Raymond’s Brain: My Baachan #14, Anti-Asian Riots

A personal history by Raymond Nakamura

Changes to immigration laws to Hawaii and the United States, led to large influx of Asians to BC in 1907. In the fall, an Anti-Asian riot attacked Chinatown and headed to Powell Street, the centre of the Japanese Canadian community. They had heard about the mob and repelled them.

Nonetheless, concerns about immigration lingered. Japan was on good terms with Britain at the time, after defeating the Russians, and Canada’s foreign policy was determined by Britain. So the Hayashi-Lemieux “gentlemen’s agreement” led to Japan voluntarily limiting the number of male Japanese emigrants.

Women were exempt and as more men settled down in Canada, they arranged marriages through photographs.

This drawing of the riot’s aftermath is based on a photo from The Vancouver Sun.


Republished from Raymond’s Brain.

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