New plaque in Lytton, B.C., to honour early Chinese-Canadian settlers

LYTTON, B.C. — Chinese settlers to British Columbia’s Fraser Canyon are being honoured for the role they played in the province’s history with a commemorative plaque unveiled in the town of Lytton on Saturday.

The plaque is a formal commemoration of the apology given to Chinese-Canadians by the province in 2014 for historical abuses committed by B.C.’s early governments.

George Chow, provincial minister of state for trade, says the plaque recognizes the courage Chinese settlers maintained in the face of institutionalized racism when they arrived in the area north of Whistler, B.C., over 150 years ago. He says it will also remind British Columbians of the province’s discriminatory practices.

A statement by the B.C. government says many Chinese settlers built solid relationships with the First Nations around Lytton when they stayed after building the Canadian National Railway and joining the Fraser Canyon gold rush.