Between 1881 and 1884, over 17 000 Chinese came to Canada. The Chinese immigrated in three major waves. Some came from the coastal areas of the United States, but the majority arrived from southern China, and most of them worked as labourers on the railroad, but some worked in the mining industry. The CPR payed the Chinese workers much less than the other workers, so they couldn’t send their savings back to their families even if they wanted to. ( They eventually went on strike and gained a small increase in salary. ) Prime Minister Macdonald was involved in the Chinese discrimination, saying that they shouldn’t be making homes in Canada, that they should be going back to their own homes in China. Macdonald thought that the Chinese were
