Vancouver anti-Asian riots

The Vancouver anti-Asian riots occurred over the course of 2 days from September 7–9, 1907, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. At about the same time, there were similar anti-Asian riots in San Francisco, Bellingham, and other West Coast cities of North America, as part of the wider Pacific Coast race riots of 1907. They were not coordinated, but instead reflected common underlying anti-immigration and racist attitudes against Asians by whites, who was seen as an economic and social threat.[2]

Vancouver anti-Asian riots
Exclusionist cartoon in Saturday Sunset magazine by N.H. Hawkins, Vancouver, 24 August 1907
DateSeptember 7–9, 1907
Location
Vancouver, British Columbia, specifically at Chinatown and Japantown

Caused byAnti-immigration sentiment, Anti-Asian racism, White supremacy
Parties to the civil conflict
Asian Canadians in Vancouver
Casualties
Death(s)Unknown
InjuriesUnknown
ArrestedAt least 19[1]
Fined~$36,420 indemnities

Agitation for direct action was led by labour unions and small business.[3]:163 While it was never confirmed that there were any deaths, the damage to Asian-owned property was extensive. Such results arising from the riots was an informal agreement whereby the governments of China and Japan limited or stopped emigration to Canada.[4]:553

Causes of riots

In the early years of the twentieth century race relations on the Pacific Coast of Canada were strained. There were an estimated 16,000 Chinese immigrants in the province at the 1901 census, an increase from the prior 1881 (4,350) and 1891 (8,910) counts.[5]:7–8 There were also 8,000 Japanese and around 5,000 South Asians. The Chinese had come to Canada to build the railways; the Japanese to fish; and Indians to farm and log.

Japanese immigrants arriving from Kumeric, 1907

At this time, other ships with more migrants were arriving, including the Suian Maru [83 Japanese, 1906],[6][7][8] SS Kumeric [1,177 Japanese, 1907],[9][10][11] SS Tartar [514 Indians, 1907],[12] and the SS Monteagle [901 Indians, further 100 in 1908].[13][14] Meanwhile, the Panic of 1907, caused by the failure of Augustus Heinze's brother's bank in New York, exacerbated the difficult labour market and brought racial tensions to the fore.

White people perceived Asians as taking "their" jobs. Australia had enacted the Immigration Restriction Act 1901 which promulgated the White Australia policy and eliminated Asian immigration shortly after confederation. The Asian Exclusion League in Canada lobbied for Canada to do the same.

The riots that broke out on September 7 of 1907 were the accumulation of growing enmity toward the Asian immigrants that were coming to the United States and parts of Canada.[15]:68 "By the end of October 1907, new arrivals totaled 11,440. Of these immigrants the Japanese accounted for 8,125, the Chinese 1,266, and the Punjabi Sikhs 2,049".[3]:163 As the numbers of Asian immigrants continued to grow, anti-Asian activist began to feel threatened that the Japanese could "ultimately control [Vancouver] part of Canada".[15]:66 The riots represented the voices and feelings of anti-Asian activists, in attempt to "convince federal authorities of the seriousness of anti-Japanese sentiment in British Columbia".[3]:163

Events

The 1907 Vancouver riot was the second act of anti-Asian violence in the history of Vancouver; the first incident took place in the area of Coal Harbour, in 1887.[16]:172 A riot targeting East Indian lumber workers in Bellingham in 1907 started the events.[17] Shortly thereafter, tensions flared in the north and angry mobs stormed through Powell Street in Vancouver's Chinatown, breaking windows and assaulting Chinese people in the streets. The riot lasted three days in September 1907; finally the Vancouver police closed the streets and calm slowly returned. Many windows were broken and the population was terrified. The second day of the riot turned against the Japanese community. There were similar actions in Steveston in Richmond against the Japanese.

Immediate lead-up

Early in 1907 the Grand Trunk and Pacific Railway lobbied Ottawa to let it import 10,000 Japanese workers to build its line in Northern BC [this figure is often misquoted as 50,000]. Premier Bowser did not like such large numbers and opposed such a large Asian influx. On August 12, 1907, members of the Asiatic Exclusion League met and developed a resolution. The document asked the Canadian government to "enforce the Immigration Act passed by the provincial legislature in the Spring of 1907",[16]:176 but the Canadian Government refused to endorse the proposed act.

At about the same time there were similar anti-Asian riots in San Francisco, Bellingham, Washington, and other West Coast cities. They were not coordinated, but instead reflected common underlying anti-Asian nativism.[2] The Vancouver riots were a direct result of the race riot in Bellingham, Washington, on September 5, 1907. Many Chinese victims of the Bellingham race riots fled for Canada,[16]:174 subsequently fuelling the Asiatic Exclusion League of Vancouver to take a stance against anti-Asian immigration.[4]

Parade and riot

At the third meeting, the member of the Asiatic Exclusion League decided to plan a parade for Saturday the 7th of September, which would include a band in order to draw attention.[16]:176 The parade would lead to Vancouver City Hall at Hastings and Main (then named Westminster), next to Chinatown, where a rally would be held to address the issues of Asian Immigration.[16]:176 10,000 Canadian and American citizens marched in that anti-Asian immigration parade, which resulted in a mob rioting throughout Chinese and Japanese neighbourhoods within Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.[1][4][15]:67[18]

Boarded windows and storefronts on Pender Street in Chinatown after the September 1907 riots

As various speakers were discussing the Bellingham riot, the sound of shattering glass caused by a rock tossed by an unruly teen, had sounded the beginning of what would become a much larger riot in Vancouver. The crowd gathered at the parade turned into a rioting mob, throwing beer bottles and rocks at windows, attempting to destroy Chinese owned stores and homes. Most of the buildings attacked during the Vancouver riots were Caucasian owned.[16]:177

