Barkerville to celebrate Mid-Autumn Moon Festival on September 9th

PRINCE GEORGE — You may want to head out to Barkerville on Saturday September 9.

That’s when they’ll be hosting their 23rd annual Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. The festival honours the Cariboo region’s Chinese community and includes festival-themed activities throughout the day, evening entertainment at the Theatre Royal, and a lantern parade at dusk.

Barkerville says this year’s festival is especially important as 2023 marks 100 years since the Canadian government introduced the Chinese Immigration Act, commonly known as the Chinese Exclusion Act, meaning Chinese immigration into Canada was illegal from 1923 to 1947.

In May of this year, Parks Canada Minister Steven Guilbeault announced the designation of the exclusion of Chinese Immigrants as an event of national historic significance. The Act was part of a long legacy of discrimination against Chinese people in Canada, including in Barkerville. Directly following the Head Tax, which forced Chinese immigrants to pay as much as $500 to enter Canada, the Act intentionally disrupted family life by preventing Chinese men from visiting home or bringing family here.