Canada, white supremacy, and the twinning of empires

Abstract

Taking a transnational approach, this essay explores the dynamic circuits of global racisms, resistance, and imperial politics that obliged Canadian policymakers to secure racist exclusions while simultaneously obscuring them. The case studies examined in this essay—British Columbia’s denial of the franchise to First Nations and Chinese, adoption of the Natal Act, and the comprehensive federal exclusions adopted after the 1907 white race riots in Vancouver—illustrate how racist immigration policies, both provincial and federal, had to take into account resistance and international factors as perceived by the British Colonial Office. Taken in conjunction with Indigenous history, the history of transpacific migration to Canada offers important insights into the role of white supremacy in a colonial settler state such as Canada.