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1922-1923 Chinese Student Strike, Victoria, British Columbia

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The Chinese Student Strike started September 6, 1922 in Victoria, British Columbia. It was a conflict between the Victoria School Board and the Chinese Canadian community, due to the introduction of segregated schools. 240 Chinese students were impacted and it continued until September 1, 1923, when the segregated schools were closed and the Chinese Canadian students were remitted into regular schools.

Victoria School Board Proposes Segregation

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George H. Deane, Municipal School Inspector, proposed segregating all radicalized Chinese students to the Victoria School Board in January 1922.[1] The reasons for wanting to segregate Chinese students into their own schools were, Chinese students were unsanitary and would effect the health of the white children, and they tended to halt the progress of the class because they struggled with English.[2] There were also claims about 'purely biological' and that intermingling races would produce 'half-caste' children which were seen as having bad qualities of both races.[3] The Chinese Canadian Club petitioned the School Board at the next meeting. This protest was unsuccessful and the Board of Trustees decided that all students sixteen years and older who had not graduated from the fourth reader level were to be barred entry into non segregated schools, except those who had special permission.[4]

On July 3, 1922, the Victoria School Board voted in favour of segregating all pupils of Chinese origin.[5] Three schools were to be used for Chinese students: Rock Bay School; Railway Street School, and King's Road School.[6] The Chinese community saw segregation as humiliating and called it "discrimination that would slow their children's progress in learning English."[7] The Chinese-Canadian community was not the only one upset about the new schools. Land owners in the new school districts argued that the Chinese schools would lower their property value and the schools should be in Chinatown.[8] This argument had no impact on the location of the schools.

Strike Begins

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On the first day of the school year, September 5, 1922, Chinese parents told their children to return home if they were forced to move to the Chinese-only schools.[9] On that day, the students were removed from their regular classrooms and lined up, to be walked over to the Chinese-only schools. Instead, the children left their lines and returned home as their parents had instructed. The strike officially began the following day, September 6, 1922.[10]

The Chinese Canadian Club

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The Chinese Canadian Club was initially a social group, but it turned into a political group in 1919.[1] The group was well aware of the necessity of an English language education to ensure their futures in British Columbia.[1] The president of the club, Joe Hope, and other locally-born Chinese members were the first to protest the Victoria School Boards decision on separate segregated schools.[1]

The Chinese Canadian Benevolent Association

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The Chinese Canadian Benevolent Association (CCBA) was put in place in British Columbia to represent and help resolve Chinese socioeconomic problems in British Columbia.[11] The CCBA organized the Anti-Segregation Association to help fight the Victoria School Board.[2] They were the middle man in the strike between the school board and the Chinese Canadians that were affected by the strike.

Resolution of the Strike

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The Chinese Canadian Club developed three plans of resistance towards the Victoria School Board:

  1. They sought to unite all the major Chinese organizations against segregation, working with and through the Chinese Canadian Benevolent Association (CCBA).[12] They sent a representative to Shanghai to spread word about the segregation in Victoria and to convince the Chinese Government to protest to the British and Canadian Governments.[2] They also enlisted the aid of the Chinese Consul.[7]
  2. They organized community support to maintain solidarity of the strikes.[8] The CCBA asked for $2 per student that was affected by the strike.[12] They used the money to cover legal fees. The Chinese Canadian Club also put forth public pressure on sympathetic Canadians to gain their support.[10]
  3. And they organized a campaign by publicly challenging the School Board in English speaking newspapers, and to the board itself.[12]

By mid-September, 1922, the Department of Education's annual report showed that less than six racialized Chinese students were attending school.[13] The parents of these children were denounced by those who supported the strike, including the Fight School Segregation Association.

The Victoria School Board issued exemptions to 96 of the 240 students involved in the strike.[14] Even though these 96 students were exempted, few of them attended school in order to keep the strike strong. Due to the lack of student attendance at the segregated schools, on October 9, 1922 the school board closed Railway Street and Rock Bay school's, and King's Road School was closed a few days later.[15] The CCBA decided to organize a school like atmosphere for the students who were partaking in the strike. November 15, 1922, the Zhonghua Yixue, or Chinese Free School, was opened in the CCBA building and they offered a Chinese nationalist curriculum.[16]

The Victoria Ministerial Association offered their help to the Victoria School Board to come up with a compromise to the student strike. January 2, 1923, the school board got together to look over the proposal from the Victoria Ministerial Association.[17] The proposal was shot down.

