This guide provides help locating archival records that contribute to an understanding of the history of Chinese communities in Toronto. It is illustrated with selections from the Archives’ collection of photographs, documents and drawings.
We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through Library and Archives Canada in the production of this guide.
This guide is intended for researchers looking for information about Chinese communities in Toronto.
Use this guide to help find information about neighbourhoods, settlement, organizations, business, politicians, and community leaders related to the history of Chinese communities in Toronto.
The City of Toronto Archives holds a variety of records relevant to Chinese community histories. These records include, but are not limited to:
A Toronto city directory shows Mr. Sam Ching among the first Chinese working in Toronto. He ran a laundry downtown, at 9 Adelaide Street East. Over the next several decades, the directories show Chinese-run laundries spreading through the city.
A weekly bulletin from the Toronto YMCA mentions that nine of 16 Chinese living in Toronto were attending Bible classes on Queen Street West. A 1910 report from Cooke’s Presbyterian Church noted that its classes after Sunday evening service attracted over 100 Chinese students. Students learned the alphabet and simple words, as well as hymns and scripture lessons.
The Chinese Head Tax was enacted to restrict immigration after Chinese labour was no longer needed to build the Canadian Pacific Railway. Between 1885 and 1923, Chinese immigrants had to pay a head tax to enter Canada. The tax was levied under the Chinese Immigration Act (1885).
The City’s Property Committee approved a license fee of $50 for all laundries. The Chinese opposed the amount and wanted a lower fee reflecting the number of workers at a workplace. In the end, a fee of between $5 and $20 was adopted. The amendment was made by Alderman William Peyton Hubbard, Toronto’s first Black politician. A William P. Hubbard album of newspaper clippings in the Archives’ collection has more information.
The Toronto Star newspaper notes some Chinese were starting a local branch of the Chinese Empire Reform Association. It sought to reform China’s monarchy. Chinese Freemasons, who had emerged a few years earlier in Toronto, supported another way to modernize China. They backed Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s revolution by borrowing funds against their building on York Street.
The City Directory shows a cluster of Chinese shops located at Queen Street East, at George Street. Another cluster was at Queen Street West at York Street. Chinatown emerged on Elizabeth Street, north of Queen Street. Earlier, a large Jewish community had lived in the Elizabeth Street area.
The Toronto Chinese Christian Association started a reading room and held English and Bible classes. In 1919, it became the Young Men’s Christian Institute, which conducted prayer and fellowship meetings, as well as open-air services. It also worked with students from China. In 1928, members helped start the Chinese Church of Christ, which became a Presbyterian congregation in 1956.
City assessment rolls show Mr. Gip Kan Mark was the first Chinese to own property on Elizabeth Street. On the first floor of 16 Elizabeth Street, a three-storey building, was a wholesale grocer, Ying Chong Tai. Its neighbours included a blacksmith, dairy, veterinary surgeons and horse stables.
Census returns show that from 1911 to 1941, Toronto had the third most populous Chinese community in Canada, after Vancouver and Victoria. To oppose the 1923 Canadian law that blocked Chinese immigration, a national organization emerged in this city because Toronto was closer to Ottawa.
In January, fifteen hundred Chinese gathered at Victoria Hall to celebrate the founding of the Republic of China, and the end of Chinese dynastic rule. A parade through downtown Toronto also marked the occasion. Toronto Mayor George Geary attended the celebration banquet held at the Chinese Freemasons’ hall.
Council Proceedings show City Council asking the Police Commissioners to grant business licences only to applicants who were British-born or naturalized British subjects. The Consul General from China appeared before the Police Commissioners to protest. The Chief Constable reported to Council that denying licenses was not possible, because subjects of allied nations, including China, held treaty privileges.
A mob of 400 men and boys stampeded through the Elizabeth Street Chinatown in November, smashing glass windows and looting Chinese stores. Mayor Thomas Church told the rioters, “I must have order in the city.”
Assessment Rolls show a change of ownership at 24 Elizabeth Street, when the property was bought by the Lung Kong Brotherhood. The group tore down the existing structure and erected a three-story building. People surnamed Liu, Kwan, Cheung and Chiu had formed this group in Toronto in 1911 to provide mutual help for one another and to the support community.
