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Hasan 5

Prejudice and Discrimination in Canada

Name

David Goutor, “Constructing the ‘Great Menace’: Canadian Labour’s Opposition to Asian Immigration, 1880–1914.” Canadian Historical Review 88, no. 4 (2007): 549-576.

Saje Mathieu, “North of the Colour Line: Sleeping Car Porters and the Battle Against Jim Crow on Canadian Rails, 1880-1920,” in Bryan Palmer and Joan Sangster, eds. Labouring Canada: Class, Race, and Gender (Toronto: OUP, 2008): 176-191.

The articles, “Constructing the Great Menace” by Goutor and “North of the Color Line” by Mathieu are centered around the theme of racial prejudice and discrimination in Canada. Various immigrants from Asia, eastern Europe, and blacks found their way to Canada in pursuit of better livelihood but the opposite happened. They were faced with rejection and unfair treatment in the labour market which led to the formation of unions that were aimed at protecting workers right. Based on the articles, Chinese immigrants were prejudiced in Canada and denied employment rights like other people while black people were discriminated against while working in railway works.

Goutor and Mathieu illustrate labour unions in Canada propagated prejudice and discrimination against Asian immigrants and black people in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. According to Goutor, Canadian labor has been extremely hostile to Asian immigrants as they were given several labour stereotypes such as ruthless competitors in the economy, industrial slaves and threats to white women. Labour leaders complained that Asian workers brought unhealthy competition in the labour market which was highly likely to kick white people out of their own market. However, Goutor argues that complaints about competition were not purely based on pay rates comparison but the perception of Asians as inferior races from a less civilized state with very low standards of living. Labour leaders also demonstrated discrimination in how they treated competing immigrants from different regions. They vigorously denounced the immigration of workers from eastern Europe claiming that they also lowered wage rates and overall standards of living in Canada.

Asian workers were stereotyped as disastrous creatures which negatively influenced labour leaders from other regions. For instance, labor leaders from the east of the Rockies had not experienced Asian immigrants, not even meeting an Asian worker but they believed that Asian immigrants cause disastrous consequences. Goutor argues that the Asian discourse by Canadian labour leaders was not genuine as it influenced by hostility towards Asia in other countries. This means that Asians in Canada were not mistreated because of their bad characters or deed but because of stereotypes that were borrowed from other countries which made them believe that Asians were a menace.

Canadian unions opposed Asian immigration because they perceived Asians to be a threat to their economy. They argued that Asian’s affinity to low wages would deteriorate the standard of living and drive the working class out of the market. Additionally, the concerns of monopoly and capitalism stiffened campaigns against Asian immigrants. Goutor reveals that unions used rhetoric to depict Asians as drivers of capitalism and other social vices such as drug abuse and prostitution. Ironically, other social classes such as medical professionals, law enforcement and middle- and upper-class commentators shared different rhetoric on anti-capitalism components. Goutor argued that the Asian stereotype led to the exclusion and discrimination of certain classes of people or nationalities who by customs, habits, non-assimilative qualifications, or temperaments are not welcomed in the country.

In Mathieu’s “North of the Color Line”, she articulates the employment status in the Canadian Railway Agency. Mathieu observed racial discrimination in employment as there were specific jobs that were designated for the whites and the blacks. The whites were employed on full-time basis while the blacks were contracted for odd and hard duties and on part-time basis. While working on rails, black people were assigned dangerous duties that Mathieu described as flirting with death. The majority of black men also worked as porters or night watchmen. In periods of high unemployment, competent and experienced black workers were dismissed and replaced with the inexperienced white labourer.

Mathieu argues that lack of job security and sudden dismissal from employed compelled black workers to come together and seek a solution. Led by Reverend Robinson and black Haligonian protester, they started the struggle of forming labour protective unions for black people. The issue of racial discrimination against black people was addressed to Jim Crow but the liberal government shamelessly denied the claims in broad daylight. The article demonstrates that as black people tried to fight for a share in employment opportunities, steeper measures were taken to fight back. Measures to discriminate black railway workers were taken a notch higher through the formation of unions. A union named Canadian Brotherhood of Railway Employees (CBRE) was started which was a white’s only union. Under the leadership of Reverend Robinson formed a union named Order of Sleeping Car Porters (OSCP) which championed for equal rights and treatment in the labour market. The matter was presented before the house, but it was dismissed, and racism claims were denied. Through Robinson’s resilience and commitment to the course, CBRE was compelled to enter a new ICR agreement that set separate terms of working conditions for white and black people.

Goutor and Mathieu have expressly demonstrated that unions which currently act as agents of peace and goodwill in safeguarding the rights of minorities and immigrants as well as in advancing human rights, were once agents of evil which propagated racial prejudice and discrimination in Canada. Canadian unions and labour leaders prejudiced Chinese immigrants in Canada which led to their rejection. Similarly, back people working in railway works were discriminated against and perceived as second options who were assigned only to hard tasks that attracted low wages. The authors provide a clear illustration of what racism is and how it works.