The mob of rioters moved to Japantown after destroying Chinese business and homes, however, the riots were pushed back by Japanese residents. The Vancouver riot was not finished until 3 o'clock in the morning on September 8, by the time dawn had broken the city was quiet.[15]:67 The Vancouver race riot resulted in zero casualties and a couple thousand dollars worth of property damages.[15]:69

Aftermath

Labour Minister MacKenzie King was detailed to write a Royal Commission into the events. He also recompensed the damage with $36,000 to the injured communities.[19][20]

The Vancouver race riot resulted in bans on immigration for Japanese people. This ban was titled the gentlemen's agreement and was enacted in Canada on January 25, 1908.[4]:553 Within this treaty Japan agreed to "restrict the number of passports issued to make labourers and domestic servants to an annual maximum of 400".[4]:553 In addition to the Gentlemen's agreement, Canada also passed the "Continuous journey" legislation, which allowed Japanese immigrant to "finish" their journey to the United States.[4]:553

Although spared the worst of the riots by remaining indoors,[21] the aftermath nevertheless affected Indians living in the province. In 1908 the British Columbia government passed a law preventing South Asian men from voting. Because eligibility for federal elections originated from provincial voting lists, they were also unable to vote in federal elections.[22] The Canadian government also enacted a $200 head tax on Indian immigration and required immigrants to take a continuous journey from their country of origin to Canada; there were no boats which sailed directly from India to Canada. After 1908, yearly South Asian immigration to Canada did not exceed 80 until the 1940s. A direct result of these restrictions set the stage for one of the most infamous events in Vancouver history, the Komagata Maru Incident in 1914.

See also

References
  1. "Wild Rioters Mob Asiatics". Los Angeles Herald. Associated Press. September 10, 1907. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
  2. Lee, Erika (2007-01-01). "Hemispheric Orientalism and the 1907 Pacific Coast Race Riots". Amerasia Journal. 33 (2): 19–48. doi:10.17953/amer.33.2.y263745731125524. ISSN 0044-7471. S2CID 146563836.
  3. Sugimoto, Howard H. (1973-01-01). "The Vancouver Riot and Its International Significance". The Pacific Northwest Quarterly. 64 (4): 163–174. JSTOR 40489721.
  4. Lee, Erika (2007). "The "Yellow Peril" and Asian Exclusion in the Americas". Pacific Historical Review. 76 (4): 551. doi:10.1525/phr.2007.76.4.537.
  5. Report of the Royal Commission on Chinese and Japanese Immigration (Report). Ottawa: S.E. Dawson, Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty. 1902. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  6. Sulz, David (2008). "3 | Transitional Relations: Japanese Immigration and the Suian Maru Affair, 1900-11". In Donaghy, Greg; Roy, Patricia E. (eds.). Contradictory Impulses: Canada and Japan in the Twentieth Century. Vancouver, BC: UBC Press. pp. 46–61. ISBN 978-0-7748-1443-0. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
  7. Adamski, Barbara K. (August 22, 2007). "Suian Maru Voyagers". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
  8. "Japanese Schooner Heavily Fined". Sacramento Union. November 2, 1906. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
  9. Nomura, Kazuko. They Who Part the Grass: The Japanese Government and Early Nikkei Immigration to Canada, 1877–1908 (PDF) (Master of Arts thesis). University of Manitoba. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
  10. "Brings Japanese". Los Angeles Herald. July 14, 1907. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
  11. "Japs Crowding In from Hawaii". Los Angeles Herald. Associated Press. July 25, 1907. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
  12. "Hindoos Flock to Vancouver". Mariposa Gazette. October 26, 1907. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
  13. "'Ship Away Hindus' Cry". Los Angeles Herald. Associated Press. September 13, 1907. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
  14. "More Hindus Arrive". Los Angeles Herald. Associated Press. December 3, 1907. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
  15. Jensen, Joan M. (1988). Passage from India: Asian Indian Immigrants in North America. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300038460.
  16. Wynne, Robert E. (1966). "American Labor Leaders and the Vancouver Anti-Oriental Riot". The Pacific Northwest Quarterly. 57 (4): 172–179. JSTOR 40488175.
  17. Hallberg, Gerald. N. (1973). "Bellingham, Washington's Anti-Hindu Riot". Journal of the West. 12: 163–175.
  18. Englesberg, Paul (2015). "The 1907 Bellingham Riot and Anti-Asian Hostilities in the Pacific Northwest". Sikh Gadar Lehar 1907-1918. Anaheim: Shri Guru Sahib Foundation: 303–337. alternative link
  19. King, William Lyon Mackenzie (1908). Report by W. L. Mackenzie King, C.M.G., Deputy Minister of Labour, Commissioner appointed to investigate into the Losses Sustained by the Chinese Population of Vancouver, B.C. on the occasion of the riots in that city in September, 1907 (Report). Ottawa: S.E. Dawson, Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  20. King, William Lyon Mackenzie (1908). Report by W. L. Mackenzie King, C.M.G., Deputy Minister of Labour, Commissioner appointed to investigate into the Losses Sustained by the Japanese Population of Vancouver, B.C. on the occasion of the riots in that city in September, 1907 (Report). Ottawa: S.E. Dawson, Printer to the King's Most Excellent Majesty. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  21. Century of Struggle and Success The Sikh Canadian Experience 13 November 2006
  22. Nayar, The Punjabis in British Columbia, page 15.

Bibliography
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