STORY: Event held in Senate of Canada Chamber to mark 100th anniversary of Chinese Exclusion Act
DATELINE: June 24, 2023
LENGTH: 00:03:03
LOCATION: Ottawa
CATEGORY: POLITICS

SHOTLIST:
1. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): HON. MARY JANE MCCALLM, Senator from Manitoba
2. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): MARY MAY SIMAON, Governor General
3. SOUNDBITE 3 (English): MARY NG, Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade of Canada
4. various of historic plaques being unveiled
5. SOUNDBITE 4 (English): RICHARD ALWAY CHAIR, Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada
6. various of ballet performance
7. SOUNDBITE 5 (English): YUEN PAU WOO, Senator from British Columbia
8. various of National Remembrance Ceremony choir

STORYLINE:

Canadian senators Victor Oh and Yuen Pau Woo and Action! Chinese Canadians Together (ACCT) Foundation on Friday hosted a national remembrance event in the Senate of Canada Chamber to mark the 100th anniversary of the enactment of the Chinese Immigration Act in Canada.

The Chinese Immigration Act, more commonly known as the Chinese Exclusion Act, was a discriminatory and racist policy that almost completely prevented people from China from entering Canada for nearly a quarter century.

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): HON. MARY JANE MCCALLM, Senator from Manitoba
"We have the ability to understand Canada's history and how the Chinese people were treated. We need to acknowledge this violent past of Canada. Knowing what we know now, how can we continue on the same path, we are capable of creating, sustaining or destroying the patterns that determine the life course of oppressed peoples 100 years ago."

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): MARY MAY SIMAON, Governor General
"One hundred years ago, a law anchored in discrimination and intolerance came into effect. This was the Chinese Exclusion Act. We are gathered today to acknowledge the harm it caused to families, communities, and our country. Today, we add another chapter to Canada's true history. In telling the stories of those who suffered as a result of racism, we are not rewriting the past, but giving a fuller picture of our history and our national narrative."

SOUNDBITE 3 (English): MARY NG, Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade of Canada
"One hundred years ago, on July 1, in the House of Commons, where I and others serve, a new act was passed, a new law called the Chinese Immigration Act, commonly known as the Chinese Exclusion Act. It was a law that specifically targeted one racialized group, the Chinese coming to Canada, and during the 24 years that it was in effect, fewer than 50 Chinese people officially immigrated to Canada."

SOUNDBITE 4 (English): RICHARD ALWAY CHAIR, Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada
"Our own history and how we remember our past is important because it helps define the way we think of ourselves as a society."

SOUNDBITE 5 (English): YUEN PAU WOO, Senator from British Columbia
"This ceremony, like so many other events that are taking place across Canada in 2023, is not only about a 100-year-old law, it is above all about the Chinese in Canada who paid the price of that vile legislation and the trauma that affected the Chinese community for years to follow."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Ottawa.
(XHTV)