Dr. Chilean Tsur, Chinese Consul General to Canada, warned that "If the matter is not resolved, our people will boycott the imports of Canadians."[18] The board responded and told Dr. Tsur that their intentions were to "assist the Chinese as well as 'our' children by giving them a special course of study."[18]

Victoria School Board Proposes New Plan

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On February 20, 1923, the School Board wrote to the CCBA, requesting to have a meeting with the parents of the Chinese students.[19] The meeting consisted of twelve community members and the Victoria School Board. The board members proposed that, "all pupils in the junior grades who had passed their tenth birthday and pupils up to and including those on the second reader be assigned to a division of the North Ward School, to be located at Rock Bay. All third reader pupils who had passed the normal age for that grade and beginners be assigned to another division of the North Ward School, to be located at King's Road School. All other Chinese children were to attend the main school in the district they lived."[20] The community responded, "All students on strike that had proven themselves eligible for promotion be allowed to return to their former classes, and that those over the average age of their classmates be allowed to withdraw from school and be educated privately."[20] The Board decided to open King's Road and Rock Bay School's on April, 9, 1923.[20] A day before the schools were to reopen, the president of the CCBA published a public statement saying that they accepted the Boards proposal. Of the 148 students able to attend regular classes, 48 students would have to attend the special 'School for Aliens' until room was available for them to attend regular schools.[21]

In August of 1923, the Victoria School Board, proposed that all students be allowed to return to their regular schools.[22] Racialized Chinese students just entering school would be sent to Rock Bay School until they passed their second reader in English.[22] There was a special class established to help seventeen older students learn English without attending classes with younger children.[22] On September 1, 1923, the strike was officially over.[22]

  1. ^ a b c d Stanley, Timothy J (2011). Contesting White Supremacy: School Segregation, Anti-racism, and the Making of Chinese Canadians. UBC Press. p. 21.
  2. ^ a b c Lai, David Chuenyan (2010). Chinese Community Leadership: Case Study of Victoria in Canada. Singapore: World Scientific. p. 142.
  3. ^ Roy, Patricia E (2002). Oriental Question: Consolidating a White Man's Province, 1914-41. UBC Press. p. 33.
  4. ^ Stanley, Timothy J (2011). Contesting White Supremacy: School Segregation, Anti-racism, and the Making of Chinese Canadians. UBC Press. p. 23.
  5. ^ Stanley, Timothy J (2011). Contesting White Supremacy: School Segregation, Anti-racism, and the Making of Chinese Canadians. UBC Press. p. 25.
  6. ^ Stanley, Timothy J (2011). Contesting White Supremacy: School Segregation, Anti-racism, and the Making of Chinese Canadians. UBC Press. p. 25.
  7. ^ a b Roy, Patricia E (2002). The oriental question: Consolidating a white man's province, 1914-41. UBC Press. p. 37.
  8. ^ a b Stanley, Timothy J (2011). Contesting White Supremacy: School Segregation, Anti-racism, and the Making of Chinese Canadians. UBC Press. p. 26.
  9. ^ Lai, David Chuenyan (2010). Chinese Community Leadership: Case Study of Victoria in Canada. Singapore: World Scientific. p. 142.
  10. ^ a b Mar, Lisa Rose (2010). Brokering Belonging: Chinese in Canada's Exclusion Era, 1885-1945. Oxford University Press. p. 73.
  11. ^ Lai, David Chuenyan (2010). "Chinese Community Leadership: Case Study of Victoria in Canada". Singapore: World Scientific: 47.
  12. ^ a b c Stanley, Timothy J (2011). Contesting White Supremacy: School Segregation, Anti-racism, and the Making of Chinese Canadians. UBC Press. p. 26.
  13. ^ Stanley, Timothy J (2011). Contesting White Supremacy: School Segregation, Anti-racism, and the Making of Chinese Canadians. UBC Press. p. 31.
  14. ^ Stanley, Timothy J (2011). Contesting White Supremacy: School Segregation, Anti-racism, and the Making of Chinese Canadians. UBC Press. p. 32.
  15. ^ Stanley, Timothy J (2011). Contesting White Supremacy: School Segregation, Anti-racism, and the Making of Chinese Canadians. UBC Press. p. 35.
  16. ^ Stanley, Timothy J (2011). Contesting White Supremacy: School Segregation, Anti-racism, and the Making of Chinese Canadians. UBC Press. p. 37.
  17. ^ Stanley, Timothy J (2011). Contesting White Supremacy: School Segregation, Anti-racism, and the Making of Chinese Canadians. UBC Press. p. 39.
  18. ^ a b Stanley, Timothy J (2011). Contesting White Supremacy: School Segregation, Anti-racism, and the Making of Chinese Canadians. UBC Press. p. 40.
  19. ^ Stanley, Timothy J (2011). Contesting White Supremacy: School Segregation, Anti-racism, and the Making of Chinese Canadians. UBC Press. p. 41.
  20. ^ a b c Stanley, Timothy J (2011). Contesting White Supremacy: School Segregation, Anti-racism, and the Making of Chinese Canadians. UBC Press. p. 42.
  21. ^ Stanley, Timothy J (2011). Contesting White Supremacy: School Segregation, Anti-racism, and the Making of Chinese Canadians. UBC Press. p. 43.
  22. ^ a b c d Stanley, Timothy J (2011). Contesting White Supremacy: School Segregation, Anti-racism, and the Making of Chinese Canadians. UBC Press. p. 44.
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