Legacy of Canada's ban on Chinese immigration lasted longer than the law
CTV
This Canada Day, the country marks 100 years since the federal government introduced legislation to ban Chinese immigrants from Canada.
When Matthew Yan looks at the stoic and determined expression on his father's face in the black and white photo affixed to the identification papers he carried for decades, he mostly feels pity.
The photo features Bing Sun Jun in borrowed clothes: a grown man's suit sagging on his adolescent shoulders, making him look far older than his 13 years.
The boy's jaw is set and his eyes are focused, as if he's trying to be the man he's been dressed up to be.
It's the face of a person Yan scarcely got to know.
"My heart just feels sorry for him, alone all his life," said Yan, now 74, reflecting on the photo more than a century after it was taken.
The date typed neatly on the bottom of the certificate reads Dec. 23, 1920, just three years before Chinese people would be banned from entering Canada.
This Canada Day, the country marks 100 years since the federal government introduced legislation to ban Chinese immigrants from Canada.
