‘Chinese Merit Praise,’ Courtesy of the Kitchener News–Record, as published in the Toronto Star, Friday May 22, 1936, p.4.
Self–reliance and the Great Depression (1929–1939)
During the Depression, the Canadian government feared that Chinese Canadians would be a burden on the country's resources. To avoid the cost of supporting them, they offered one–way passage back to China. Many accepted, leaving Canada for good. Those who stayed strove to be self–reliant, earning the notice and respect of other Canadians for their limited use of government assistance programmes.
Listen to Alice Yeh recall the hardship she witnessed during the Depression in Victoria, British Columbia. click for summary
