CLC forces stand at attention at William Head, 28 March 1918. Image C-09581 courtesy of the Royal BC Museum and Archives.
The Chinese Labour Corps (CLC) was a largely unknown division formed under the British Army during the First World War. It was primarily made up of volunteer workers from China and Mongolia to serve in non-combatant roles from 1917 into the early 1920s.
Recruits boarded ships in the Shandong province in eastern China and crossed the Pacific Ocean to the William Head Quarantine Station just outside Victoria. After a brief stay at the ramshackle “Coolie Camp” maintained by the station, the CLC boarded guarded trains headed for the east coast where they would continue their trip on to France.
The Chinese Labour Corps presence in Canada was subject to the deep-seated racism harboured by the Canadian government and citizens, and today, it remains one of Canada’s best kept wartime secrets.
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Primary author: Kate Riordon