Reflecting on Asian Heritage Month in May, this is the second of a four-part article series from Heritage Mississauga's UTM internship student Daston Babakan that explores early Chinese connections in historic Mississauga.
Read Part 1 here.
Read Part 2 here.
Read Part 3 here.

One place where we spend much of our lives is at work. The kind of jobs we have and how much we earn are central to our standard of living and our position within society. In this article, we will look at how the social climate of the Chinese Exclusion period affected the kind of jobs the Chinese worked and how Mississauga compared to national trends.

National Context

One of the driving factors of discrimination against the Chinese was the perceived threat of Chinese workers taking jobs from the white population. During the early years of Chinese migration, the Chinese primarily worked as labourers in mining, railroad construction, and farming, accounting for 70% of the Chinese workforce. These trends would change over time as white workers feared that employers would hire these Chinese workers for a lower wage instead of them for a higher one. This perception was not helped by the fact that Chinese labourers were often used as scabs during labour disputes. The fear became so prevalent that it led labour unions and the broader working class of people to call for the exclusion of the Chinese, first in these labour markets, but then from the country at large. The racial hostility that the Chinese faced led to them being pushed out of these labour markets and towards the service industry. The service industry became one of the few socially acceptable areas where the Chinese could work, offering low-cost services to white customers. By 1931, around 40% of all Chinese worked in the service industry.

Many Chinese during this period began to form what sociologists refer to as “ethnic businesses,” which are businesses associated with an ethnic or immigrant community. For the Chinese, these types of businesses were, by and large, laundries and restaurants. The Chinese community opened these types of businesses because they were very cheap to start, often costing only a few hundred dollars, but they were highly labour-intensive. While cheap, many could still not afford to open them on their own, so they would pool money together with others, becoming co-owners of the business together.

Mississauga Open for Business

Our research found that the Chinese in Mississauga worked overwhelmingly in the service sector, either as private chefs, laundrymen and laundry owners, or as restaurant owners and workers. While most of the residents worked within the service industry, we did find farm labourers working here, notably with the Pallett family of Dixie.

When looking at the census material, we have found that many of the Chinese cooks and chefs were actually working at higher-end establishments that included the Mississauga Golf and Country Club, the Clarkson Gulf Club, the Crofton Villa, Lorne Park Estates, and the Cooksville Hotel. While it may seem strange that so many Chinese people worked at these establishments during a time of heightened anti-Chinese racism, in many ways the hiring of these Chinese workers makes a lot of sense. Peter Li points out that the Chinese had a reputation for being “subservient and hardworking even in menial jobs such as domestic service”. While based on racist assumptions, these qualities would obviously be desirable to high-end establishments that expected a high level of service from their workers.

Out of these establishments, the Mississauga Golf and Country Club employed the most Chinese according to the 1931 census data, where they had 5 Chinese employees working as chiefs. The Mississauga Golf and Country Club was famous across Canada and during the Exclusion Period would host the Canadian Open three times in 1931, 1938, and 1942. Undoubtedly, these Chinese chefs would have cooked for some high-end customers and some of the best golfers in North America. However, their jobs remained neatly hidden. In the 1921 census for example, Chinese chefs Chong Fong, Ivan Weens, and Yen Chow cooked North American fare for guests behind the scenes, 19-year-old, white, Irish Canadian Mamie King was the front-facing waitress.

The 1930s was the start of the Great Depression and the Golf Club, like anywhere else, was experiencing a drop in revenue. One way they attempted to deal with the drop in revenue was to encourage members to rent out the dining room for private events. However, the Golf Club would still experience a considerable drop in the revenue provided by the dining room going from $21,000 in revenue in 1931, to $14,000 in 1932. Further, the salary budget was also reduced from $5,600 to $4,800. While the census data does state the salaries of these Chinese chefs, the census was taken in 1931 before the drop in the wages, so there is a good chance that these chefs suffered a salary reduction during this period. Furthermore, the war years also proved challenging for the Mississauga Golf and Country Club, losing much revenue due to a loss of members who went to serve, or because of the effects of gas rationing. This almost led to the golf club shutting down according to one newspaper that stated the lack of fuel and labour made running the club difficult. The staff, according to the paper, dropped from thirty to eight, meaning if these Chinese workers were still working there, it is likely that some if not all would have been laid off, especially considering that during that time, parts of the dining room were being changed to a snack bar due to lack of staff.

The Crofton Villa was another high-end establishment, that employed Chinese cooks, with two recorded in the 1931 census data. While not finding much on the working conditions for these cooks, we do have some information on the kind of food they cooked there. The Crofton Villa’s specialty entree was chicken and steak dinner, with a 1926 ad in the Streetsville review also advertising their ham and egg and chicken dinner. A 1950s photograph of the establishment shows below its signature “Crofton Villa Dinners” sign was a sign reading, “Afternoon Tea served”.

The Crofton Villa's high-end status was highlighted by a 1927 banquet held at the Villa, which then-Prime Minister of Ontario Howard Ferguson attended (Prime Minister was the term used at the time for Ontario’s head of government, which is the position we call Premier today). It is interesting to think that maybe one of these Chinese cooks, in what was at the time a small rural area of Ontario, could have been making food for one of the most powerful people in the country.

