Episode 401: At the start of the twentieth century, Vancouver, B.C., was a fast-growing Pacific port. Most residents were white settlers of British or European descent, but Chinese and Japanese communities were already well established and growing. They lived, worked, and built businesses in neighbourhoods like Chinatown and Powell Street, playing a central role in the city’s economy while being denied political rights and social acceptance.

By 1907, economic anxiety and racial resentment had hardened into open hostility. Asian workers were blamed for falling wages and job insecurity, a message repeated by newspapers, politicians, and organized exclusionary groups. The riots that followed on September 7 were not sudden outbursts, but the result of years of public rhetoric that treated entire communities as threats. This episode examines how those ideas gave rise to violence on Vancouver’s streets.

Sources:
The 1907 Racist Riots – Union Zindabad!
The Asiatic Exclusion League Riot, 1907 — Published by BC Labour Heritage Centre
The Vancouver Anti-Asian Riots
Causes of the 1907 anti-Asian riots :
The Lessons of the Anti-Asiatic Riot
"Images" and "Issues" : the portrayal of Asians in the Vancouver Daily Province and the Vancouver Daily World, 1907 to 1908
Anti-Asian Riots of 1907 - British Columbia - An Untold History
Mayor Ken Sim
David Lam
Chinese Immigration Act
Chinese Head Tax in Canada
1907 Vancouver anti-Asian riots
Asian Labour History in British Columbia
A White Man's Province by Patricia Roy | Internet Archive
W.L. Mackenzie King’s 1907 Report on Japanese Losses in Vancouver Riots
W.L. Mackenzie King’s 1907 Report on Chinese Losses in Vancouver Riots
The History of Canada Series: Trouble on Main Street: Mackenzie King Reason Race And The 1907 Vancouver Riots

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices