Free Custom «Canadian Labor Agitation» Essay Paper

1. This chapter is about the Canadian labor’s hostility against Asian immigrant in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries. The chapter seeks to uncover the extent to which Canadian workers were concerned about their fate in the labor market owing to the influx of Asian laborers.
2. The unions were concerned about the threat posed by the Chinese immigrant on the labor market. The Chinese accepted lower pay and minimal working conditions that a white laborer could not accept thus driving white workers from employment or forcing white laborer to lower their standard of living.
3. Asians were considered morally decadent, industrial slaves, uncivilized, threat to white women, unassimilable into the Canadian society, criminals, idolatrous and unsanitary.
4. Even though the Canadian labor depicted high hostility towards immigrants from southern and eastern Europe and often lumped them together with Asians as a ‘menace’ to Canadians the Asian immigrants were considered more ‘menace’ than the Europeans.
5. The primary focus of the anti Asian agitation was about the economic security of white workers. The unions were concerned about competition their members faced from Asian workers which had disadvantageous economic impact on the workers.
6. Oriental accepted low remuneration and low working conditions that cannot be accepted by a white worker. Most of white workers are forced to abandon employment for low remuneration and poor working conditions.
7. The unions were not highly agitated against the Black and Aboriginal immigrants as they considered blacks and aboriginals as victims of the same ‘monopolistic’ forces that oppressed workers in Dominion. Labor leaders claimed that they had a common cause with aboriginals and blacks who fought against unrighteous imperialist wars.
8. The labor unionist furiously attacked various social groups employers and business leaders in particular as being responsible for the influx of Asians. The anti Asian agitation was used as a tool for depicting the corruption and fundamentally undemocratic nature of Canadian politics and as a significant launching pad for urging workers to elect their own.
9. This means that various interest groups such as employees, and labor leaders have turned the immigrants into one of the most feared and hated creatures. This shows that stereotypes are a results of discrimination, fear and hatred.

The labor activists talk about the ‘menace’ to stress on the extent to which the immigrants laborers are a nuisance and threat to happy living of the Canadian family.