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The title, Eating Bitterness, (吃苦 – chi ku) refers to a Chinese proverb on how the endurance of hardship can bring great strength. Many Chinese Canadians had to endure bitter circumstances posed by racial discrimination and public policy that denied them many civil liberties and equal rights. The exhibition highlights the resilience of Chinese Canadian individuals and communities under difficult circumstances, whose stories are often omitted from the major canon of Canadian history.
And we extend an invitation for all Canadians to ask ourselves, what would Canada be without me and my family?
Highlights of the Exhibition
About
Timeline
Key Figures
Glossary
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Welcoming Remarks
Teresa Yan-Yee Woo-Paw
Chair, Action! Chinese Canadians Together (ACCT) Foundation
Welcome to Eating Bitterness: The Canadian Journey from Exclusion to Inclusion!
Eating Bitterness: The Canadian Journey from Exclusion to Inclusion is a traveling exhibition that reveals the hidden truths and omissions in Canadian history and experience over a span of one and a half centuries. The unveiling of the past and untold stories opens our eyes to the manifestation of racism in Canada through ideologies and words of fear and blame, acts of hate and sanctions through discriminatory, hurtful laws.
We believe the unfolding of the stories of survival and hope, rejections and despair, separations and yearning for reunion, resistance and resilience will not only engender greater understanding on the lasting human costs from acts of injustices and oppressive laws, but also serves to instill human connections and insights through our sense of compassion. Stories will let us form appreciation for the power of human spirit and collective determinations.
This project is part of the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Exclusion Act. The National Remembrance of the centenary of this Act took place on June 23rd, 2023, in the Senate Chamber where the Act was passed on July 1st, 1923. The solemn event, filled with words and expressions of reflections, resolution and remembrance of our ancestors, concluded with Chris Tse’s powerful, provocative, poignant and emotional spoken word recitation, recounting the community’s painful and suppressed past and projecting the collective emotional journey for our past and present—cathartic and healing…a new chapter begins.
This exhibition takes us through the Chinese Canadians’ journey from social and legislated exclusion to becoming part of the Canadian quest for a fair, equitable and inclusive society. While we know there will be winding and rocky patches ahead, we embrace this journey in a steadfast way, guided by the beliefs of human rights, social justice, and equality for all. We encourage our viewers to reflect on the future and the role they could personally play in building a more inclusive Canada. What could Canada look like with you?
Lastly, this exhibition and the related video and multimedia website “Eating Bitterness: The Canadian Journey from Exclusion to Inclusion” serves as a tribute to our forefathers and mothers—those who paved our way by eating the bitterness so that each generation after them will possess greater strength and experience less hardships.
This is in honour of our yeh-yehs and ma-mas (Cantonese for paternal grand-fathers and grand-mothers) and, gong-gongs and po-pos (maternal grand-fathers and grand-mothers).
On a personal note, this is in dedication to my own yeh-yeh, ma-ma and ba-ba who endured decades of separation, loneliness and hardships due to the Exclusion Act.
