Excerpt: William Ging Wee Dere explores being Chinese in Canada and the struggle for identity, redress and belonging GlobeArts
You would think that by the middle of the twentieth century it would have been easier for Chinese people to immigrate to Canada. But even after the Exclusion Act was repealed in 1947, there were obstacles to family reunification and general Chinese immigration. Order in Council 2115 stipulated that only Chinese who were Canadian citizens could bring their wives and unmarried children under eighteen into Canada. Europeans were able to bring their families to Canada without being citizens.
My parents had difficulties learning to live together. They were set in their own ways after being apart for so many years. But the common economic struggle and the ingrained desire to keep the family together provided the motivation. I have happy memories and can only be thankful for my parents’ ability to sacrifice for the sake of the family.
My parents washed the clothes with an old round wringer washer and by hand in a large galvanized steel tub. The washing was done in the kitchen, or, rather, my mother cooked in the back room used for washing. The smell of bleach and hot steam overpowered the smell of food cooking on the stove. My parents worked until past midnight on wash nights. My mother took on some other work outside the house, so I can imagine how tired she must have felt.
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