Chinese cemetery recalls racist past

Touching story. I found myself getting more interested lately in learning about Chinese Canadian history. I've always been interested in history. In fact, I have always said that I will go back to school one day to study Chinese history. But I've never thought of studying Chinese Canadian history, though I worked as a research assistant during my UBC years for an expert in history of overseas Chinese, Edgar Wickberg. Perhaps it's about time.

(the problem with me is that I always have too many things that I want to study/learn. i will start something and dwell myself completely into it for a while and move on to other stuff. then the subject might be left aside for a long time until my interest to it revives, if it ever will. gee... why am i like that @@)

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	Sharon Tiffin/News Staff Charlayne Thornton Joe with a picture of her grandfather at his grave at Harling Point at the Chinese Cemetary Sunday

Oak Bay News - Oak Bay’s Harling Point is home to spectacular ocean views, as well as a disturbing reminder of our region’s racist past. Victoria Councillor Charlayne Thornton-Joe leads a public tour of the site’s Chinese Cemetery this Sunday (April 1).

In Victoria’s pioneer days, hundreds of Chinese labourers came to B.C. to work on the Canadian Pacific Railway or seek fortune in the gold fields. As the original Chinese immigrants passed away, many were buried in Ross Bay Cemetery – but prevailing racist attitudes meant people of Asian descent were relegated to an area along the waterfront. “That area was for ‘aboriginals and Mongolians.’

That’s how they listed the Chinese,” says Thornton-Joe, whose Chinese heritage prompted her to learn more about those early immigrants. Because Dallas Road didn’t yet exist, those sections were also frequently flooded by ocean waves. During one violent winter storm, many Chinese and Japanese graves were swept right out to sea.

Members of Victoria’s fledgling Chinese-Canadian community, under the leadership of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, began to search for a burial site where their dead relatives could rest in peace. Their first choice, located near Christmas Hill, was purchased in 1891.

The area was predominantly farmland and nearby residents soon made it clear they didn’t want a cemetery for “foreigners” in their neighbourhood.

“What the Chinese community did was have a mock funeral to see whether there would be any concerns,” explains Thornton-Joe. “Some of the farmers showed up with guns and told them to move on.”

The benevolant association later bought the Harling Point property, which was thought to have good feng shui. Another mock ceremony was held to test the public mood, but this time the police were on hand to keep the peace.

Between 1903 and 1908, the Chinese community exhumed most of their relatives’ remains at Ross Bay and transferred the bones to the Oak Bay location. After the last of about 400 burials took place in the 1950s, the Chinese Cemetery fell into disrepair.

In the early 1990s, local residents began working with the municipality and the benevolent association to restore it. Thornton-Joe was involved in that process, in part because her grandfather is buried there.

“This is my tie not only to the Chinese Cemetery, but also to what brought me to Canada in the first place,” she says.

As a child, Thornton-Joe helped her mother sweep off her grandfather’s grave and learned how to bow properly to show respect for ancestors – an annual tradition known as ching ming. Together, mother and daughter tidied up the plot, cut the grass and made offerings of incense, flowers and food.

“We believe that our ancestors watch over us,” says the Victoria councillor, noting that a sense of continuity between generations is very strong in Asian cultures.

Thornton-Joe still visits her grandfather’s grave regularly to honour his memory and ask him to watch over the family. With the assistance of UVic professor David Lai, members of the Chinese-Canadian community lobbied for the federal government to declare the cemetery a National Historic Site – a feat achieved in 1996.

In the years that followed, broken or sunken gravestones were fixed or realigned, a footpath was laid down, a gate was added and a fence erected along the edges of the cemetery. Interpretive panels, added in 2001, teach visitors about the contributions made by early Chinese settlers.

“The only reason there are Chinese cemeteries, Chinese schools and Chinatowns is because of the racism of the day.” On a more personal level, Thornton-Joe says she only learned to fully appreciate her ancestors’ traditions after she grew up.

“As someone who was born here and encountered racism in my childhood, I rebelled against my culture,” she explains. “Personally, I hope my grandparents – whom I never met – will look down and realize that I’m no longer ashamed.”

Tags: history, chinese canadian, oak bay, victoria, vancouver island, racism, chinese cemetary