On November 7, 2024, the Foundation to Commemorate the Chinese Railroad Workers in Canada will host a commemorative event to pay homage to the Chinese pioneers who came to Canada in the 1880s to help build the railroad through the Canadian Rockies, thus uniting Canada from coast to coast, both politically and geographically. Of the 17,000 men who came from the Province of Guangdong, China, over 4,000 lost their lives due to unsafe working conditions, landslides, and premature blastings.
Sadly, on November 7, 1885, during the hammering of the last spike, Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) company director Donald Smith was surrounded by dignitaries and railroad workers, yet not one Chinese face appeared in the iconic Canadian picture. This omission underscores the importance of marking November 7 as a day to pay tribute to our Chinese Railroad Workers and honor their contributions to the building of our nation.
After being recruited to build the first transcontinental railroad, the Chinese were banned from Canada through the Chinese Immigration Act (known as the Chinese Exclusion Act). This discriminatory law took effect on July 1, 1923, what most Canadians refer to as Canada Day, which the Chinese Community refers to as “Humiliation Day”. The Chinese Exclusion Act banned Chinese immigrants for 24 years until its repeal in 1947. During the exclusionary period, many wives and children in China were separated from the Chinese men in Canada. The impacts of the Chinese Exclusion Act reverberate through Chinese families and communities to this day. With the formal apology by the Government of Canada on June 22, 2006, for the unjust legislation of the Chinese Exclusion Act, Prime Minister Stephen Harper remarked that the Chinese Railroad Workers and the many generations of Chinese Canadians are great nation builders, uniting Canada politically, geographically, and economically.
On November 7, 2024, the Foundation will pay tribute to our Chinese Railroad Workers by:
November 7th Proclamation
Requesting provinces, territories, and capital cities to proclaim November 7th as Chinese Railroad Workers Memorial Day
November 7th Evening Commemorative Event
Last Spike Reclaimed: A Formal Dinner in Tribute to Chinese Railroad Workers
