Victoria B.C. march honours Chinese 1922 student strike

The primary day of faculty in Victoria 100 years in the past marked the beginning of a scholar strike over segregation that helped Chinese language Canadians solidify their place in a rustic that was not all the time welcoming, say historians and cultural specialists.

It was on Sept. 5, 1922, that the British Columbia capital’s greater than 200 Chinese language-Canadian college students refused to attend Victoria Faculty Board mandated Chinese language-only colleges, launching a one-year scholar strike that ultimately noticed the board reverse its segregationist coverage in time for the beginning of sophistication in 1923.

A Monday march to commemorate the coed strike was set to start out on the elementary faculty that also bears the title of George Jay, the varsity board chairman in 1922, and was scheduled to finish on the close by Kings Street park which was the deliberate location for the Chinese language-only colleges.

“We speak about historical past and we speak about Chinese language-Canadian historical past, nicely this to me is the defining second,” mentioned Grace Wong Sneddon, a College of Victoria Chinese language tradition and Asian identification skilled who grew up in Victoria and went to public faculty there.

“Up so far, there have been Canadians and there have been Chinese language,” she mentioned in an interview. “They didn’t go collectively. However this second, this act of defiance and this demonstrated piece of company, I feel, actually set the second and made Chinese language-Canadians as an idea and a actuality. That’s so cool.”

Wong Sneddon mentioned Chinese language-Canadians endured racist insurance policies and racial stereotypes, however the neighborhood united and drew the road on the proposal to put their kids in segregated colleges.

“The dad and mom mentioned training is just too vital to our children and if we don’t get up now, future generations shall be affected,” she mentioned. The entire neighborhood supported this transfer: clan associations, county associations, retailers, wealthy, poor, people, households led by the Chinese language Consolidated Benevolent Affiliation.”

Wong Sneddon mentioned the native Chinese language-Canadian neighborhood employed two lecturers from the US who performed courses all year long to make sure the scholars didn’t fall behind because the strike wore on.

The Higher Victoria Faculty Board issued a proper apology earlier this month for the 1922 segregation coverage, and present board members are anticipated to attend Monday’s anniversary march.

The varsity board additionally plans to erect a plaque honouring the coed strike.

“Amongst a protracted listing of historic wrongs perpetuated in opposition to the Chinese language neighborhood in Victoria, this stands out as a very darkish incident for our college district,” present board chairman Ryan Painter mentioned in an announcement. “The racist discrimination that led to this act is unacceptable and seen with remorse.”

Former Victoria mayor Alan Lowe, who’s Chinese language-Canadian, issued an announcement saying the actions of the scholars 100 years in the past helped pave the trail for college students like him to excel at public colleges a long time later.

“What began as a college boycott grew to become a protest motion for equality which introduced collectively the Chinese language neighborhood domestically, regionally and nationally from county and clan associations to people,” mentioned Lowe, who can be chairman of the Victoria Chinatown Museum Society.

Tim Stanley, a College of Ottawa emeritus professor who studied the historical past of racism in Canada, mentioned the Victoria scholar strike was a monumental occasion in establishing Canada’s Chinese language-Canadian neighborhood.

He wrote a guide concerning the strike entitled “Contesting White Supremacy: Faculty Segregation, Anti-Racism and the making of Chinese language-Canadians” and mentioned he deliberate to attend the march commemorating what he described as a pivotal time for the neighborhood.

“That is the second the place the Chinese language say, ‘Look, we’re Canadian. We’ve been right here since earlier than the nation existed and we’re not going to take it any extra,’ ” he mentioned of the strike. “‘We’re ready to do that for our rights.’”