Immigration in Revelstoke

By Leonie Heinz

The various ethnic communities that started this town still remain. While mostly Anglo-Saxon in establishment, there is an interesting mix of cultures in Revelstoke. The southern Italians and Chinese came for jobs in mines, railroad, and entrepreneurship.

The Chinese Community

The reason why thousands of people left China is because of the California Gold rush in 1849. Chinese workers were imported to build the CPR railway, but we also victims of an imposed head tax at immigration. They experienced an unbelievable discrimination and they were ridiculed, stoned, beaten and even murdered. Employers found out that they were really good workers so when Onderdonk was building the BC section of the CPR, they were brought to this country as labourers. Many of those people died because of the dangerous work conditions at the CPR.

The Italian Community

In 1893 the first Italian names appeared on the school register in Revelstoke. Charles Donato and Joseph Chiarelli. From 1897-1899 more and more names were added and all of them worked for the CPR. In 1905 the Italian population was about 400. The life of the woman revolved around their homes and church and many of them did not learn English until their children started going to school. On the other hand, the men learned the new language pretty quickly.

Immigration to Revelstoke at the Turn of the Century

In 1900 Revelstoke had a huge immigrant rate, so people from all over the world came to live there. Between 1900 and 1914 over 119,000 Italians came to Canada. The reason for that was that Italians were fighting alongside Britain in the First Boer War in 1880. But Canada offered land, jobs, and also better opportunities for their children. Many Italians were also advertised by the CPR, because they tried to find labourers and skilled worker in Europe.

Then in 1879 the government hired an American contractor to start constructing railway tracks. Many immigrants worked on those, because it was hard to find a job as an immigrant but the people needed employees for the dangerous work, where many workers lost their lives.