1885 Chinese Immigration Act Summary

Many Canadian citizens feel that their government betrayed the Chinese immigrants after the completion of the Trans-Canada railway in the late 19th century. However, Christopher Anderson argues in his article “The Senate and the fight against the 1885 Chinese Immigration Act” that the Canadian senate has never given up on the fight for the preservation of rights deserved by Chinese immigrants. In his article, Anderson depicts statistical data and explains legislatures imposed on the Chinese immigrants to strengthen his argument, and then he attempts to gain the reader’s support through employing a series of ethical and emotional strategies. Anderson begins his article by depicting a “full apology” made by the Canadian Prime Minister in hopes of seeking forgiveness for the restrictions imposed on Chinese immigrants.1 By employing this potent ethos statement, Anderson has already attempted to convince his readers about certain mistakes made by

Certain anti-Asian activists like H.H. Stevens continued their “Canadian attempts to control Asian migration” through restricting entrance to the country and raising the head tax to as high as $500, which almost ceased Chinese immigration and forced many Chinese immigrants out of Canada.7 Anderson once again used the ethos and pathos to support his argument. He first questioned his readers about the methods used in disposing aboriginals from British settlements while Canadians first settled in North America.8 This would get the readers to reflect on Canada’s past wrong doings, and given the resemblance, sympathize with Chinese immigrants being evicted from the country.9 Anderson then moved on to question the right of Canadians by taking both an ethical and an emotional stance. He argued that since Canadians seized its land from Aboriginals, Chinese immigrants had the same right to settle in Canada as European