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The Canadian Pacific Railway Pre construction, construction, post…

- - - - Chinese perspective construction #1:Our goal was to build a life in Canada with a stable job and income. Over 600 workers died as a result of superiors putting us in dangerous situations. Additionally, Caucasian workers typically earned $1.50-$2.50 per day while we earned $1.00.
    - - Canadian government construction perspective #2: There are rules and regulations in place, to ensure that every group involved with the construction will benefit from the creation. Whether it is money, jobs, or the law to see your land. We also established a series of 11 treaties made between the Crown and First Nations from 1871 to 1921. We even made oral promises in the treaties and included, Special rights to treaty land, Distribution of cash payments, Hunting, fishing tools, and farming supplies
        
        Canadian government perceptive post-construction #1: We passed the act because we felt as though the Chinese knew their role during the construction of this railway. We say this because the only reason we hired these workers from China, was because we did not have enough workers in British Columbia. Just in case they did not know that this was their role we passed a head tax for anyone of Chinese origin entering the country after Chinese labour was no longer needed to build the Canadian Pacific Railway. We also passed the Electoral Franchise Act, which excluded “persons of Mongolian or Chinese race”, from voting, because they were in our country strictly for construction.
      - Chinese perceptive construction #2: We got upwards of $1.00, less than the average worker on the CPR. This was not enough to even pay for food, and the bare human necessities. So since we could not pay for the necessities a lot of Chinese workers died from accidents, winter, colds, illness, malnutrition..
        
        Indigenous perceptive construction #1: The Canadian government stole our land for the construction of this railway, and their justification was that it fell under the royal proclamation act of 1763. But technically they broke the proclamation because they did not protect our rights as they straight up stole our land meaning that they did not protect our rights to the preservation of our rights to unceded Traditional territories. Their justification for this is the written treaties. They thought that giving us items would make up for taking our sacred land.
      - Objective statement #4: The Canadian government broke the trust of two religious groups during the construction of the CPR. They did this via laws and treatment towards the groups, which still has ongoing effects on these groups.
        
        Chinese perceptive post-construction #1: The Canadian government did not have a workforce that was big enough in British Columbia so they looked to us in China. What they did not tell us is that they would put us in life or death situations all day, then not pay us enough afterwards for simple everyday necessities like food.
        
        Objective statement #5: The ‘’Chinese Immigration Act’’, shows how the Chinese were discriminated against objectively more than other groups during the construction of the railway.
        
        Chinese perceptive post-construction #2: The ‘’Chinese immigration act’’, is the embodiment of our struggles during construction. This is because after dealing with all of the dangerous conditions of the job and then not even being able to pay for food. We were basically forced to leave the country because we did not have enough money to pay for this head tax. We believe near the end of the construction they passed this head tax so we would leave and we would ‘’know our role in this country’’. Even if we were able to get enough money we would feel like we never truly belonged in this country as we could not even vote according to the ‘’Franchise Act''.
        
        Objective statement #6: After the construction process was finalized, the Chinese workers were left out of the national celebration surrounding the completion. Every single person, in the picture, appears to be Caucasian.
        
        Chinese perceptive post-construction #3:6500. That’s the number of Chinese Canadian workers who were labourers by definition on the CPR. They were paid upwards of 50%, less than Caucasian workers, put in the most dangerous situations, and got discriminated against with laws and acts based on the things they can’t control. We were gonna be in the image, as we were working, the CPR Director Donald Alexander Smith cleared every last Chinese Canadian worker. There is a lingering injustice captured in that image. There is not a single Chinese Canadian worker in the photograph. This image Captures the essence of what the CPR objectively meant, meaning it quite literally brought two coasts of Canada together through a railway. But subjectively, it was not it was a symbol of unity. The construction literally tore people apart, ripped them of their cultural roots, and still has ongoing social and economical effects until this day.
        
        Indigenous perceptive post-construction #1:We made big sacrifices during the creation of the CPR, and then to not even be invited to the celebration or even be allowed to be in the picture. We had to give up sacred lands, our peoples have lived on since the Europeans came to North America. They thought giving us the right to simply be on our land, giving cash, and handing us tools would make up for this. After all of it, we were not in the famous picture that would go down in history, that symbolized Canada from coast to coast.
        
        Canadian government perceptive post-construction #2: We wanted an image that symbolized symbolize the unity of Canada from coast to coast. The Chinese Canadians were workers and we made sure that they knew this with all of the acts and laws we made. So when having a national celebration why would we include labourers who are not a part of this country? Also to all the people who said they should be in the picture due to all the labourers who suffered, toiled and died building the railway. They did not follow direct orders when dealing with intensive life or death situations, and we feel as though that should not be celebrated on a national day of celebration. The only people that should be in the picture were CPR directors and workers.