1923
The Chinese Immigration Act (1923), also known as the Chinese Exclusion Act, banned virtually all Chinese immigrants from entering Canada until its repeal in 1947.
A newspaper story told of a thousand Chinese marching along Queen, University and Dundas Streets to attend a service at Victoria Hall to mark the death of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, Father of the Chinese Republic.
City officials ordered Chinese café owners to fire their white waitresses. In 1914, Ontario had passed a law making it illegal for Chinese employers to hire white women. Ontario’s Chinese raised $2000 to fight the law. The Consul General from China intervened, and the law was not enforced until 1928. The law addressed unfounded fears that Chinese employers would take advantage of white women. Restaurants in Chinatown tended to serve Chinese cuisine, while Chinese-run cafes in other parts of Toronto usually served western food.
The Chinese United Dramatic Society was formed. Its predecessor was World Mirror, the first Chinese music group in Toronto, established about 1919. Toronto’s several Cantonese opera groups entertained the community, and also provided low cost board and lodging for the jobless and destitute. The Chinese United Dramatic Society invited music performers to come from Hong Kong and Guangzhou and train local amateurs. It purchased land at 96-98 Elizabeth Street and built a large hall with a capacity of 250 seats.
Lem Foo, Lem Kon and Quon Long submitted plans to Toronto’s Buildings Department for a lodge hall for the Chinese United Dramatic Society in 1940. It performed Cantonese opera in the hall.
1937
When the Sino-Japanese War started, the Chinese Patriotic League of Ontario was formed, with headquarters in Toronto. The Lung Kong Brotherhood provided office space for the League, and covered its operating expenses. The League raised funds for China’s war effort. In 1938, it looked into sending Dr. Norman Bethune to China. In 1941, one project of Ontario’s 7,000 Chinese was a $100,000 Spitfire airplane fund.
Two days after the bombing of Pearl Harbour, China declared war on Germany and Italy. China and Chinese Canadians became part of the Allied War Effort. Chinese and whites in Toronto combined efforts on the China War Relief Fund so that all Canadians could help China’s war effort. Toronto Mayor Fred Conboy was a patron of the fund, which raised $170,000 in 1942. World War Two marked a turning point in race relations in Canada. After the war, Chinese Canadians across the country received the right to vote.
In preparation for a proposed new civic square, to be located west of old City Hall, City Council passed By-law 16548 which restricted land use on the site to public purposes or parking lots.
These two views show changes on Elizabeth Street. The left view, taken in 1937, shows two stores at 60 and 62 Elizabeth Street (in the shorter building). In 1940, owner George Ying added a 2nd floor, and rented the space to the International Chop Suey House, shown in the photo at the right, taken in 1958. Both photos show the grocery store Sang Hong Sang at 64 Elizabeth Street (at the right of both photos), which was open from 1920 to 1957.
On January 1, Toronto voters approved spending for a new civic square and city hall. Council Proceedings from 1948 to 1958 show the City’s acquisition of sites in the Elizabeth Street Chinatown. The new civic centre was intended to spur downtown investment and development. This caused some businesses from the southern part of the Elizabeth Street Chinatown to move to the northern end of the street, closer to Dundas.
Toronto’s Chinese population was about 3,000. Ten years later, the number increased to 6,700 as a result of the wives and children of the early Chinese immigrants finally coming to Canada.
City officials preparing for new City Hall expropriated the shops and restaurants of Chinatown where 500 people had been employed. Construction started in 1962.
Ying Hope became the first Chinese Canadian elected to the Toronto Board of Education, where he served as chair in 1968. He was elected as Ward 5 alderman to Toronto City Council in 1969, serving until 1987.
Toronto’s Commissioner of Development reported that it was not feasible to fix the remaining buildings of old Chinatown on Elizabeth St., and urged that the site be used for local government purposes. Chinese Canadians, who wanted to save the remaining Elizabeth Street Chinatown, formed the Save Chinatown Committee.
Canada’s immigration laws let more Chinese (mostly from Hong Kong) enter. A new Chinatown emerged around Spadina Avenue and Dundas Street.
Toronto Council Proceedings from 1969 contain a report from the Save Chinatown Committee. After the report, City Council endorsed the idea of keeping old Chinatown.
