The Quong Wing Legal Challenge (1912–1914) National Historic Event

The Quong Wing Legal Challenge (1912–1914) was designated as a national historic event in 2024.

Historical importance: exemplified the tireless efforts of Chinese Canadians to fight racial discrimination in the courts during the early 20th century.

Commemorative plaque: no plaque installed^{Footnote 1}

The Quong Wing Legal Challenge (1912–1914)

The Quong Wing Legal Challenge (1912–1914) exemplified the tireless efforts of Chinese Canadians to fight racial discrimination in the courts during the early 20th century. Quong Wing challenged his conviction under An Act to Prevent the Employment of Female Labour in Certain Capacities (1912) in Saskatchewan, which prohibited him from employing women identified as “white” at his restaurant in Moose Jaw. In the end, the courts affirmed the constitutionality of the Act, revealing the limitations of the judicial system in the face of institutional racism.

In 1912, Saskatchewan introduced An Act to Prevent the Employment of Female Labour in Certain Capacities. It prohibited any person of Asian descent from providing employment or lodgings to white women or girls, with fines of up to $100 or two months’ imprisonment for non-compliance. Similar legislation was passed in Manitoba (1913–1940), Ontario (1914–1947), and British Columbia (1919–1968). Saskatchewan amended its law in 1913 to apply only to Chinese people, which reflected widely held sexist and racist beliefs that working-class white women needed protection from Chinese men. There was widespread anti-Chinese racism within Canadian society, which informed efforts by the federal and provincial governments to exclude and limit the rights and freedoms of people of Chinese descent in the early 20th century.

Soon after the 1912 Act took effect, police charged Quong Wing for employing Nellie Lane and Mabel Hopham as servers at his CER Restaurant on the corner of Main and Manitoba Streets in Moose Jaw. He appealed his conviction. Defence counsel argued that the Act could not be enforced because it did not provide clear definitions, calling into question the popular assumption that racialized identities were biological, immutable, and easily identifiable. The police magistrate for the City of Moose Jaw rejected the arguments of the defence, uncritically accepting Quong Wing as “Chinese” and therefore subject to the Act.

Quong Wing fought his conviction, with support from the Chinese community, but it was upheld by the Supreme Court of Saskatchewan (1913) and the Supreme Court of Canada (1914). Later in 1914, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in England refused to hear any further appeal. Following diplomatic pressure from China and opposition from the Chinese community in Saskatchewan, the provincial government removed explicit reference to the racialized identity of employers in 1919, when it required restaurants and laundries to obtain a special licence to hire white women. In the wake of further legal challenges, Saskatchewan replaced the law with An Act respecting the Employment of Female Labour in 1926, which gave municipalities authority to grant or refuse licences for any reason. This new law was amended several times but was not repealed until 1969.

“The designation of Quong Wing’s legal challenge (1912-14) as a national historic event recognizes a Chinese Canadian businessman’s refusal to accept racist legislation prohibiting him from employing “white" women at his Moose Jaw restaurant. His conviction was upheld by multiple higher courts, revealing the limitations of a judicial system embedded in institutional racism. We are inspired to stand up for justice, even if the path to justice is long."

This press backgrounder was prepared at the time of the Ministerial announcement in 2025.

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