Timeline

To help contextualize the site’s topics, below is a timeline of major BC, Canadian, and international dates between 1860s-1950.

1800s

  • 1860-1880 – William Head Quarantine Station constructed
  • 1884 – BC establishes $10 head tax for incoming Chinese immigrants
  • 1885 – Construction of the Canada Pacific Railway brings thousands of Chinese workers to BC
  • 1885 – Canadian government launches the Royal Commission on Chinese Immigration
  • 1886 – The head tax is raised to $50

1900s

  • 1900 – The head tax raised to $100
  • 1904 – The head tax is raised to $500

1910s

  • 1911 – Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat-Sen visits Victoria
  • 1911 – Revolution breaks out in China
  • 28 July, 1914 – World War I is declared in Europe
  • 1914 – Canada introduces the War Measures Act
  • 1917 – China enters World War I on the side of the Allies
  • February, 1917 – Canadian Censor Office begins monitoring and intercepting Chinese Canadian communications; media muzzle enforced in March
  • 20 March, 1917 – London asks Canada to waive shipping safety regulations
  • 2 April, 1917 – Empress of Russia brings the first boatload of the Chinese Labour Corps to Canada
  • March 1917-March 1818 – 84,422 member of the Chinese Labour Corps cross Canada and travel on to France
  • 11 November, 1918 – World War I officially ends
  • 1918-20 – 10 members of the Chinese Labour Corps were killed by court marshal firing squad, another 2,000 are killed in action
  • 1919 – The Chinese Labour Corps troops are shipping across Canada to BC and board ships for China
  • 1919 – Victoria local, Fred Baker, helps Chang Pai Ho, a member of the Chinese Labour Corps, escape William Head

1920s-1950s

  • April 1920 – William Head ‘Coolie Camp’ closes
  • 1923 – Immigration from China becomes heavily restricted
  • 1950s – D’Arcy Island, the leper colony in Victoria, closes

See the references page for further reading on these areas.