Lesson 5 - Chinese Immigrants & the Canadian Pacific Railway

Canadian Pacific Railway Construction

• How do you envision the railway was constructed?

• When I described how the federal government imagined a nation connected by a railway across the entire country, it’s tempting to picture idealistic circumstances. In reality, the construction of the railway, though well intended, represents another episode in Canada’s darker and more racist past.

• The construction began in 1881 and connected British Columbia and Ontario and would later expand to the maritimes.

• The construction process, however, involved the employ of many Chinese immigrants who worked under terrible conditions, were given the most dangerous jobs, and were paid $1 a day to a white man's $1.50 to $2.00 per day. Also, unlike the white men, the Chinese workers had to use their wages for food and other necessities.

Still there was not enough money to rent land and pay taxes. Choon-yi's family often went to bed hungry. When she was twelve years old, her father decided to sail to North America, where companies were hiring workers to build a railway through the mountains.

Choon-yi and her mother were worried, for the work was well known to be dangerous. When it came time to leave, Choon-yi's father held her close and whispered, "Don't cry, Daughter. I promise you, we will soon be reunited. And together we will paint a picture."

Choon-yi nodded saddly and bade her father farewell. For two years he sent money and messages home. He told how he missed them and described how the mountains around him touched the clouds. Rivers shot like fiery silver dragons through steep canyons, but dynamite accidents were common. He and his friends gathered around the campfire at nights to keep the loneliness away.

Then one day a letter came enclosing a large sum of money.

"Choon-yi, my daughter, come quick!" her father's words said. "Bring your ink brushes and your colours. Bring a roll of the finest paper you can find!" Choon-yi tied her belongings into a carrying sash and sailed on the next ship to North America. In the bustling port city, she hurried to the company office to ask where her father worked.

The paymaster checked his ledger and looked up grimly.

"I am sorry, child, but your father was killed last week," he said, "The side of the mountain collapsed and carried his crew into the river far below. No bodies were found." He handed her a final pay packet and turned away. Choon-yi wept bitterly and trudged back to the ship. But the night before it sailed to China, her father came to her in a dream. "Paint me the fire-car, Daughter!" he pleaded, waving blood-stained hands. "Paint me the train that runs on the road I built."