However, not all establishments were as swanky. In the 1931 census data, a Chinese man named Lee Wing worked as a cook for a man named Carmen Bush at the Chicory Inn. But Carmen Bush was an alias - his real name was Joe Bush, a man notorious for his shady business practices. During his time running the inn, it became a place notorious for illegally selling alcohol during prohibition and for its gambling and prostitution. The Inn was also popular as a place to get some food to eat and to dance the night away. While we do not know much about the working conditions in this establishment, it was undoubtedly eventful as the Inn became a target of not only the police but also other illicit people like the Campbells who had a long-standing vendetta against Joe Bush. In terms of food, yet again this Chinese cook was not hired to serve quality Chinese cuisine, but instead cooked dishes like the inn's famous half-a-chicken and spaghetti.

We also found that some of the Chinese living here actually worked as cooks for two wealthy and prominent members of the Mississauga community at the time, namely Mary Louise Clarke and Arthur McMaster. When it came to Mary Louise Clarke, we found two different Chinese cooks had worked for her at her home in the Lorne Park estates, first in the 1921 census with a man named Man Sing, and then in the 1931 census with a man named Joe Yee. Mary Louise Clarke was a wealthy and influential person within the community; she was the wife of Alfred Russell Clarke, who ran one of the largest leather manufacturers in Canada, A.R. Clarke and Company. Alfred Clarke was on the Lusitania when it was sunk by German U-boats in 1915. Although surviving the initial sinking, he later died in the hospital due to hypothermia. Later, Mary Louise Clarke had Clarke Memorial Hall built in 1922 in memory of her late husband.

Arthur McMaster on the other hand, according to the 1921 census, had a Chinese cook named Eng How. McMaster was a prominent lawyer living in Mississauga in the Alannah house, where Eng How would work. Arthur McMaster was also the great nephew of William McMaster, the founding president of the Canadian Bank of Commerce, former senator, and founder of McMaster University.

Restaurants

During our research, we found two cases of Chinese restaurateurs through newspaper articles. One was the story of William Mark whom we mentioned in a previous article as the man who had his wartime relief savings fund stolen in 1941, and the other was of a man named Harry Len who had his restaurant’s slot machines stolen the same year. Their stories highlight the dangers of being a Chinese entrepreneur. Indeed, the life of a Chinese restauranteur was not an easy one. During this time, most of these Chinese restaurants were, according to Li, “small in scale, poorly decorated, and labour intensive”. While these men may have owned their own restaurants, they would not have served Chinese food. Instead, items like coffee and sandwiches, hamburgers and fries, etc., were served at such establishments. While this was the case, many of these restaurants in small-town communities became important social places as a place to pick up a coffee and some food in the morning or after the local hockey game.

Laundry

We also found a few different accounts of Chinese-run laundries in historic Mississauga through census data and newspaper articles. Laundries were some of the most demanding businesses someone could run as it took hours of hard and tedious labour for relatively little pay. A man named Chow Lee who owned a laundry in Oshawa with his brothers explained that every day was hours of “washing, starching, drying and ironing continually”, which was incredibly draining. Such experiences would have been similar to what the Chinese laundry owners and workers would have faced here. While not every village or hamlet had a Chinese-run laundry, the major areas of Port Credit and Streetsville did. The earliest laundry owner was Joe Cong in Streetsville c. 1910, then later Hee Chow in Streetsville in 1921, and Kee Ho in Port Credit in 1931.

Labourers

The last industry in which Chinese in historic Mississauga are observed in is general labour. It is also the area in which we have the least information. In 1924, Kwan Chuck, also known as Kwan Shong Hoy or Kwan Wing Chuck, from Kaiping, Guangdong, China is listed as working as a domestic for J.P. Bickell likely on his Arcadia estate on Mississauga Road. Interestingly, his government issue identity card, required by all Chinese immigrants to hold, is one of the best sources of information regarding the Chinese despite its obviously racist origin. In the 1931 census we also find 12 Chinese farm labourers working on Arthur Pallett’s “Truck Garden” as farm labourers. The “Truck Garden” refers to the type of farm where market garden produce were grown in small plots and sold via a roadside market.

Dangers for a Chinese worker

One thing that we have seen repeatedly throughout our research was that nearly every mention of the Chinese in newspapers was in relation to being victims of crimes. Whether this was from our two stories about Chinese men running restaurants, or Chinese men running laundries, the scale of violence towards the Chinese community even in a small, rural town like Toronto Township (historic Mississauga) is eye opening. Also, one of the earliest accounts we have of Chinese people living in Mississauga comes from the story of Joe Cong. Joe Cong owned a laundry in Streetsville in 1910, but unfortunately was fatally injured during a robbery of his business by two men named Walter Bell and Charles Jones. Left for dead, he succumbed to his injuries a few days later. One interesting thing about this story was the fact that these men prior to their robbery of Joe Cong had repeatedly targeted Chinese-run laundries in the past. This could show that Chinese-run businesses may have been greater targets for criminals. This would also make sense as even considering the story of Joe Cong, his killers did not end up getting charged with murder even though many had been charged with murder with similar evidence. This could show that there may have been less willingness from the authorities to actually punish crimes done against the Chinese. With all this said, more research needs to be done into this topic.

Overall, the Chinese during this period faced many levels of discrimination and exclusion which affected all aspects of their lives, including their working lives. While today many immigrants do not meet the same level of outright discrimination like the Chinese community during the Exclusion Period, their stories in many ways still resonate with the many immigrants and refugees who come to this country today in order to seek out a better life.

If you or someone you know has information about early Chinese immigrants in historic Mississauga, please contact us at resource@heritagemississauga.org