C.I. 5 certificate of Chin Ng (Chin Ng Jai)

Date16 February 1918

Names

Canada. Department of the Interior (author)

Format

Manuscript

Notes

C.I.5 certificate for CHIN Ng, also known as CHIN Ng Jai. This certificate was among many types of Chinese immigration (C.I.) records used to register and control the movements of Chinese people in Canada under the Chinese Immigration Act (1885-1947). The C.I.5 certificate was used also to indicate receipt of payment of the Chinese head tax upon entry to the country; it is, therefore, commonly known as a head tax certificate.

Chin arrived in Canada in 1918. He had a wife and two sons in Hong Kong that he was unable to bring to Canada due to the Chinese Exclusion Act that banned virtually all Chinese immigration from 1923-1947. In Canada, he wed Rose Rosenthal who was of Jewish heritage and the couple had three sons and one daughter together. Chin had a gambling habit. He died shortly after being unable to sponsor his sons in China to Canada through family reunification. After his death in 1954, Rose remarried LEW Doo. Lew was also separated from his wife and child in China. He had lived with the Chin family as an "uncle" and was much older.

Chin and Lew were separated from their families in China due to Canada's anti-Chinese immigration policies that continued after the repeal of the Chinese Immigration (Exclusion) Act in 1947. Chinese women in Canada were also rare. These factors led to the creation of a "bachelor society" of Chinese men in Canada that persisted into the mid-20th century.

Subject

Medium