By the summer of 1907, white British Columbians had become increasingly fearful of Asian immigration, and rumours circulated about the impact of immigration on massive labour contracts for the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. In response, the Asiatic Exclusion League of Vancouver organized a parade for September 7 that resulted in a violent riot on Main Street. Julie F. Gilmour examines the impact of that event on Canadian immigration policy, international relations, and how the Vancouver Riots affected political development during WWI in Trouble on Main Street: Mackenzie King, Reason, Race, and the 1907 Vancouver Riots (Penguin / Allen Lane 2014).

Gilmour became an assistant professor at Trinity College at University of Toronto on the strength of her Ph.D. thesis regarding racism, "The Kind of People Canada Wants: Canada and the Displaced Persons, 1943-53.

BOOKS:

Trouble on Main Street: Mackenzie King, Reason, Race, and the 1907 Vancouver Riots (Penguin / Allen Lane 2014) 9780670065127 $34

Review of the author's work by BC Studies:
Trouble on Main Street: Mackenzie King, Reason, Race and the 1907 Vancouver Riots

[BCBW 2014] "Racism"