A report in the Toronto Association of Neighbourhood Services records (Fonds 1014) mentions how the Chinese Information and Interpreter Service started at the downtown University Settlement House (Fonds 1024). The Service later became independent. The Settlement also held language and citizenship classes for Chinese immigrants.
In 1963, the Chinese Community Centre of Ontario, working with Toronto’s Department of Public Health, distributed this notice to encourage people to get tested for tuberculosis.
Toronto City Council established a special committee to support and preserve the Chinese community in downtown Toronto. The committee was comprised of councillors and representatives chosen by Chinese community organizations and was mandated to make recommendations to City Council to maintain the community’s presence in the downtown area.
Chinese Christians purchased the Beverley Street Baptist Church building, a designated Heritage Site and it became the Toronto Chinese Baptist Church.
The fall of Saigon marked the end of the Vietnam War. Four years later, “Boat People” refugees from Vietnam, including many ethnic Chinese, began arriving in Canada. The largest numbers settled in Montreal and Toronto.
Scarborough Council Minutes show how elected officials responded to the distribution of hate literature aimed at Chinese immigrants. As the Chinese population rose in Scarborough, residents expressed concerns about traffic and parking around Chinese shopping malls.
The Chinese community unveiled a memorial near Toronto’s downtown stadium to honour the Chinese workers who helped build the Canadian Pacific Railway.
Hong Kong provided the most immigrants to Toronto (48,535 people, or 11 percent of newcomers). China provided the 3rd largest group (36,735 people). When the influx from Hong Kong declined after 1995, immigration from China rose. Newcomers from Hong Kong, Taiwan, China and Vietnam shared aspects of Chinese culture but came from different political systems.
A Markham town councillor complained that Chinese immigration and rapid commercial development were causing long-time residents to move away. The resulting protest from the Chinese community made news headlines across Canada and in Hong Kong.
A report by Statistics Canada staff shows the 335,200 Chinese living in Toronto (Census Metropolitan Area) formed the area’s largest visible minority group. They were 8% of the area’s total population. Toronto had Canada’s highest concentration of immigrants and visible minorities. Large numbers of Chinese lived in Scarborough, Richmond Hill and Markham.
Aerial views of Kennedy Road at Steeles Avenue, Markham (taken in 1953 and 1992), over the site of the Pacific Mall. Pacific Mall opened in 1997 at the centre of the above view between Steeles, Kennedy and the railway tracks.
The Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto opened Phase One in Scarborough. It contained an art gallery, resource centre, reading room and classrooms.
Former Mayor Mel Lastman’s scrapbooks record how SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) had a serious impact on Toronto and its Chinese communities.
The 2006 census shows the 486,300 Chinese living in Toronto (Census Metropolitan Area) forming the area’s second largest visible minority group. They were 9.6 percent of the area’s total population.
In August, a Heritage Toronto plaque was unveiled at City Hall to commemorate the Elizabeth Street Chinatown. It is located at the north-west corner of Nathan Phillips Square, near the Archer statue.
Olivia Chow becomes the first Chinese Canadian Mayor of Toronto. Elected to the Toronto School Board in 1985, she then served on Metro Toronto Council from 1991 to 1998, then on City Council until 2006. She was the Member of Parliament for Trinity Spadina from 2006 to 2014.
To learn more about Chinese community in Toronto start by identifying important dates (see chronology), events, streets, neighbourhoods, organizations, businesses and community leaders. These terms will assist finding records in the Archives’ database. For more help searching and accessing records, see Using the Database.
Some suggested search terms are listed below:
Search with keywords
The following records are available within the Archives’ collection. To learn how to search for and request archival records, see Using the Database.
Fonds 200, Series 361, Subseries 1; Mayor’s Office subject correspondence
Fonds 200, Series 963, Subseries 2; Buildings and Development Committee, communications
Fonds 200, Series 1188, File 3; City Hall and Civic Square proposals - ca.1927 and 1945 - 1946
Fonds 200, Series 1361, File 131; City Hall and Civic Square, heating
Fonds 200, Series 1512; Mayor's Office permanent subject correspondence
Fonds 200, Series 1966; Special Committee on the Chinese Community
Fonds 200, Series 2720; City of Toronto Development Department subject files
Fonds 2032, Series 721; Papers of Tracy leMay
Fonds 2032, Series 723; Toronto Planning Board, subject files on urban renewal
Fonds 2032, Series 727; Toronto Planning Board maps and plans
Fonds 2032, Series 843; Toronto Planning Board, City Hall competition files
*search “Civic Square” under these series for information about the redevelopment of the Ward neighbourhood and the Elizabeth Street Chinatown.
