Commonwealth Immigraiton Policies

From UBC Wiki

Overview

Asian immigrants are a rising population of people in Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. However, this is a historically recent trend, with strict immigration policies in the late 19th and early 20th century restricting the admittance of Asian populations. Fueled by racial ideals, immigration policies in these Commonwealth nations targeted Asian ethnicities in particular and would remain largely unchanged until the 1960's. With the relaxation of immigration policies in the 1970's, a large influx of Asian peoples to these nations in the late 20th century, which in turn has sparked the continuation of racial animosities against Asian immigrants to present day.

Historical Policies and Backgrounds

In the early 19th century, colonial nations held loose immigrations polices that did little to restrict immigration other than on grounds of well-being and personal character[1]. This laissez faire immigration policy changed in the later part of the century, as burgeoning patriotism and the development of distinct national characteristics emerged. These opinions, accompanied with theories of Social Darwinism, would led government administrations in some colonial nations (Canada, Australia, and New Zealand) to implement immigration strategies that reflected the cultural and racial identities that each wanted to attain. These began with a series of legislation that started in some of these “settler nations” by the early 1880’s to attract specific European immigrants, and restrict the entrance of peoples from other nations, specifically targeting Asian countries. These policies would largely stay intact until the 1960’s and 70’s, when new immigration acts were created in their respective nations that removed many of the restrictions on immigration on grounds of race .

Canada[2]

  • The Chinese Immigration Act, 1885

First piece of legislation to exclude immigrants on the basis of ethnicity. Implemented a duty charge of $50 (roughly $2000 CDN in present day (inflation calculator) on every Chinese person wishing to enter Canada. This duty was eventually raised to $500 (roughly $10,000 CDN currently) per person by 1903.

  • Immigration Act, 1906

Expanded on the restrictive policies created in the 19th century, enlarging the categories of prohibited immigrants, increased government power to make non-merit based judgements on admission, and created a formal deportation procedure.

  • Chinese Immigration Act, 1923

Imposed extremely heavy restrictions on Chinese applicants, only allowing a small number of Chinese immigrants into Canada. Admission into the country was restricted to diplomats, government representatives, and merchants. It is estimated that only 15 Chinese immigrants were allowed into Canada between 1923-1946.

  • Immigration Act, 1976

With this Act there was significant shift in immigration policy in Canada. It clearly outlined the goals of Canadian immigration policy and defined refugees as a separate category of immigrants. A merit-based system (that began in the mid 1960’s) was used to judge immigration candidates, and the Canadian governments stressed the importance of higher skilled applicants in the new “point system” [3].

New Zealand[4]

  • Chinese Immigrants Act, 1881

First piece of New Zealand legislation to restrict admission according to ethnic background. The number of Chinese people that were allowed to arrive by one ship was limited to one per 10 tons of vessel weight. A duty of $10 was also required for each Chinese person entering the country. These restrictions were increased to one person per 200 tons of cargo, and a $100 duty by 1896.

  • Chinese Immigrants Amendment Act, 1907

This Act required Chinese applicants to pass an English-language reading test – 100 words before a customs officer -, as well as pay the $100 duty, before being given admission into the country.

  • 1987 Immigration Act

This eliminated the discrimination as well as the preference of the different race and nationalities of Immigration applicants. However, the pre-requisites required for entry into New Zealand by immigrants were still closely regulated[5].

Australia[6]

  • Immigration Restriction Act, 1901

Known more commonly as the “White Australia Policy”, this Act essentially banned immigration from Asiatic countries. This policy would remain intact for the next 50 years, when restrictions began to relax starting with the allowance of non-European residents to apply for citizenship in 1956.

  • 1972 Labour Party

Newly elected Minister of Immigration, Al Grassby, significantly changed the official policy of immigration in Australia. Applicants were no longer based on race in order to preserve the “homogeneity” of Australia, but rather according to social and personal attributes.

Current Day Immigration Rates from Asian Nations

Since the introduction of less restrictive immigration policies in the 1970’s, there has been a rapid increase in immigration by Asian persons into western Commonwealth Countries.

In Canada, there has been large increase in Asian immigrants since the late 20th century, with a concentration of immigrant populations in the cities of Vancouver and Toronto. For example, 56.9% of immigrants to Canada between 2006 and 2011 came for Asian countries (including the Middle-East). This is contrast to the statistics prior to 1970, which tell that Asian peoples comprised only 8.5% of the foreign-born population in Canada[7].

