KSA students preserve Kamloops Chinese Cemetery

KAMLOOPS — Grade four, five and ten students from Kamloops School of the Arts spent Wednesday (April 20) at the Kamloops Chinese Cemetery — dusting, sweeping and pulling weeds.

The students are learning about the adversity that Chinese immigrants went through at the hand of the Canadian government, and working to preserve the cultural site is a way for them to make amends to the local Chinese community.

“It shows how they can learn about something that wasn’t the greatest part of Canadian history, and how we can give back to those people and show that we care about these people and that we’re glad this is a part of what Kamloops is,” said Grade 4 and 5 teacher Claire Covington.

It’s the second year that Covington has brought students here and she plans to continue the tradition each spring.

The cemetery is important to the Chinese community because the very first Chinese settlers in Kamloops are buried here.

“Even though we have no relatives in here, [these are] the old Chinese that started in Kamloops. Us now, the youngsters, we should keep the tradition, still remember all these people that build the railroad and make Kamloops as their homeland,” said Elsie Cheung, president of the Kamloops Chinese Freemasons.

The Grade 5 students are learning about the Chinese head tax — a $50 to $150 immigration fee meant to discourage Chinese people from settling in Canada.

“It’s a little sad because no other countries had to pay the tax to come to Canada,” said Hannah Frier, a Grade 5 student.

And the Grade 10s are learning about the working conditions Chinese immigrants had to face.

“The Chinese people were brought over here to work on the Canadian railway but were put in very dangerous situations, and paid very very low wages and they were trying to support their families back home but it was very difficult for them,” Justine Moon-Etherington.

Representatives from the Kamloops Chinese Freemasons share the Qingming Festival with the students. It’s a holiday to honour the deceased.

“We bring food, meat, rice, the fruit, and then we burn the incense, hold the incense and do the three bows to pay respect to them. And then we offer the wine,” said Cheung.

It’s their way of sharing their culture and traditions with the students.

“We definitely like to promote our culture, to expose it to the Western, to let them realize each ethnic group [has] traditional ceremony to remember our ancestors, to teach the kids they should respect their ancestors,” she said.