Fonds 2, Series 60, Item 510; The master plan for the City of Toronto and environs - 1943
Fonds 2, Series 60, Item 518; Report of the Toronto City Planning Board - 1947
Fonds 2, Series 60, Item 661; Conditions of competition: City Hall and Square, Toronto Canada - 1957
Fonds 2, Series 1143, Item 5927; Report on the ethnic origins of population of Toronto, 1960
Fonds 387; Community Policing Action Coalition files of Olivia Chow
Fonds 388; Matthew Lawson fonds
Fonds 1307; Horace Brown fonds
Fonds 1314; William Archer fonds
Fonds 1318; Herbert Orliffe fonds
Fonds 1320; Archie Chisholm fonds
Fonds 285, Series 1393; Michael Prue board and committee records (see Multiculturalism and Race Relations)
Fonds 217, Series 1100, North York special committees and task forces, minutes and reports (see North York Committee on Community, Race and Ethnic Relations)
Fonds 218, Series 2824; Scarborough Committee on Community and Race Relations meeting minutes
Fonds 441; Collection of Chinese family records
Fonds 1024, Series 615; University Settlement House, other boards and committees minutes
Fonds 1024, Series 2746; University Settlement House records compiled by Kay Parsons
Fonds 1005, Series 2424; Annual Reports
Fonds 1005, Series 2425; Central Neighbourhood House photographs
Fonds 1484, Series 1727; St. Christopher House publications and ephemera
Fonds 1251; Jack Canuck newspaper collection (note on harmful language and racist views)
Fonds 250, Series 1089, File 1023; Velma Demerson
Fonds 528, Series 2598, File 18; Interview with Wilson Quan
Fonds 528, Series 2598, File 39; Interview with Yiman Ng
Fonds 528, Series 2598, File 49; Interview with Shuck Chun Ho and Paul Ho
Fonds 481, Series 2337, James Orr clippings files (see Chinatown and the Toronto Chinese Community)
Fonds 535; Vandra L. Masemann collection of Partners in Change records
These publications are available in the Research Hall Library or archival collection and are a good place to start your research:
Sheila Burney, 'Coming to Gum San: The Story of Chinese Canadians'
(Toronto 1995)
971.004951 B87 1995
Arlene Chan, 'The Chinese in Toronto from 1878: from outside to inside the circle'
(Toronto 2011)
971.3541 C36 2011
Dora Nipp, ‘The Chinese in Toronto’ in Robert F. Harney, (editor) 'Gathering Place: Peoples and Neighbourhoods of Toronto, 1834-1945'
(Toronto 1985)
971.3541004 H22 1985
Valerie Mah, 'The “bachelor” society: A look at Toronto’s early Chinese community from 1878 – 1924'
(Toronto 1978)
Fonds 92, Item 116
A.P. Quirmbach, 'From opium fiend to preacher - the story of Cheng Ting Chiah'
(Toronto 1907)
Fonds 70, Series 2494, File 56
Richard H. Thompson, 'Toronto's Chinatown: the changing social organization of an ethnic community'
(New York 1989)
305.8951071 T37 1989
Paul Yee, 'Chinatown: an illustrated history of the Chinese communities of Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Halifax'
(Toronto 2005)
971.004951 Y3 2005
Toronto City Directories provide information of where someone lived, what was at an address, and names of businesses and organizations.
Library And Archives Canada has a Chinese Canadians research guide, with information about immigration and census records, as well as other materials.
Birth, marriage and death records are kept by the Provincial government. The Archives of Ontario website has several guides for doing family research.
The Chinese Canadian Archive, located at the Toronto Reference Library, collects items in the English and Chinese languages reflecting the Chinese Canadian community in the Greater Toronto Area.
The Richard Charles Lee Canada-Hong Kong Library, at the University of Toronto, provides resources and space to accommodate the continuous growth of research interest in Hong Kong, and its relation to Canada and other regions in the world.
Vancouver Public Library’s Chinese Canadian Genealogy research guide contains a wealth of information to support Chinese Canadian ancestry research