Today, when visitors stroll through Victoria’s Chinatown—the oldest in Canada and the second oldest in North America—they discover a maze of alleys, bright storefronts, and traces of a rich cultural past. Yet beneath the bright red brick buildings and colourful lanterns lies a dark, complicated history: a history shaped by the booming opium trade and the wave of systemic racism it fuelled.
It may surprise some to learn that for decades, opium was perfectly legal in Canada, taxed and licensed just like tobacco or alcohol is today. Factories in Victoria paid municipal fees and taxes on opium, revenue the city government relied heavily upon on. In fact, until its prohibition in 1908, opium was the single most important driver of Chinatown’s economy.
By the late 1800s, dozens of ships from Asia were docking weekly in Victoria’s harbour, each loaded with barrels of raw opium. Roughly 100,000 pounds arrived annually, making Victoria the opium-processing capital of North America. At its peak, Victoria’s plants refined more than two tons of product every year, most of which was then exported to Chinese communities across the continent.
At the time, Victoria's Chinatown was home to about 3,200 people, many working directly or indirectly in the opium trade as dockhands, merchants, or factory workers. The industry sustained hundreds of jobs and kept the local economy strong. But all this prosperity came with a price.
As opium addiction spread, many white Victorians blamed Chinese residents, fuelling resentment and racism. After the anti-Asian riots in Vancouver in 1907, the federal government began moving to outlaw opium. Succeeding a year later, Canada became the first Western nation to ban opium, branding it as a corrupting “Chinese vice", fanning the flames of racism even further.
Police raids followed swiftly as officers stormed Victoria factories, seizing barrels of raw opium and half-finished product. The evidence would be paraded through the streets as cheering white crowds looked on, a public spectacle marking the dramatic end of Chinatown’s most profitable industry.
The consequences were devastating. Hundreds of Chinese workers lost their livelihoods overnight, families were thrown into poverty, and Victoria’s once-thriving Chinese community was left exposed and vulnerable. Forced underground, opium dens (and the gambling dens and brothels in their eco-system) continued operating in secret, reinforcing negative stereotypes and deepening suspicion of Chinatown as a place of vice.
The 1908 ban was not an isolated act—it was part of a broader pattern of anti-Chinese discrimination in Canada. The Chinese Head Tax (1885–1923) charged immigrants up to $500 just to enter the country. The Chinese Immigration Act of 1923—often called the “Exclusion Act”—virtually stopped Chinese immigration for nearly a quarter century. These measures, like the opium ban, were intended to stigmatize and restrict Chinese communities.
By the mid-20th century, Victoria’s Chinatown had fallen into steep decay and decline; according to the national census, by 1979 only 124 people resided there, all clustered into small, dank apartments along Fisgard Street. The neighbourhood had crumbled, and its future looked bleak, and would be so if drastic steps weren't take. Finally, both the federal and provincial governments decided to take action - even if their involvement was seen by most as too little, too late.
Chinatown's "revival' began in the 1980s, when federal heritage recognition and investment culminating in the building of the ”Gate of Harmonious Interest” at the mouth of Fisgard. Along with local beautification efforts (removal of telephone poles, adding asian designed sidewalks, lamp posts and street signs, cleaning and restoring buildings) these actions helped restore the district, making Victoria’s Chinatown a National Historic Site that today welcomes 650,000 visitors annually.
What began as a community shaped by migration and survival was nearly destroyed by prejudice and exclusionary policies. Yet Chinatown’s survival—and eventual rebirth—stands as a reminder of both the hardships endured and the strength of the people who carried its culture forward. Walking its streets today, visitors step not only into a historic district, but into a living monument to endurance, adaptation, and cultural pride.
To learn more about Victoria’s Chinatown, visit The Chinatown Museum; or better still, join us on a HIDDEN VICTORIA tour for a first-hand look at this historic gem located in the heart of the city.