Why should the TRU community care about the truths, or in other words, the history behind the Chinese Cemetery in Kamloops BC? The reason knowing and learning about history is always important is because learning about this subject makes society aware of why we should reconcile and show compassion for the Chinese population in our community. The event I am referring to and will be discussing throughout this article is the segregated burial practices of Chinese immigrants who came to Kamloops B.C. during the late 19th and early 20th century, and therefore, why the Kamloops Chinese cemetery was born. 

According to the Kamloops Chinese Cultural Association (KCCA), the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1923 was culminated when mass discriminatory practices and policies against Chinese-Canadians came into place upon their search to find jobs- and refuge, in Canada by helping build the Canadian Pacific Railway. Historians from Heritage BC add that along with halting the expansion of any Chinese-Canadian communities by forcing immigrants to carry status cards at all times to avoid deportation, the 1923 act also barred these individuals from burial in Canadian cemeteries. Due to this, the Hudson’s Bay Company allowed the Chinese to select a small burial site on the south edge of Kamloops where they could be buried. Despite the belittlement the Chinese population was facing, they still stood against this discrimination they endured even in death. The plot of land they selected kept in line with the traditional principles of Chinese burial customs as the cemetery was on a slope of a north and south axis facing the Thompson river. 

Now that you have been provided a broad understanding of why the Kamloops Chinese cemetery is deemed to behold tragic truths, you can read up-coming stories about individuals connected to this past and gain further insight on the dark histories of this location and why awareness of such knowledge is important.

Works Consulted:

Heritage BC. (n.d.). Kamloops Chinese Cemetery. Heritage BC. https://heritagebc.ca/chinese-canadian-location/kamloops-chinese-cemetery/

Heroes of Confederation. (n.d.). Kamloops Chinese Heritage Site. Heroes of Confederation. http://heroesofconfederation.com/heros-confederation/kamloops-chinese-heritage-site/