“Chinese and the Law in Early Saskatchewan”

Date: Thursday 16 October 2008

Time: 7:30 pm

Place: Room 106, College Building, College Avenue Campus

For more information please contact Loanne Myrah at 585-5870

In the latter years of the 19th century Chinese from the Pearl River delta region of Southeast China began arriving in the area that in 1905 became Saskatchewan. They came along the rails their fellow countrymen, and in some cases they themselves had helped push westward from the Pacific coast, through the Rocky Mountains, and finally out onto the Canadian plains. Often described as “sojourners” – people who did not come to Canada as true immigrants, but intending eventually to return to China – they quickly established a presence in the towns and cities that dotted the route of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Once there they lived hard lives, not just because of the difficult conditions of frontier life, but also because of the way they were treated by the European-derived population that had established itself as dominant.

For the Chinese, this was not something entirely new: Chinese had been leaving the counties of Southeast China in search of opportunities literally for centuries, and they had not always been welcome in the lands they visited. Nevertheless, they survived and often prospered, in part by adapting their own social institutions and those of the new lands to serve their needs. One such institution, encountered in the gold fields of Australia and the United States, and later in British North America, was the common law, which mediated relations between Chinese and whites at all levels. In many instances the law was used as a weapon against the Chinese, but it also enabled Chinese in many ways, and, on occasion, was used by them to provide a powerful shield against some of the worst aspects of the racism they faced on a daily basis.

Ken Leyton-Brown grew up in Regina, and attended the University of Regina before going to Queen’s University in Ontario, where he completed a law degree and a doctorate in history. He is now an Associate Professor in the Department of History at the University of Regina, where he teaches ancient and classical history, and legal history. For several years he served as coordinator of the Police Studies Program and is currently coordinator of the Teaching and Learning Scholar Project.

His research has focused on aspects of the history of law in Canada. Recent projects have included: police powers and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms; the death penalty in Canada; and the legal history of Chinese in Saskatchewan.