Did the government of Sir John A. Macdonald treat Chinese migrant railway workers well?

Question

The Conservative Government of Sir John A. Macdonald (1867-1873, 1878-1891) used migrant labourers from China to build the railway system of Canada.

Did his government adopt open minded policies towards the migrants?

Answer 1

If you are looking for the prime minister that was a bit more fair to the chinese workers on the west coast look into wilfred laurier. He really had a good vision of what canada would become. Sir John A. Macdonald's government didn't have alot of open minded policies towards fair treatment of minorites.

Answer 2

The government was completely horrible to Chinese immigrants, and imposed a number of laws and regulations upon them that didn't apply to people of other origins.

Answer 3

Nooooooooooooo.....the Canadian gov't has a horrible history of racist immigration laws...and it still does...

Chinese railway workers were used because it was cheap, and because a lot of the work was dangerous. Many Chinese men died building the railway.

Google head taxes in Canada. The gov't imposed the tax to prevent Chinese men from bringing their families to Canada. The head tax started at about $50 per person, and ended up going up to about $500 per person.

"1884

The federal government sets up a Royal Commission to look into Chinese immigrants.

1885

The Canadian Pacific Railway is completed.

The federal government introduces the Act to Restrict and Regulate Chinese Immigration into Canada, which requires that Chinese people entering Canada to pay a head tax of $50 per person.  "    http://www.ccnc.ca/toronto/history/timel...

Chinese people in Canada were not given the vote in federal elections until 1947.

Here's a quote I found from Sir John A. Macdonald:

"Canada's first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, wanted to cut costs by employing Chinese to build the railway, and summarized the situation this way to Parliament in 1882: "It is simply a question of alternatives: either you must have this labour or you can't have the railway."[3]. "

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_...

Use google.ca or google.com to find the info you need!

Answer 4

No - didn't treat them well.

No - they weren't open minded.

A lot of racism back then, against Chinese and many other minorities.