| Saskatchewan Settlement Place Names: Numerous chinese towns - family businesses such as operating restaurants and laundry establishments and also acted as temporary and unofficial bankers at the turn of the century. Many Chinese immigrants came to Canada through BC which has the highest population. Many Chinese worked on Railway construction crews and in this way came further east to settle in the prairies.
The Chinese Immigration Act was passed in 1923 which proclaimed the definition of a "Chinaman". A person of Chinese descent was still a Chinaman even if naturalized according to the Naturalization Act of 1914. The Chinese Immigration Act also forbade "Chinamen" from votin, certain employment avenues, and the right to enter or depart from Canada on their own free will. Such a certificate of naturalization affords a naturalized citizen with those rights afforded to a British subject. In Saskatchewan a law was passed forbidding a Chinese employer to bring into his employment any labourers of the female persuasion. The Supreme Court of Canada upheld the verdict that a naturalized citizen of Chinese roots could not follow the practices of a British subject by hiring women at his Moose Jaw restaurant.1 |
