Chinese Immigration Act (1923)

In 1911 William Duncan Scott was assigned the role of chief controller of Chinese immigration. As his title implied, the government’s purpose was to restrict such immigration, with greater limits on the movement of Chinese immigrants and fewer exemptions from the $500 head tax. Still, the Chinese continued to come to Canada in record numbers, so in 1915 the Conservative government of Sir Robert Laird Borden prohibited arrival at British Columbia ports of artisans and labourers, skilled or unskilled, a measure that dramatically reduced the numbers; only merchants and their families and those attending institutions of higher learning were admitted. This exclusionary policy was formalized by the Liberal administration of William Lyon Mackenzie King in the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923.