Macdonalds: Chinese Immigrants to Canada

Chinese immigrants to Canada: These words were infamously uttered by Sir John A. Macdonald, Canadas first prime minister, on May 4, 1885, to justify his governments decision to impose a racist head tax on all Chinese immigrants to Canada, according to The Star. Dubbed the National Dream, the CPR connected British Columbia with the rest of the country. It was Macdonalds promise to that province in exchange for its agreement to join Confederation. Without the CPR, Canada would not have become a nation and When the Chinaman comes here he intends to return to his own country; he does not bring his family with him; he is a stranger, a sojourner in a strange land, for his own purposes for a while; he has no common interest with us ... A Chinaman gives us his labour and gets his money, but that money does not fructify in Canada; he does not invest it here, but takes it with him and returns to China ... he has no British instincts or British feelings or aspirations, and therefore ought not to have a vote. It was Macdonalds way of saying thank you to the thousands of Chinese labourers who helped build the Canadian Pacific Railway. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.