In the early 1990’s New Zealand experienced a historic shift, with the largest source of immigration coming from Asia; specifically Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Korea, rather than the United Kingdom and Ireland. After a brief hiatus in immigration from these regions in the late 1990’s due to struggling economies and negative rhetoric on immigrants from local politicians, there was a renewed surge of Asian immigration in the 2000’s. In 2001, the largest overseas birthplace population was UK and Ireland. By 2013, 32% of overseas-born people were from Asian descent, whereas UK and Ireland were just below 25%[8]. In New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland, nearly 1 in 4 people identified with one or more Asian ethnic groups in 2013. This large increase in Asiatic peoples in New Zealand is especially true for Indian ethnic groups, with saw a 48% increase between 2006 and 2013. In Australia, there has also been a sizable increase in Immigration from Asiatic countries since the 1970’s. For example, nearly 300,000 people born in India have immigrated to Australia. Surveys also report that there 319,000 Chinese born immigrants. Sizeable populations of immigrants have come from other Asiatic countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and India[9].

Modern Effects on Attitudes

With deep-routed legacies of discriminatory racial attitudes, there has been a rising number of instance of racist Anti-Asian rhetoric present within many commonwealth countries. The province of British Colombia in Canada, where a high-proportion of Asian immigrants live, in particular has had a growing population speaking out with an anti-Chinese sentiment. The province has a history of discrimination, with land titles from the late 1880’s explicitly stating that “No Asiatic, Negro, or Indian shall have the right to be allowed to own, become a tenant of or occupy any part of the property” [10]. Some current residents ironically claim that foreign real estate buyers are “people… with no concern for our past- they have not been a part of the growth and development of our beautiful city”. This attitude was until recently a federal legislation, with a property parcel of land in Victoria in 1952 forbidding the sale of the property to “anyone other than members of the Caucasian race”. The racism that is present in British Columbia is so prevalent that one quarter of British Columbians that identify as ethnically Chinese or South Asian say they have experienced moderate or significant amounts of discrimination as a result of their ethnicity[11].

Similar sentiments against Asian immigrants have been seen in Australia and New Zealand. In Auckland, New Zealand, there are rising levels of animosity towards Indian and Chinese New Zealanders. Many complain that this animosity springs from the foreign immigrant’s lack of effort in integrating with New Zealand Culture[12]. In Australia, Asian immigrants are perceived as the main threat to the Australian working-class way of life[13]. This has led to the development of xenophobic ideologies, and major hostility towards refugees during recent years.

References

  1. Brawley, S. (1995). The White Peril: Foreign Relations and Asian Immigration to Australasia and North America, 1919-1978 (Vol. 20). Unsw Press.
  2. Van Dyk, L. (2017). Canadian Immigration Acts and Legislation. Retrieved from http://www.pier21.ca/research/immigration-history/canadian-immigration-acts-and-legislation
  3. Orrenius, P., Zavodny, M. (2014) A Comparison of the US and Canadian Immigration Systems. Retrieved from http://sites.nationalacademies.org/cs/groups/pgasite/documents/webpage/pga_152160.pdf
  4. TeAra: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand (2015) Retrieved from https://www.teara.govt.nz/en/immigration-regulation/page-1
  5. Immigration Act 1987. (1987) Retrieved from http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1987/0074/latest/DLM108018.html
  6. Migration Heritage Centre. (2010). Australia's Migration History. Retreived from http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/belongings-home/about-belongings/australias-migration-history/index.html
  7. Statistics Canada. (2011). Immigration and Ethnocultural Diversity in Canada. Retrieved from http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/as-sa/99-010-x/99-010-x2011001-eng.cfm
  8. Spoonley, P. (2014). Rising Asian Immigration Highlights New Zealand's Changing Demographic. The Conversation. Retrieved from http://theconversation.com/rising-asian-immigration-highlights-new-zealands-changing-demographics-23002
  9. Work Permit. (2012). Australia Census Statistics show rise in Asian Immigration. Retrieved from http://www.workpermit.com/news/australia-census-statistics-show-rise-asian-immigration-20121023
  10. Lupick, T. (2016). History Shows that Racism has Always Been a Part of Vancouver Real Estate. The Georgia Straight. Retrieved from http://www.straight.com/news/734491/history-shows-racism-has-always-been-part-vancouver-real-estate
  11. Douglas, T. (2014). Most Chinese and South Asians in B.C. Report Discrimination. The Vancouver Sun. Retrieved from http://www.vancouversun.com/life/Most+Chinese+South+Asians+report+discrimination/10294503/story.html
  12. Williams, G. (2016). The Quiet Racism of New Zealand. Stuff. Retrieved from http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/celebrities/83258645/Guy-Williams-the-quiet-racism-of-New-Zealand
  13. Pung, A. (2016). Living with Racism in Australia. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/07/opinion/living-with-racism-in-australia.html