Balkan States, the Development of the Parliamentary Government in Britain, The Opening of China, The Opening of Japan, China from the Self-Strengthening Movement to the Boxer Uprising, China from the Late Qing Reform to the May Fourth Movement, From the Sino-Japanese War to the Washington Conference.
Unlike the useless and garbage Canadian education, I do know a lot.
hkboy, is yours “Longman”? :)
Aristo Educational Press Ltd.