Saturday, April 9, 2011

A New Chinese Canadian Website

A new website has been launched which is dedicated to the oral histories of Chinese Canadian women during the exclusion period (1921-1967)*.

Launched March 31st, the website explores the impact of discriminatory immigration legislation with 33 new interviews conducted across Canada. You can see the interviews by going to www.mhso.ca.

As the website says, "The MHSO started work on a two-year project, "Chinese Canadian Women 1923-1967: Inspiration-Innovation-Ingenuity". This project will bring together a variety of sources, including new oral history interviews that will be conducted across the country. It will culminate in an online portal that will make exhibitions, digital resources, learning materials and interactive activities available to the public. Online users will also be invited to contribute to this commemoration of the experiences of Chinese Canadian women".

Also online is the launch of "The Ties that Bind Online Exhibit" which was put on in Toronto, August 28, 2010.

There are more interviews with Chinese Canadians online. It tells how they made a contribution to Canadian history by helping to build the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Twelve descendants of the Chinese railroad workers are now sharing their family stories. You can see these stories on "The Ties That Bind: Building the CPR, Building a Place in Canada" online at www.mhso.ca/tiesthatbind.

The project is sponsored by the Foundation to Commemorate the Chinese Railroad Workers in Canada, in partnership with the Multicultural History Society of Ontario, with funding from Citizenship and Immigration Canada under the Community Historical Recognition Program.

* For information on this period in Canadian history, you can go to www.mhso.ca/chinesecanadianwomen/en/timeline.php?e=9 to read about the Exclusion Period.