Perspective: Chinese Labourers

Non-white migrant workers usually faced dangerous and disagreeable working conditions and were accorded few civil liberties while in Canada. Sikh workers were paid less than Euro-Canadians for the same work in B.C. orchards or lumber camps. Blacks, too, were consistently underpaid in the work they took in the eastern coal and steel industry. The black community in Canada in 1901 has been estimated as around 17,500, of which 13,000 were under 21 years of age. With little choice, they often had to settle for the least desirable work offered in Canada's new urban and industrial settings.

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