Michael Barnholden on: the lessons of the Anti-Asiatic Riot: in 1907, an anti-immigration rally explodes into violence and vandalism in Vancouver's Chinatown and Japantown.(Explorations)

When Vancouver's Asiatic Exclusion League (AEL) decided to put on its inaugural event to protest against continued immigration from China, Japan, and Korea, excitement ran high. The AEL, backed mainly by the Knights of Labour (a non-union conservative labour organization), had been founded on August 12, 1907. Wanting to make their first event memorable, and thinking that everybody loves a parade, league members decided to put one on, followed by a mass meeting. The event would be held on the first Saturday in September, the weekend after Labour Day.

Mayor Alexander Bethune and several city councillors, all founding members of the AEL, volunteered the use of the city hall, located halfway between Chinatown and Japantown. Religious leaders offered to speak, businesses contributed signs reading "For a White Canada," and a Major E. Browne stepped forward to lead the parade from the Cambie Street Grounds, north to Hastings Street, and then east to Westminster (now Main Street), after which speeches were to be delivered on the main floor of city hall.

The event was advertised in news reports, and by the time the parade arrived at city hall, a huge crowd had gathered. Crowd estimates vary between four thousand and eight thousand people. The hall held a maximum of two thousand, so thousands milled about on the street in front of the hall. After the main speeches inside--at least four delivered by local religious leaders--A.E. Fowler of Seattle's Japanese and Corean [sic] Exclusion League delivered a rousing speech on the steps of city hall, calling not only for a stop to immigration from Asian countries, but also the expulsion of all people of Asian origin from North America. The mob burned Lieutenant Governor Robert Dunsmuir in effigy for his refusal to give royal assent to British Columbia's 1907 Immigration Act, which was designed to exclude all oriental immigrants from British Columbia in violation of international treaties.

Reports say that after the speeches, a young boy threw a rock through the window of a Chinese merchant's store--and then all hell broke loose. The surprised Chinese could only lock their doors and set up barricades to protect themselves. Soon every window in Chinatown was broken, and the crowd turned toward "Little Yokohama," or Nihon Bachi, the few blocks around the Powell Street grounds (now Oppenheimer Park) where Vancouver's Japanese population lived.

The Japanese were prepared: They had held their own march and organizational meeting the day before, bought weapons, and stocked up on bricks and rocks to defend themselves. Two days of hand-to-hand combat ensued, ending late Monday with the attempted arson of the Japanese Language School on Alexander Street (a newer building now sits on the same site). The Vancouver police department, consisting of two-dozen officers, was overwhelmed, with the crowd freeing most of the rioters taken into custody. Three people were charged, but only one was convicted of any offence. Newspapers openly mocked the efforts of the court and police. Surprisingly, few injuries were reported.

News of the riot flashed around the world, hitting the front pages in Ottawa, New York, and London. All levels of government in Canada made hasty apologies, particularly to the Japanese government--an Imperial ally of Britain and, by extension, her Dominion of Canada.

Plans were made for a royal commission, with the ultimate aim of making ...