Filmmaker Karen Cho (a fifth-generation Canadian of mixed heritage) travels from Montreal to Vancouver to uncover stories from the last survivors of the Chinese Head Tax and Exclusion Act (much like the Chinese Exclusion Act in the US), a set of laws imposed to single out the Chinese as unwanted immigrants to Canada from 1885 to 1947. She discovered that half her family wasn’t welcome in the country they called home. While Canada encouraged and rewarded immigration from Europe, it imposed laws that singled out the Chinese as unwanted and unwelcome. Personal accounts of extraordinary Chinese Canadians who survived an era that threatened to eradicate their entire community are at the core of this documentary. Through a combination of history, poetry and raw emotion, this documentary sheds light on an era that shaped the identity of generations.

Here’s more Chinese Exclusion Act related videos: Chinatown Rising, Journey of a Paper Son, and Angel Island Profile: Tyrus Wong.

In the Shadow of Gold Mountain documentary