The U.S. passed its Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882; Canada too had their own form of Chinese exclusion. Like its neighbors to the south, Canada used Chinese labor to help build the Canadian Pacific Railway from 1881-1885. As the railway neared completion, there was a fear that Chinese laborers would take jobs from Canadian citizens. In response, Canada passed the Chinese Immigration Act in 1885. While the act did not ban Chinese immigration outright as its U.S. counterpart had done, it did levy a fee known as a “head tax” on any Chinese immigrating to the country. The high fee was intended to cause enough financial hardship as to deter poorer Chinese immigrants seeking a better livelihood in North America. The tax was set at $50 when the act was passed, but when the tax failed to deter enough people, it was quickly raised to $100 in 1900 and $500 in 1903 (equivalent to 2 years’ salary), at which point Chinese immigration slowed. But the tax still did not deter as many immigrants as desired, so on July 1, 1923, the head tax was abolished and a new law was put into place that simply banned Chinese immigration to Canada. The ban was not lifted until 1947.
July 1st was known as Dominion Day (now Canada Day) but the Chinese communities at the time simply referred to it as “humiliation day.”
美国在1882年通过了《排华法案》；加拿大也有自己的排华形式。与其南部邻国一样，加拿大从1881年到1885年也利用了中国劳工帮助修建了加拿大太平洋铁路。随着铁路建设的接近完工，人们开始担心中国劳工会抢走加拿大公民的工作。为此，加拿大于1885年通过了《中国移民法》。尽管该法案没有像美国那样完全禁止中国移民，但它确实对每一位入境的中国移民征收了一项叫做“人头税”的费用。高收费的目的是制造足够大的经济难题，以防止较贫穷的中国移民来北美寻求更好的生活。法案通过时，该税额被定为50加元，但当该税额未能够阻止足够多的人，它很快就在1900年涨到100加元 ，又在1903年提高到500加元（这相当于当时两年的工资），于是，中国移民入境趋势有所放缓。但是这项税收并没有像人们所期望的那样阻止那么多的移民，所以在1923年7月1日，“人头税”被废除，一项新的法律出台，直接禁止中国移民进入加拿大。这项禁令直到1947年才被废除。
七月一日是加拿大“自治领日”（现在叫“加拿大日”），但是当时的华人社区却把它称为“耻辱日”。
Countdown to the TCS NYC Marathon on November 3, 2019: 216 Days.
2019年是美国第一条横贯大陆铁路建成150周年，为了纪念第一批华人来美建设这条铁路所做出的巨大贡献， MOCA将其2019 TCS NYC Marathon的活动命名为 MOCA Spike 150 – Running Forward With Our Stories！ 鼓励大家通过马拉松公益跑，全国线上接力，以及一天一个故事的方式讲述150个华人的历史故事，敬请大家持续关注， 讲出华人自己的故事，回顾过去，立足现在，展望未来，共同书写美国历史，使之更加充实完整。