1830's
The first Residential Schools are established for Aboriginals.
1834
Slavery is abolished in Canada.
Chinese workers brought in to help build the Canadian Pacific Railway. They are not given the same rights or pay as their fellow white workers.
1885
Canadian government imposes a "head tax" of $50 on the Chinese to deter further immigration. Fifty years later it would be raised to $100.
This earns the government the equivalent of a billion dollars in today's currency.
1872
British Columbia disenfranchises the Chinese. (They would add the Japanese and East Indian later)
1876
The 'Indian Act' is passed. In order to apply for enfranchisement an Aboriginal must be a university graduate or pass a three year probation period demonstrating 'assimilation' (effectively disqualifying any).
1895
BC legislature disenfranchises the Japanese.
1899
Immigration Branch: "It is not desired that any Negro immigrants should arrive in Western Canada . . . or that such immigration should be promoted by our agents."
1903
The Chinese head tax is raised to $500.
1907
BC legislature disenfranchises East Indians
Race riots in Vancouver: white residents attack Chinese and Japanese sectors of the city.
1908
Saskatchewan disenfranchises the Chinese.
1911
Western Canada commissioner of Immigration offers the medical inspector a fee for every black applicant he rejects.
The Federal Cabinet passes an order: "for a period of one year from and after the date hereof, the landing in Canada shall be and the same is prohibited of any immigrant belonging to the Negro race, which race is deemed unsuitable to the climate and requirements of Canada."
(It is not implemented and later repealed.)
1912
Saskatchewan passes the 'Female Employment Act'; a law restricting Oriental men from hiring white women. Similar laws were later passed by Manitoba, Ontario and British Columbia.
Ontario tries to assimilate Franco-Ontarians by banning the French language in Francophone schools.
The ship 'Komagata Maru' attempts to disembark in Vancouver. It is carrying 400 East Indians and passengers from Asia. It is parked at the Harbour for eight weeks while three riots carry on; people die and the military intervenes.
Chinese and Japanese students are segregated from white students in British Columbia.
1916
During the beginning of the First World War minorities were not wanted for enlistment. By mid 1916 Blacks were allowed to enlist if they served in segregated units. Aboriginals were placed in labor units.
Women in Manitoba are given the right to vote. Only men were granted full citizenship; women wouldn't obtain it until the end of the 19th century. Later they are granted voting rights in Saskatchewan and Alberta (note: only white women).
1917
Women in British Columbia and then Ontario are granted the right to vote.
1918
White women over the age of 21 are given the right to vote in federal elections.
Women in Nova Scotia are granted the right to vote.
1919
Quebec Court rules it is legal to segregate blacks in theaters. According to the Chief Justice: "Racial discrimination is not contrary to the public order or morality of Canada."
Women in New Brunswick are given the right to vote.
1920
British Columbia restricts fishing licenses for Japanese-Canadians.
Jews face discrimination in employment, as well as restrictions and quotas in the school sector and hospitals.
Chinese people are barred from certain jobs, some by law: pharmacies, provincial and municipal contracts, legal system.
1922
Women in Prince Edward Island are granted the right to vote.
1923
Having been unable to deter Chinese immigration through the 'head tax', Canada passes the "Chinese Immigration Act" essentially excluding all Chinese people from entering Canada.
Meanwhile, European immigrants are being paid to settle on lands seized from Aboriginal people.
1924
Ontario Court decides that it is within the law to refuse to serve a black customer.
Unions agree to lower minimum wages for "Oriental" workers.
British Columbia passes minimum wage laws that do not apply to Chinese workers.
1925
Women in Newfoundland are given the right to vote.
1929
Administrators at McGill University use discriminatory criteria in choosing students in an attempt to limit the amount of Jewish pupils.
"The Person's Case": the legal definition of a "person" is changed to include women for the first time.
1930's
Restrictive quotas are placed on Jewish students for many Canadian colleges and universities.
Chinese men are not accepted into 'government relief camps' alongside unemployed white men; in 3 years over 130 would starve to death.
1935: 'Christie Pits' riot in Toronto: members of the Swastika Club fight Jewish students and factory workers; vandalizing Jewish shops and assaulting Jews in their neighborhoods.
1939: Supreme Court of Canada rules that racial discrimination is legally enforceable. (This was the result of a Montreal business owner refusing to serve a black customer)
Jewish German refugees aboard the ship MS St. Louis are denied entry into Canada.
Black volunteers are rejected for the military effort.
In Alberta and New Brunswick, black students are denied access to "white" schools.
In BC, Asian school children are segregated and this is legal due to racist restrictions attached to leasing property or ownership deeds.
1940
A 'special committee on Orientals' in British Columbia decides to exclude Chinese and Japanese men from the armed forces due to 'hostility' from whites. A few years later East Indians were restricted from conscription unless they assimilated to Anglo practices.
Women are granted the right to vote in Quebec.
Italian-Canadians and communists are sent to internment camps in Alberta, then later New Brunswick.
1942
Japanese Canadians in the west coast are interned in camps. Two years later Japanese citizens were disenfranchised by the federal government in any place that did not have preexisting laws.
Prime minister King justifies this by claiming it would make no sense for Japanese to have voting rights in Ontario if there are none in BC.
1948
East Indian, Chinese, and Japanese are finally granted the right to citizenship and voting.
1952
Inuit people are granted the right to vote legally. In practice, it is nearly worthless as they are in the Arctic and ballot boxes are not available to their communities until 1962.
In the 1950's residential schools are established for the Inuit in the north.
1960
Aboriginal people are granted the right to vote by the federal government.
1964
Ontario school rules regarding segregation for blacks are withdrawn, the last "black school" in the province closes a year later.
1970's
Government begins to close Aboriginal Residential Schools across the country.
1983
Last segregated school in Nova Scotia closes.
1996
The last residential school closes in Saskatchewan.
